Joseph Wright of Derby 
British, 1734–1797
Elizabeth, Mrs. John Bostock, about 1769
Oil paint on canvas
Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2019.1

image height: 50 in, 127.0000 cm; image width: 40 in, 101.6000 cm; frame height: 60 1/8 in, 152.7175 cm; frame width: 50 in, 127.0000 cm; frame depth: 2 7/8 in, 7.3025 cm

European and American Art Before 1900

European Painting and Sculpture before 1900

Joseph Wright (“of Derby” denotes the English city where he passed most of his working life) spent two years in Liverpool painting portraits of middle-class families made wealthy from the city’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Elizabeth Bostock belonged to one such family. Wright’s portrait of her is one of five he painted of members of her family, which were fitted into the paneling of the dining room of her brother’s estate, Woolton Hall.

By descent from the sitter to David Ashton-Bostock; his sale, Christie’s, London, November 15, 1996, lot 27; from which acquired by William M. B. and Bernadette Johnson Berger, Denver; Berger Collection Educational Trust; gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2019. Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum and we will post information as it becomes available. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.