UK Greenlights Getty Acquisition: "Two Boys With a Bladder"

Britain has granted an export license for Joseph Wright of Derby's Two Boys with a Bladder, a painting sought by the Getty Museum since early last year. In September the Reviewing Committee put a three-month hold on export, through Jan. 16, 2020. This gave British institutions the chance to buy the painting by matching the Getty's price, £3.5 million. No British offer materialized, and the painting is set to become the third Wright of Derby in the Getty collection. Two Boys was unknown to scholars until its recent discovery in a Midlands farmhouse. It has apparently never been shown in a museum.

Pig bladders were used as toy balloons. Wright painted the bladder on silver foil to achieve a luminous effect.