A much-loved L.S. Lowry painting is heading back to 10 Downing Street after a loan to a major retrospective, continuing a remarkable run that has made it one of the most frequently displayed works at the prime minister's official residence. Lancashire Fair, Good Friday, Daisy Nook, painted in 1946, was chosen by Prime Minister Andy Burnham for display and will return to Downing Street following its appearance in a Lowry survey at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, which opens on 24 October.

The canvas depicts a fairground crowd at Easter and has been requested for No. 10 under every British premier since Harold Wilson in the mid-1960s, with the sole exception of Tony Blair. According to figures released by the Government Art Collection, which owns the work, it has hung in the residence for 40 of the past six decades, and officials say they cannot recall any other picture requested as often for the building.

The tradition began when the Yorkshire-born Wilson picked it for his private office, reportedly displacing a portrait of Britain's first prime minister Robert Walpole in favour of a scene of working-class people at leisure. The artist himself was notoriously resistant to honours, turning down a knighthood offered by Wilson in 1968 and later declining the even more prestigious Companion of Honour.

The 15,000-work Government Art Collection supplies artworks to government buildings at home and abroad, but few of its holdings can claim such a sustained presence at the centre of British political life. Burnham, an avowed Lowry enthusiast, now extends the painting's residency further, adding his own name to the list of premiers who have lived with the work.