Joseph Wright of Derby, A.R.A.

With Thomas Agnew and Sons, London.

B. Nicolson, Joseph Wright of Derby, Yale 1968, vol. I, p. 190;
J. Edgerton, Wright of Derby, exh. cat., London, Paris, and New York 1990, p. 207, under cat. no. 133.

Samuel Crompton was the son of his namesake, a founder of a bank in Derby, which Samuel junior carried on and expanded. The sitter served twice as Mayor of Derby, and in 1768 as High Sheriff of Derbyshire, and was a Receiver-General of the county. He was a prosperous and respected man, and in 1744 married Elisabeth, daughter of Samuel Fox of Osmaston Hall near Derby. The Cromptons lived in one of the largest houses in Derby, built around 1730 in Friargate, on the site of a Dominican friary. The house survives until this day and is now in use as a public house, formerly the Friary Hotel.

This is one of three autograph versions of the original portrait by Joseph Wright in the Crompton-Inglefield Collection, which Benedict Nicolson describes as 'one of the finest of all his half-lengths'.¹ Wright also painted Mrs Elisabeth Crompton², and in the early 1780s recorded in his Account Book the execution of two separate sets of copies of the original portraits of the couple. As the Crompton's had five children, it seems likely these copies were commissioned for them and, oddly, at a higher price. Wright records charging £10.10.0 for the original, whereas the copies are recorded at £15.15.10 and £12.12.0 respectively.

1. Nicholson
2. Edgerton 1990, p. 207, cat. no. 133, reproduced.