Christie’s roundel
Lot 238

Joseph Wright of Derby, A.R.A. (Derby 1734-1797)

Portrait of Captain William Kirke (1715-1773), bust-length, in a red military coat and blue waistcoat with gold embroidery

Closed31 August 2025

Estimate

GBP 6,000–8,000

More Information

How to sell

Joseph Wright of Derby, A.R.A. (Derby 1734-1797)
Portrait of Captain William Kirke (1715-1773), bust-length, in a red military coat and blue waistcoat with gold embroidery
oil on canvas
31 7⁄8 x 25 in. (79.8 x 63.4 cm.)

By descent in the family of the sitter.

Specialist note

Captain William Kirke of Mirfield Hall, East Markham, Nottinghamshire went up to Trinity, Cambridge, in October 1733, at the age of seventeen. He was a Justice of the Peace for Nottinghamshire and fought the Jacobites at Lauffield and Culloden in the army of the Duke of Cumberland. He died on 25 May 1773, aged fifty-eight, and was buried at Markham, leaving two sons, John and William.

This portrait was painted in March and April of 1760 when Wright stopped at Retford on his tour of the Midland towns to the east of Derby.