JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY, A.R.A. | PORTRAIT OF REVEREND CHRISTOPHER ALDERSON, BUST-LENGTH, LOOKING OVER HIS SHOULDER, IN A PAINTED OVAL

By descent in the sitter's family to the Wilson family, Waldershaigh, Bolsterstone, West Riding;

By whom sold (Property of a Family Trust), London, Sotheby's, 18 November 1978, lot 55;

Where acquired.

B. Nicolson, Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light, vol. I, London/New York 1968, p. 174 (where Wright's account book is quoted: "A 3 qrs. (rs in superscript) of Mr. (r in superscript) Alderson, £12.12....Do. a copy of Do., £12.12.");

B. Nicolson, "Wright of Derby: Addenda and Corrigenda," in The Burlington Magazine vol. 130, no. 1027 (Oct. 1988): p. 751, reproduced p. 752, fig. 37.

Rev. Christopher Alderson was the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Alderson; he entered the church in 1761 and served the diocese of Chester. He married the daughter of the steward to the Duke of Leeds, Elizabeth Ball, and was made Rector of Eckington in 1784 and of Aston in 1786. Joseph Wright painted him in 1794, when Alderson was 56, and the artist recorded this in an beautifully intact inscription on the reverse of the canvas. A nearly identical second version of this portrait sold London, Sotheby's, 3 May 2017, lot 162.