Portrait of a Lady, half-length, in a blue and yellow dress, holding a shepherd's crook decorated with flowers, in a painted oval

The identity of the sitter for the present portrait remains a mystery, but on comparison with a group of other portraits executed by Joseph Wright in the early 1760s, this enigmatic portrait can be dated to circa 1762-4. In private correspondence (12 September 1999), David Fraser and Jane Wallis compare the similarity in style and in composition to Wright's portraits of circa 1760 (see, for example, Miss Catton, City Art Museum, Saint Louis; B. Nicholson, Joseph Wright of Derby, 1968, I, p. 187, no. 34; II, p. 17, pl. 31). However, they note the new sensitivity here employed by Wright in expressing the character of the sitter, and the exquisite handling of the costume, both elements favored by Joseph Wright in his portraits of 1762-4 (see Portrait of Nicholas Heath, Private Collection, Nicholson, op. cit, I, p. 203, no. 77; II, p. 21, p. 37). These developments, which point to a slightly later date, coincided with a rise in his local reputation and the confident establishment of a portrait painting practice shortly after he moved from the studios of his master, Thomas Hudson, in 1757.