About this lot

Description

Portrait of a gentleman, said to be George Arnold, seated half-length, in a brown velvet coat oil on canvas 75 x 62cm

Footnote: Provenance: With the Ferargil Galleries, New York, before 1955, as by John Singleton Copley; thereafter to the present owner, now a deceased estate According to a typed label on the reverse, this claims to be a portrait of George Arnold (1683-1766) who was a Soho cattle and horse trader, but from his known portrait of circa 1740 by William Hogarth, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, this present portrait is unlikely to be that man. The plaque affixed to the front of this painting identifying the sitter as a "Dr Arnold" may perhaps repeat or reflect a now disappeared old inscription on the original and now relined canvas, or on the original stretcher now replaced. A certain Dr Thomas Arnold (1742-1818) is known to have been a member of the Derby Philosophical Society, other members of which were known to and were painted by Wright of Derby and though the age of the sitter in the present portrait - as it is a man probably in his late 50s - must preclude it being this local botanist from Leicester, it is more possible that the sitter might be his father who would probably have been born circa 1710. The present painting might be considered to be an early Wright of Derby, after he had left Hudson's studio (where he was noted for his ability to paint drapery and the brown velvet coat here is extremely fine). If it is so, it is more probably after Wright’s second sojourn in Hudson’s studio from 1756-7. The curled wig and the gold braiding on the coat suggest a dating to not much later than 1760. A drawing by Wright of Derby, now in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery, of a hand with a lace cuff partly covered by a coat might be compared with the one in the present painting, which though in the reverse direction, is very similar in handling. Another possible attribution that might be considered for the present painting, is to when Zoffany was secretly employed by Benjamin Wilson in 1760-61, to paint drapery. We are grateful to Professor Andrew Graciano and others for their suggestions and for help in cataloguing the present painting. Image caption: Study of a Man’s Left Hand in His Waistcoat, with a Lace Cuff , by Joseph Wright of Derby, c.1757 – 1760, black and white chalks on blue paper. Courtesy of Derby Museums.

Condition report: Oil on canvas which has been lined, the canvas has good tension and is in plane. The paint layers are in a good, stable condition overall. The painting has a thick, yellowed varnish with tidelines and drips across the surface as well as a light layer of dust on the surface.

Back to lot listings