Outlet of Wyburne Lake
Framed: 29 × 37 × 2 1/2 inches (73.66 × 93.98 × 6.35 cm)
- 125
Glorious Nature: British Landscape Painting 1750-1850, Denver Art Museum, December 11, 1993-February 6, 1994, no. 23, as Outlet of Wyburne Lake.
In England’s northwest Lake District, a man fishes near Raven Crag, the peak that rises dramatically at the right of the canvas. Raven Crag was a favorite subject of British landscape painters because its spectacular scenery appealed to the public’s taste for picturesque settings.
Joseph Wright of Derby took sketching trips to the Lake District in the summers of 1793 and 1794. This painting, based on sketches he created during those trips, is his last known work.
Acquired from the artist by Thomas Moss Tate (ca. 1767-1825), Liverpool, by 1797-1825 [1];
With Montague Bernard, London, stock no. 10326, as Outlet of Wyburne Lake or Leathes Water, by December 1952-at least 1954 [2];
With Marshall Spink (1904-1990), London, by May 2, 1962 [3];
Purchased at his sale, Catalogue of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Drawings and Paintings Including Watercolours by Cox, Hunt, Varley and de Wint and An Important View of Edinburgh by Patrick Nasmyth, 1812, The Property of the late Mrs. M. E. Martineau; Also A Portrait of William Fisher by John Constable, R. A., Two Landscapes by Cornelius Krieghoff, and Examples by Dommersen, W. Koekkoek, Kruseman and Ouwater, The Property of the Most Hon. the Marquis of Linlithgow and Other Owners , Sotheby’s, London, May 2, 1962, lot 125, by Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, stock no. 3838, 1962-August 13, 1963 [4];
Purchased from Agnew by Milton W. McGreevy (1903-1980), Kansas City, MO, August 13, 1963-July 23, 1981;
His bequest to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1981.
NOTES:
[1] Thomas Moss Tate and Joseph Wright of Derby were good friends, as evidenced by his description of Wright as a “valuable,” “dear,” and “esteemed” friend in Tate’s 1825 will. See Benedict Nicolson, Joseph Wright of Derby, 2 vols. (London: Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art, 1968, 1: 139.
[2] National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Image Collections, M. Bernard archive, Italian views – Landscapes – London Scenes.
[3] According to David Moore-Gwyn, Sotheby’s, London, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, NAMA European Department, January 23, 2015, NAMA curatorial files.
[4] The National Gallery, London, Thomas Agnew and Sons Ltd. Archive, NGA27/1/1, Picture Stock Books.
[5] A copy of Agnew’s invoice to McGreevy is in the NAMA curatorial files.
“Notable Works of Art Now on the Market: Supplement,” The Burlington Magazine 94, no. 597 (December 1952): (repro.), as Outlet of Wyburne Lake.
advertisement, The Burlington Magazine 96, no. 612 (March 1954): x, (repro.), as Wyburne Lake, Leathes Water.
Catalogue of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Drawings and Paintings Including Watercolours by Cox, Hunt, Varley and de Wint and An Important View of Edinburgh by Patrick Nasmyth, 1812, The Property of the late Mrs. M. E. Martineau; Also A Portrait of William Fisher by John Constable, R. A., Two Landscapes by Cornelius Krieghoff, and Examples by Dommersen, W. Koekkoek, Kruseman and Ouwater, The Property of the Most Hon. the Marquis of Linlithgow and Other Owners (London: Sotheby, May 2, 1962), 24, as Wyburn Lake, as fisherman on the banks.
Art Prices Current 39 (August 1961-July 1962): 145, as Wyburn Lake.
Benedict Nicolson, Joseph Wright of Derby, Painter of Light (London: Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art, 1968), no. 325, pp. 1: 93, 139, 268; 2: (repro.), as Outlet of Wyburn Lake.
Katharine Baetjer, Glorious Nature: British Landscape Painting 1750-1850, exh. cat. (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1993), 130-31, (repro.), as Outlet of Wyburne Lake.
Possibly Jospeh Machlis and Kristine Forney, The Enjoyment of Music, 10 ed. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2007).
