id:			302209
accession number:	2017.100
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2017.100
updated:		2021-03-27 12:17:35.947000

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:			

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culture:	England, 18th century
technique:	Oil on canvas
department:	European Painting and Sculpture
collection:	P - British before 1800
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Joseph Wright of Derby (British, 1734-1797)  - artist

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measurements: 127 x 100 cm (50 x 39 3/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Recent Acquisitions
	opening date:   2018-03-17T04:00:00
	<i>Recent Acquisitions</i>. 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
	<i>British Gallery Reinstallation  (June 2020)</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* <em>Recent Acquisitions 2014-2017. </em>The Cleveland Museum of Art (March 17, 2018 - June 6, 2018)

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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: 	


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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.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Bemrose, William, W. Cosmo Monkhouse, and Francis Seymour Haden. <em>The Life and Works of Joseph Wright, A.R.A., Commonly Called "Wright of Derby"</em>. London, 1885.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 120
	url:		

	Nicolson, Benedict. <em>Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light.</em> 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 <em>Wright of Derby, </em>p. 75 (under no. 31). Exh. cat. London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1990.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	Egerton, Judy. <em>National Gallery Catalogues: The British School</em> . London: National Gallery Publications, 2000.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 347
	url:		

	Wright, Amina. In <em>Joseph Wright of Derby: Bath and Beyond</em>. Exh. cat. Bath: The Holburne Museum, 2014.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 45
	url:		

	Faroult, Guillaume. <em>De Gainsborough à Turner: l'âge d'or du paysage et du portrait anglais dans les collections du musée du Louvre</em>. 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:		

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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