The Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro will be staging The Cornish Wonder', a major exhibition to celebrate the life and work of Cornish artist John Opie, from Saturday September 29 to January 19.

Born in St Agnes in 1761, John Opie was a carpenter's son whose prodigious academic and artistic ability became legendary. In a classic rags to riches story, he went to London to seek his fortune and became one of the greatest portrait painters of his age.

Dubbed The Cornish Wonder' by the fashionable people who crowded around his studio home, John Opie became the talk of the capital. He not only exhibited at the Royal Academy but went on to become its very first Professor of Painting. His legacy of hundreds and hundreds of works of art can be found in national museums and art galleries throughout the world but an exhibition dedicated to his work has not been mounted since 1963.

The Cornish Wonder' exhibition marks the 200th anniversary of John Opie's death, and provides an opportunity to reassess his work and appreciate his enormous talents once more. Paintings are arriving from national, regional and private collections across the country - including St Michael's Mount which owns four of his works.

The Museum's own Opie works have been conserved for the occasion thanks to the support of the Leche Trust, while the exhibition itself has been made possible by a generous grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. A book written by Viv Hendra, entitled The Cornish Wonder, A Portrait of John Opie', has been published by Truran to coincide with the exhibition - the artist's first biography for nearly 100 years.

"John Opie was a genius whose extraordinary talent took him to the very pinnacle of eighteenth century London society and who was ultimately buried with honour in St Paul's Cathedral," said Hilary Bracegirdle, Director of the Royal Cornwall Museum. This exhibition, which celebrates his life and work from the early paintings of his family in Cornwall to his portraits of the well-to-do families of his time, is one of the most important the museum has ever held and I am enormously grateful for the help and support that has enabled us to stage it.' The Cornish Wonder' exhibition will be formally opened by Philip Mould, one of the country's foremost authorities on British art who has appeared as an expert on the Antiques Roadshow, at a private view on September. The exhibition opens to the public the following day.