US, UK galleries buy masterpiece 'Portrait of Mai' for $62M

One of the earliest portraits of a person of color by a British artist will remain on public display after London’s National Portrait Gallery and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles struck a 50 million pound ($62 million) deal to buy it. The two institutions announced Wednesday they had each pitched in 25 million pounds to acquire Joshua Reynolds’ depiction of an 18th-century Polynesian man, “Portrait of Mai.” Under the deal, Getty and the London gallery will share the painting. It will go on display at the National Portrait Gallery in June and will tour the U.K. before moving to Los Angeles in 2026.