A FORMAL request is to be made to Tavistock Town Council that the Sir Francis Drake painting currently hanging in the town hall be loaned to the town’s museum where it would get a new lease of life.

The portrait of Drake, painted in 1867 by Lady Russell, wife of Lord Arthur Russell, then a member of parliament for the town, is dirty and damaged.

The painting was copied from one hanging in Woburn Abbey, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Bedford and shows Drake as the Mayor of Plymouth, a position to which he was appointed in 1581. The original artist is unknown.

It has been suggested by Tavistock Museum volunteer Graham Kirkpatrick that the painting be lent to the museum where it would be cleaned and repaired and the cost would be met by heritage grant and donation.

Tavistock town clerk Carl Hearn said the town council would be happy to consider any request.

Pictured right is the painting of Sir Francis Drake.