Joseph Wright 'of Derby', 'Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman', about 1770-2

Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman

Joseph Wright 'of Derby'

Room 34

About the work

Overview

Born in 1747, Thomas Coltman inherited Hagnaby Priory, near East Kirkby in Lincolnshire, in 1768. He and his wife Mary Barlow are portrayed here probably a year or so after their marriage in October 1789. The couple can also be seen in Wright’s great painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (also in the National Gallery), exhibited in 1768.

The informality of the portrait suggests that Wright and the Coltmans were on friendly terms. Coltman rented a house in Derby from Wright and owned two other paintings by him. Both Mr and Mrs Coltman look relaxed and natural, about to set out on a morning ride. The landscape background is studied from nature – Wright painted his first pure landscape at about the same time.

A groom leads Coltman’s bay horse from stables behind the house. This is Gate Burton Hall, which Coltman rented after his marriage while continuing to rent the house in Derby from Wright.

In-depth

Thomas Coltman and his wife Mary are portrayed here probably a year or so after their marriage in October 1789. Coltman was a friend of Wright’s, although 13 years younger than him. Born in 1747, he was the second son of John Coltman of Hagnaby Priory, near East Kirkby in Lincolnshire. He inherited the Hagnaby estate in 1768 when his elder brother died unexpectedly, and married Mary Barlow in 1769.

It is not known how the couple met but they can be seen in Wright’s great painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, exhibited in 1768. Wright often used relatives or friends as models for his subject pictures. Coltman rented a house in Derby from Wright and owned two other paintings by him: A Girl Reading a Letter, with an old Man reading over her Shoulder and Two Boys Fighting over a Bladder, both in a private collection.

The informality of the portrait conveys the friendship between Wright and his sitters. Both Mr and Mrs Coltman look relaxed and natural, about to set out on a morning ride. Mrs Coltman sits side-saddle and wears a rose-red riding habit. Coltman stands beside the grey horse in an energetic pose, wearing a summer frock coat and a waistcoat trimmed with silver twisted thread, which shows Wright’s delight in the play of light on intricate surfaces. None of the raised areas of paint, known as impasto, has been flattened as the painting is unlined, so we can still admire Wright’s superb painterly technique. Coltman’s breeches are so close-fitting that they reveal the outline of a coin in his pocket – perhaps a joke between the friends.

A groom leads Coltman’s bay horse from stables behind the house. This is Gate Burton Hall, which Coltman rented after his marriage while continuing to rent a house in Derby from Wright. In the painting, Coltman may be pointing to Lincoln Cathedral which could be seen from the Hall. The landscape background is studied from nature and lit by daylight, which marks a new departure in Wright’s work – he painted his first pure landscape at about the same time. Here the light shifts over the landscape through the windswept clouds in a credible representation of the English weather. The sky was originally bluer, but the smalt pigment has lost its colour and degraded to grey. Wright adapted the Coltmans‘ poses eight years later for his double portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton (which was destroyed by fire).

Wright made minor alterations to the position of the house at the right edge, in Thomas Coltman’s left arm and in the horse’s ears. However, cracks in the top layer of paint suggest that foliage once covered much of the sky on the right, and that a broad tree trunk was originally placed to the left of the horse’s legs.

The artist entered the portrait in his account book as Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman a conversation. It may have been the picture he exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1771 as ’A small conversation'.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman
Artist: Joseph Wright 'of Derby'
Artist dates: 1734 - 1797
Date made: about 1770-2
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 127 × 101.6 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought with contributions from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and The Pilgrim Trust, 1984
Inventory number: NG6496
Location: Room 34
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 18th-century English Frame

Provenance

Painted for Thomas Coltman (in Wright’s Account Book as Mʳ. & Mʳˢ. Coltman a Conversation £63.0.0.: the note Rᵈ - x - 100 between the title and the price suggests that Coltman’s payment of £100 was made up of £63 for this picture and the balance for others, perhaps for Coltman’s two ‘Candlelight’ pictures); thence by family descent through Coltman’s younger brother George until sold Christie’s 23 November 1984 (94), bt Agnew’s for the National Gallery, with contributions from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Pilgrim Trust.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Judy Egerton, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings’, London 2000; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2014

Joseph Wright of Derby: Bath and Beyond

Holburne Museum of Art

25 January 2014 - 5 May 2014

Derby Museums and Art Gallery

24 May 2014 - 31 August 2014
2020

Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London

The National Museum of Western Art

18 June 2020 - 18 October 2020

The National Museum of Art

3 November 2020 - 31 January 2021
2021

Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London

National Gallery of Australia

5 March 2021 - 14 June 2021

Bibliography

1771

H. Walpole, Notes… on Exhibitions, London 1771
1786

'Mrs Coltman, Wife of Thomas C., Esq.; of Hagneby, Co. Linc', Gentleman's Magazine, 1786
1885

W. Bemrose, The Life and Works of Joseph Wright, A.R.A.: Commonly Called, Wright of Derby, London 1885
1934

F. Williamson, Wright of Derby: Catalogue of the Bi-Centenary Exhibition of Paintings by Joseph Wright, A.R.A. (exh. cat. Corporation Art Gallery, 3 September - 18 November 1934), Derby 1934
1956

Royal Academy of Arts, British Portraits (exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, Winter 1956), London 1956
1957

'Some Little-Known Portraits at the Royal Academy', The Burlington Magazine, XCIX/646, 1957, pp. 24-9
1957

D. Farr, British Painting in the Eighteenth Century: An Exhibition under the Gracious Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen (exh. cat. Tate Gallery, 16 August - 25 August 1957; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1957; National Gallery of Canada, ; Art Gallery of Ontario, 1958), London 1957
1958

W.R. Dawson (ed.), The Banks Letters: A Calendar of the Ms. Correspondance of Sir Joseph Banks, London 1958
1958

B. Nicolson et al., Joseph Wright of Derby 1734-1797: An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings (exh. cat. Tate Gallery, 1 April to 18 May 1958; Walker Art Gallery, 31 May to 21 June 1958), London 1958
1964

N. Pevsner and J. Harris, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, Harmondsworth 1964
1965

R. Harris, The Conversation Piece in Georgian England (exh. cat. Kenwood House, 1965), London 1965
1971

W. Gaunt, The Great Century of British Painting: Hogarth to Turner, Oxford 1971
1971

M. Praz, Conversation Pieces: A Survey of the Informal Group in Europe and America, London 1971
1972

K. Clark, La peinture romantique anglaise et les préraphaelites (exh. cat. Petit Palais, Januray - April 1972), Paris 1972
1973

J.H. Plumb, 'Lordly Pleasures', Horizon, XV/1, 1973
1985

National Gallery, The National Gallery Report: January 1982 - December 1984, London 1985
1985

D. Fraser, 'Joseph Wright's Portraits of Mr and Mrs Coltman and Colonel Heathcote', in M. Wrey (ed.), Christie's Review of the Season, Oxford 1985
1986

M. Wyld and D. Thomas, 'Wright of Derby's "Mr and Mrs Coltman": An Unlined English Painting', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, X, 1986, pp. 28-31
1986

A. Braham, Wright of Derby: Mr and Mrs Coltman (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 5 February - 27 April 1986), London 1986
1988

A. Seymour (ed.), Treasures for the Nation: Conserving our Heritage, London 1988
1990

J. Egerton, Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734-1797 (exh. cat. Tate Gallery, 7 February - 22 April 1990; Grand Palais, 17 May - 23 July 1990; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 6 September - 2 December 1990), London 1990
1995

A. Ribeiro, The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France 1750-1820, New Haven 1995
1998

J. Egerton, The British School, London 1998
2000

Egerton, Judy, National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings, revised edn, London 2000
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2007

E.E. Barker and A. Kidson, Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool (exh. cat. Walker Art Gallery, 17 November 2007 - 24 February 2008; Yale Center for British Art, 22 May - 31 August 2008), New Haven 2007
2008

N. Ireson and S. Richardson, Love: A National Gallery Touring Exhibition (exh. cat. Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, 19 January - 6 April 2008; Laing Art Gallery, 19 April - 13 July 2008; The National Gallery, London, 24 July - 5 October 2008), London 2008
2009

E.E. Barker, 'Joseph Wright of Derby', The Walpole Society, LXXI, 2009, pp. 1-216

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

More works by Joseph Wright 'of Derby'

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump