AN appeal has been launched in a bid to obtain a rare portrait of the Forest of Dean’s pioneering metallurgist David Mushet for display at the Dean Heritage Centre at Soudley.

For years the oil painting hung on the wall in the boardroom of a Sheffield steel manufacturing company.

But when the contents of the factory were sold-off the painitng disappeared.

It was thought to be lost but eventually reappeared on an onlne auction site and returned to the art world.

Requiring some restoration as well as reframing, local historians Ian Standing and Roger Deeks are leading the quest to raise £5,000 to enable the work to be obtained for the Heritage Centre.

Describing the painting as a rare local asset, Mr Deeks said Mushet had played an important role in the Forest’s iron industry.

It was important, he said, that the painting should be in the Forest, the place Mushet called home. He was buried at Staunton.

If the money can be raised, the portrait will be the centre piece of a display telling Mushet’s story locally. This will include a new brochure being prepared by Mr Standing.

Mr Deeks said it was hoped a local company, perhaps one involved in steel-making and manufacturing, might link up with the project.

Meanwhile donations can be made by contacting Mr Deeks or Mr Standing or online at make-a-donation.org/campaign/david/mushet-painting-exhibit

Mushet was famous for his development of the Whitecliff furnaces and the Darkjhill iron works, both on the outskirts of Coleford.