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Mezzotint portrait (image 605 × 450 mm, plate 655 × 460 mm, sheet 658 × 460), trimmed close to plate margin. Slightly dust soiled, traces of two old vertical folds, only one very slightly visible on recto, very minor neat marginal repairs to verso. An excellent impression.
Joseph Wright of Derby’s quintessential portrait of the pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Sir Richard Arkwright, the man who changed the face of factory production through his cotton spinning inventions. The original was painted two years before the subject’s death and shows him at the height of his fame and prosperity---a triumphal image, complete with rich drapery and an example of his cotton spinning machinery beside him. One of several Joseph Wright portraits commissioned by Arkwright, the painting was destined for Arkwright’s son’s house at Bakewell and was received in March 1790 at a cost of some £64. It remains within the Arkwright family and is on loan to Derby Museum and Art Gallery.
This famous print by the master of the mezzotint portrait was issued four years after Wright’s death in 1797 and it is believed that Arkwright’s son sponsored its publication in part (D’Oench).
This famous print by the master of the mezzotint portrait was issued four years after Wright’s death in 1797 and it is believed that Arkwright’s son sponsored its publication in part (D’Oench).
Chaloner Smith 2; Frankau, J.R. Smith 14; D’Oench, Copper into gold: prints by John Raphael Smith 369.
£900.00
