Enfilade

Sir Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Mai (‘Omai’), detail, ca. 1776, oil on canvas (Purchased jointly by the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Board of Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, London, 2023).

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Now on view at The Getty:

Joshua Reynolds’s Portrait of Mai and 18th-Century Portraiture

Getty Center, Los Angeles, 15 September 2026 — 14 March 2027

This selection of painted and sculpted portraits by such artists as Gainsborough, Goya, and David explore the interplay of status, character, and identity in an age of global encounter. At its center is the US debut of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Portrait of Mai, a compelling painting of the first Polynesian visitor to Great Britain. Portrayed in a full-length format traditionally reserved for the European elite, this depiction of Mai subtly reconfigured the genre’s conventions.

Portrait of Mai was purchased jointly by the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Board of Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, London, 2023. Support provided to NPG by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund and other generous supporters.

The 2023 press release explaining the joint purchase is available here»