THE Harris Museum has succeeded in raising funds to buy a rare set of paintings by Preston's most famous artist, Arthur Devis.

The museum received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, helping them buy the Du Cane Triptych from a private buyer for £380,000.

Private sponsors and generous members of the public helped out with the Harris Museum's fundraising, along with a lottery grant for £239,500, and £100,000 from the National Art Collections Fund. Now the three famous paintings can take pride of place in the city where Arthur Devis was born, nearly three hundred years ago.

Hilary Ryan, of the Harris Museum, said: "We are probably not going to have them until the end of April. They're at a private gallery in London at the moment.

"The paintings were made available for sale and they contacted us and asked if we would be interested in buying them just before Christmas.

"We decided we did want to buy them."

The paintings, thought to date from 1747, show Mr and Mrs Peter Du Cane and their three children. Du Cane was a governor and director of the Bank of England, and director of the renowned East India Company.

The three paintings -- together known as a triptych -- are thought to be the only paintings of their type by Arthur Devis.

Devis, who died in 1787, specialised in paintings known as 'conversation pieces' -- pictures of high society members and their families -- and were extremely fashionable in the 18th century.

Alexandra Walker, head of arts and heritage at Preston City Council, said: "We are absolutely delighted to be acquiring these beautiful paintings and would like to thank everyone who contributed to the campaign.

"We already have a wonderful collection of work by Arthur Devis and other members of his family but these works are superior in quality to any of those that we currently possess. We can't wait to display the pictures so that all our visitors can enjoy them free of charge and in the home of the artist -- Preston."