A painting first exhibited in 1908 at the Royal Academy will be sold by Waverley Borough Council with up to £100,000 from the proceeds going to help fund the restoration of Farnham Museum.

The Cornish Fisher Folk is an oil on canvas depiction of life in a turn-of-the-century fishing village by Walter Langley, a pioneer of the Newlyn School that attracted artists to the area for its ‘natural light’.

The painting has been on display at the Penlee Gallery with the council only recently becoming aware of its possession or even how it came to own the work.

Investigations discovered the picture was sold in 1910 for £100. It was passed down to a second owner, following the death of the purchaser, who subsequently bequeathed it to Godalming Parish Council, a forerunner of Waverley Borough Council in 1920. 

In 1974, when the borough was created, Cornish Fisher Folk was given to Waverley, with other paintings allotted to Godalming Town Council.

Speaking at the Tuesday, December 9, executive meeting where the decision was taken to sell the painting, was leader of the borough, Councillor Paul Follows.

He said: “Members of the executive will be well aware of the Cornish Fisher Folk painting that we have in our possession.

“This is not a joke item, this is very much a real painting that the council possesses.

“I gather that it is considered to be a work of art to some people, art being very subjective as it is, it’s not something that I personally find particularly attractive.

“We know that there is of course the Penlee Gallery that are partially interested in it because they have a local connection to the painting.”

In July this year, the council arts officer wrote to Penlee House and Gallery offering it the opportunity to buy the painting at a price no lower than £65,000 – even though in theory it could attract more at auction.

Penlee  responded immediately confirming their interest  but explained it lacked the cash and would need to fundraise.

The proposed sale to Penlee Gallery is likely to be below best consideration, reports presented to the committee read, but these were offset by compelling social, cultural and reputational benefits.

The painting is already held by Penlee Gallery on loan and is publicly accessible as part of its permanent exhibition programme, selling it to them would ensure the artwork’s continued professional conservation, curation, and long-term display, securing its preservation for future generations. 

Penlee is being offered the opportunity to buy the work for £65,000 with all the money going towards the restoration of Farnham Museum.

If it is unable to raise the cash in time the council will auction the painting in March –  with £100,000 ringfenced for the museum with anything above that shared between other arts organisations including Cranleigh Arts Centre, Haslemere Hall, Godalming Museum, the Borough Hall and Haslemere Museum.  

Should Penlee be successful, a sell-on clause would be attached entitling Waverley to a pre-agreed percentage of a subsequent sale should it be sold to a third party. 

Cllr Mark Merryweather, said: “Just to clarify, it’s in our ownership, its not in our possession.

“It’s on loan to Penlee and with all the reorganisation going on, I’m only half joking when I say, that being down there it was at risk of being forgotten about.

“I think it clearly has some value for those people who appreciate it, those particularly down in Penlee.

He added: “Everybody is satisfied that we are doing this properly for as close to as we can get to best value.”