An important painting by a leading artist of the Newlyn School is coming home thanks to a successful fundraising campaign.

Penlee House Gallery and Museum raised £65,000 to purchase Cornish Fisherfolk, a 1908 work by Walter Langley (1852 – 1922). On loan from Waverley Borough Council for the past 14 years, it will now form part of the permanent public collection of Newlyn School paintings at Penlee House, less than a mile from where it was originally painted.

The name ‘Newlyn School’ was given to the colony of artists who settled in the fishing village from the 1880s onwards, attracted by the clear, even light and dedicated to painting the honest, hard-working lives of those who lived there. Coming from a poor, working-class background himself, Birmingham-born Langley portrayed the everyday scenes of a small fishing village, highlighting commonplace hardships and tragedies.

The picture was acquired with the support of Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of Penlee House. Gallery curator Katie Herbert said: “We are especially grateful to those who helped us raise the funds to secure the painting for Penlee’s collections, including the many individuals who responded to our appeal by donating online, by post and through donation boxes within the gallery.

“We are grateful to Waverley Borough Council for their considered decision to offer the painting through a private treaty sale, rather than releasing it to the uncertainties of auction.”

She added: “Penlee House has become home to the second most important collection of Walter Langley’s work, after Birmingham Museums Trust. It is fitting that Langley, regarded as the pioneer of the Newlyn School, should be well-represented here at Penlee House.”

Cornish Fisherfolk is currently on display at Penlee House Gallery & Museum as part of the Newlyn School selection in Gallery 5.