Reynolds’ prince resurfaces

A portrait of a Polynesian prince by 18th century British master Sir Joshua Reynolds went on public display in London Thursday for the first time since it was sold at auction three years ago. “Portrait of Omai” will be on show until September at Tate Britain, which has been trying to buy the painting from its anonymous owner.

The picture was sold in 2001 for $14.6 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a painting by a British painter.

The British government barred the work’s sale abroad while the Tate gallery raised the market price of $23 million, but the owner has refused to sell, keeping the painting in storage. He has loaned the painting to the Tate gallery for the exhibition “Joshua Reynolds: The Creation of Celebrity,” which features 100 of Reynolds’ works and runs to Sept. 25.