Lot 16: William Tate , 1740 - 1806 Portrait of Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797) oil on canvas, in a British 'Marratta' style frame

oil on canvas, in a British 'Marratta' style frame

measurements note 74.5 by 62 cm., 29 1/4 by 24 1/4 in.

This important recently discovered portrait of Joseph Wright of Derby is by his friend and pupil, William Tate. In 1769 the two artists had lodged together in Liverpool and became close friends. Tate subsequently became Wright's pupil and they worked closely together for the remainder of Wright's career. Following Wright's death in 1797, Tate is known to have completed a number of Wright's unfinished portraits. The architectural structure in the background of this picture is based on a lighthouse on the Mole, in the Bay of Naples. In 1774 Wright had written to Tate from Italy, enclosing a compositional drawing of Mount Vesuvius, taken from the Mole (Derby Museum and Art Gallery), to be worked up by the latter into a full scale painting. If ever such a painting was completed it is now lost, however the sketch survives and includes the distinctive lighthouse with Vesuvius in the background. The sheet is inscribed in the lower left 'for the picture.../ For my friend Tate'[i]. Though it is unclear whether Tate ever used this sketch to produce a landscape, he obviously adopted the motif of the lighthouse as a symbolic gesture in this portrait of his friend. Stylistic analysis of the present painting bears striking resemblance to the Portrait of Joseph Wright of Derby by Tate of 1782 (Viscount Scarsdale, Kedleston Hall) [ii], though the wig featured in the present painting bears more relation to the one depicted in Wright's own self portrait of c.1785 (National Portrait Gallery, no.4090). i. see B. Nicolson, Joseph Wright of Derby, 1968, vol. 1, fig. 95, p. 78
ii. B. Nicolson, lit.op.cit, 1968, fig. 134, p. 140