Joseph Wright of Derby, A.R.A.

Possibly, Thomas Hardman;

Possible, his sale, Manchester, 1838, lot 40 (The River Arno running through a finely wooded country, 22 x 30 in.);

Possibly, N. Philips;

Thomas Borrow;

William Bemrose (1831 - 1908);

Thence by inheritance to his daughter Mrs. R.G. Wheler, 1908;

By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, 10 December 1958, lot 114 (An Evening Landscape with a town on the banks of a river, a fishing boat by a bridge), for £50 to Mrs. Frank;

London art market;

With Richard L. Feigen, Chicago, by 1965;

From whom acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago, 1965, inv. 1965.1170, until deaccessioned 10 February 1997;

After which acquired by present owner.

In his catalogue raisonne of the artist, Benedict Nicolson proposes that Wright made multiple versions of this composition, and that the present painting is a smaller version of a still unlocated larger original. When another canvas by Wright of this subject was sold at Sotheby's London, 6 July 2016, lot 20,¹ the present lot was unknown, and the 2016 cataloging incorrectly assigned the Chicago provenance to that work. Labels on the reverse of the stretcher confirm that this version is the one mentioned by Nicolson and previously owned by Richard Feigen and in the collection of the Art Insititute of Chicago.

1. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/old-master-british-paintings-evening-l16033/lot.20.html