A PAINTING that has been lost for more than 100 years is being sought by one of the country's leading galleries.

A new exhibition at the Hunterian Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow has unearthed the mystery of a work by a pioneering female painter which captures the celebrated Shakespearean actress Ellen Terry.

Now the gallery is looking for any information that members of the public may have of the painting, which they believe could be somewhere in Glasgow.

Louise Jopling: Artist and Teacher showcases a current research project at the University of Glasgow and presents drawings, watercolours and archival material from private collections which have never been exhibited before.

Jopling was an English artist, from Manchester, who lived from 1843 to 1933 and is now considered a pioneer. Although she is known to have been prolific, only a handful of her works have been traced.

Researchers at the University of Glasgow have been trying to track down the missing painting which features Terry.

Jopling was a friend and confidante of the actress and painted her in 1883 in one of her most famous roles, as Portia from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

The portrait was owned by Sir Henry Irving, who played in many roles opposite Terry, until his death in 1905.

Then, according to record, it was sold to a Mrs Ruthven of Glasgow, believed to be a god-daughter of Ellen Terry.

The red robes in which Terry posed survive at her home at Smallhythe Place, Kent, where they are on public display, but the location of the painting is unknown.

Despite the social mores of the time, she led an independent life and was regarded as a professional artist.

She ran a successful art school for women and was one of the first women to be elected to the Royal Society of British Artists.

She also campaigned for women's suffrage, and published a student art manual and a memoir, Twenty Years of My Life, 1867-1887.

The exhibition at the Hunterian runs from March 13 to September 13.

It has been more than 100 years since the work was recorded in a Glasgow collection.

Dr Patricia de Montfort, who is leading the research project, said: "It's tantalising to think that the painting may still be somewhere in Glasgow at a time when we are discovering so much new information about this hitherto neglected artist.

"If anyone has information about its location or what happened to it, please contact us and help to solve the mystery."

Jopling was a painter of portraits, figure compositions, interiors, and landscape.

Her friends included fellow artists Whistler and Millais and her patrons included the de Rothschild banking family and Sir Coutts and Lady Lindsay, founders of the Grosvenor Gallery.