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Painting (Oil on Canvas, Framed) of Richard Lovett, by John Wright, c.1766

Inventory Number 43023

Acknowledgement: © History of Science Museum, University of Oxford, inv.43023

Brief Description
Long attributed to the much more famous <A HREF="https://artuk.org/discover/stories/joseph-wright-of-derby-the-everyday-the-epic-and-the-enlightenment">Joseph Wright of Derby</A>, this painting is actually by the provincial portraitist John Wright (active 1750s - c.1772). The sitter was Richard Lovett, a lay clerk of Worcester Cathedral who wrote on electricity. When Lovett's <I>Philosophical Essays</I> was published in 1766, John Wright was listed as a <A HREF=”https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=DBoAAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PR24“>subscriber</A>. The attribution to and identification of John Wright was established over a lengthy period of investigation on the Art Detective platform of Art UK (where the painting is <A HREF="https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/richard-lovett-16921780-221259">listed</A>). Many contributors disentangled longstanding confusions and pieced together fragmentary evidence, concluding in June 2024, just before the Art Detective site was archived. John Wright's <A HREF="https://artuk.org/discover/artists/wright-john-active-1750sc-1772/search/2024--artistel_auto:john-wright/page/1/view_as/grid">biography</A> is on Art UK. For those wanting to enjoy community history in action - full of twists and turns, tangents and convoluted revisions - the <A HREF="https://www.artuk.org/artdetective/discussions/discussions/can-more-be-established-about-this-painting-currently-attributed-to-joseph-wright-of-derby">lengthy final thread</A> of the Art Detective investigation is still available.
Subject
Paintings
Item type
Object
Provenance
Presented by the National Maritime Museum in 1986. Previously lent by the National Maritime Museum (1960 - 1986) along with 56486. From the Gabb Collection of scientific portraits, purchased from G. H. Gabb by Sir James Caird and presented to the National Maritime Museum at its foundation.
Object type
Oil painting
Dimensions
Height: 900mm Width: 760mm Depth: 28mm Weight: 5150g
Inventory No
43023
Accession Number
1986-17

Description

Portrait of Richard Lovett (1692 - 1780), scientist, naturalist, author of works on electricity and poet. Oil on canvas, framed and unglazed. The canvas has been stuck to board at a later date and the board is fixed on the reverse by further board pieces and copper alloy screws. Four corner pieces have been screwed - each with 6 white metal screws - into the reverse of the painting - also at a later date - to strengthen the painting. Two copper alloy eye hooks and a string for hanging the painting.

A label with the word 'ASTRONOMER' is also fixed to the back. 'Richard Lovett (1692 - 1780) has also been handwritten on the reverse of the board in pencil. There is also some other writing which it has not been possible to read.

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