Joseph Wright of Derby self-portrait in sale

April 22, 2025 admin art, Joseph Wright of Derby, painting, Sloane Street Auctions

What is believed to be the last self-portrait of Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-97) outside of public collections is coming up for sale at Sloane Street Auctions in London on May 2.

Dating to 1793/4, the 25 x 20 inch oil on canvas is expected to fetch up to £80,000.

Joseph Wright of Derby’s final self-portrait, at the age of 59. Thought to be the last of his self-portraits in private hands, it comes up for sale at Sloane Street Auctions on May 2 with an estimate of £60,000-80,000. Image courtesy Sloane Street Auctions

Wright of Derby is a much sought-after painter and is credited as being the first artist to capture the spirit of the Industrial Revolution; his patrons included Josiah Wedgwood and William Arkwright, both leading figures in the industrialisation of the British economy.

The subject matter of his paintings also explored the concerns of science, learning and enquiry; his 1772 work An Iron Forge is in Tate Britain, while An Experiment on a Bird with and Air Pump from 1768 rests in the National Gallery.

Portraits and self-portraits also feature strongly among his body of work. Wright of Derby chronicled himself throughout his career with a group of at least nine insightful self-portraits, keeping them all until his death. The last of them is the one in this auction.

Phoebe Janes of Sloane Street Auctions inspects Joseph Wright of Derby’s final self-portrait. Thought to be the last of his self-portraits in private hands, it comes up for sale at Sloane Street Auctions on May 2 with an estimate of £60,000-80,000. Image courtesy Sloane Street Auctions

“This rarely exhibited work not only demonstrates his virtuoso technique, but he paints himself as a far more thoughtful and a far wiser man than some of his earlier portraits,” said Sloane Street Auctions’ owner, Daniel Hunt. “Less gauche, here is a man who has lived and accepted great success with grace.”

The painting’s ownership can be traced back to John Holland of Ford Hall, Derbyshire (1734-1807), passing down through his extended family until 1946 when it sold at auction in Canada, entering a Toronto private collection. From their it sold to a private collector in Guernsey around 1980. It comes to auction here from that collection.

A variant of the portrait appears in reproduction as the frontispiece of The Life and Works of Joseph Wright A.R.A. by Wm. Bemrose (1885), while Benedict Nicholson’s 1968 work, Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light, also records it.

“This is not just a highly accomplished and fascinating character study, it is also a museum-grade work of historical significance relating to one of the most important periods of our nation’s history,” said Daniel Hunt.

“These sort of works would have been a natural fit for Christie’s South Kensington in its day, but now that has gone, we find that consignors tend to come to us, so we are delighted to play our part in keeping this tradition of higher end works coming to London beyond the confines of Bond Street and St James. It is also a happy coincidence that our auctioneer, Hugh Edmeades, was Christie’s South Kensington’s former chairman.”