The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 1, 2023

Portrait of Colonel Charles Heathcote

c. 1771–72

Joseph Wright of Derby

(British, 1734–1797)

England

Oil on canvas

127 x 100 cm (50 x 39 3/8 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 2017.100

Location

203A British Painting and Decorative Arts

Fun Fact

The handful of small-scale, full-length portraits Wright painted early in his career include his earliest experiments in landscape painting.

Description

Assuming a relaxed but commanding pose, Colonel Charles Heathcote (1734–1797) stands beside a large oak tree in the foreground of an expansive landscape. He wears military dress, the single epaulette on his right shoulder designating his rank as colonel. Wright’s composition demonstrates his new-found fascination with landscape: while the figure is relatively smoothly painted, the landscape is painted far more energetically, using thickly applied daubs of color.

Provenance
c. 1771-2 - 1985
Colonel Charles Heathcote (1730–1803) and by descent
(Christie's, London, April 26, 1985, no. 113)
Private Collection, USA
1997
(Sotheby's, London, November 12, 1997, no. 69)
1999
(Sotheby's, London, June 8, 1999, no. 13)
2011
(Christie's, New York, January 26, 2011, no. 35)
2011 - 2017
Private Collection
2017
(Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., London, from whom purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art)
2017-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Bemrose, William, W. Cosmo Monkhouse, and Francis Seymour Haden. The Life and Works of Joseph Wright, A.R.A., Commonly Called "Wright of Derby". London, 1885. Mentioned: p. 120
Nicolson, Benedict. Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light. London: Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art; Routledge and K. Paul, 1968. Mentioned: vol. 1, pp. 17, 36 and 203 (no. 79); Reproduced: vol. 2, pl. 115
Egerton, Judy. In Wright of Derby, p. 75 (under no. 31). Exh. cat. London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1990.
Egerton, Judy. National Gallery Catalogues: The British School . London: National Gallery Publications, 2000. Mentioned: p. 347
Wright, Amina. In Joseph Wright of Derby: Bath and Beyond. Exh. cat. Bath: The Holburne Museum, 2014. Mentioned: p. 45
Faroult, Guillaume. De Gainsborough à Turner: l'âge d'or du paysage et du portrait anglais dans les collections du musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie de Valence, and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper, in association with Milan: Silvana, 2014. Mentioned: p. 146 (under no. 33)
"Reimagining the British Galleries: Our curators preview the new look of the space.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 59, no. 6 (November/December 2019): 5-7. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 7.
Exhibition history

Recent Acquisitions 2014-2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art (March 17, 2018 - June 6, 2018)

Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018).

British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.100