THE return of the Silver Swan to the Bowes Museum has provided an opportunity to unveil a newly-discovered portrait of its inventor, John Joseph Merlin, by the 18th century artist Thomas Gainsborough.

The automaton was loaned to the Science Museum in London for its Robots exhibition earlier this year.

The painting is a version of a more finished portrait of the inventor at Kenwood House in London.

Merlin provided the mechanisms that power the swan automaton and its musical accompaniment and is his best known work.

Gainsborough, a founder member of the Royal Academy, was the preferred portrait painter of the royal family but also favoured the company of artists and musicians.

When this picture was painted towards the end of his career he was moving away from portraiture, producing seascapes, more landscapes, developing a genre that often showed peasant children in romantic settings, and becoming obsessed with composition.

The portrait, forming part of this redirection, was acquired with support from the Arts Council England and Victorian and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund and Friends of the museum.

Adrian Jenkins, museum director, said: “While our most obvious interest in the painting is the relationship of the subject matter to the silver swan, it is also a fine addition to the museum’s increasingly important group of English works of art."