id: 302209 accession number: 2017.100 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2017.100 updated: Portrait of Colonel Charles Heathcote, c. 1771–72. Joseph Wright of Derby (British, 1734–1797). Oil on canvas; 127 x 100 cm (50 x 39 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 2017.100 title: Portrait of Colonel Charles Heathcote title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1771–72 creation date earliest: 1771 creation date latest: 1772 current location: 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: England technique: Oil on canvas department: European Painting and Sculpture collection: P - British before 1800 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Joseph Wright of Derby (British, 1734–1797) - artist --- measurements: 127 x 100 cm (50 x 39 3/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Recent Acquisitions opening date: 2018-03-17T04:00:00 Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018). title: British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020) opening date: 2020-06-30T04:00:00 British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Recent Acquisitions 2014-2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art (March 17, 2018 - June 6, 2018) --- PROVENANCE Colonel Charles Heathcote (1730–1803) and by descent date: c. 1771-2 - 1985 footnotes: citations: (Christie's, London, April 26, 1985, no. 113) date: footnotes: citations: Private Collection, USA date: footnotes: citations: (Sotheby's, London, November 12, 1997, no. 69) date: 1997 footnotes: citations: (Sotheby's, London, June 8, 1999, no. 13) date: 1999 footnotes: citations: (Christie's, New York, January 26, 2011, no. 35) date: 2011 footnotes: citations: Private Collection date: 2011 - 2017 footnotes: citations: (Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., London, from whom purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: 2017 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2017- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The handful of small-scale, full-length portraits Wright painted early in his career include his earliest experiments in landscape painting. digital 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. wall description: From age 15, Charles Heathcote served in the army as the British Empire was expanding globally. He commissioned this portrait to celebrate the end of an active career that included being captured in France and an appointment as military governor of Dominica, an island in the West Indies that played a key role in the trade of enslaved Africans. Joseph Wright’s composition demonstrates the artist’s newfound fascination with landscape: while the commanding figure is painted with meticulous detail, the landscape is painted energetically with thickly applied daubs of color. --- RELATED WORKS --- 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. page number: Mentioned: p. 120 url: Nicolson, Benedict. Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light. London: Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art; Routledge and K. Paul, 1968. page number: Mentioned: vol. 1, pp. 17, 36 and 203 (no. 79); Reproduced: vol. 2, pl. 115 url: Egerton, Judy. In Wright of Derby, p. 75 (under no. 31). Exh. cat. London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1990. page number: url: Egerton, Judy. National Gallery Catalogues: The British School . London: National Gallery Publications, 2000. page number: Mentioned: p. 347 url: Wright, Amina. In Joseph Wright of Derby: Bath and Beyond. Exh. cat. Bath: The Holburne Museum, 2014. page number: Mentioned: p. 45 url: 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. page number: Mentioned: p. 146 (under no. 33) url: "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. page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 7. url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2017.100/2017.100_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2017.100/2017.100_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2017.100/2017.100_full.tif