Portrait of Thomas Oldknow (c.1755/6-1791) of Marple, full-length, in a green suit and breeches, in a landscape

The sitter, Thomas Oldnow, is shown in an open landscape in a green coat and red-topped boots. In 1786, he had become the managing partner of his brother, Samuel Oldnow’s, bleaching and printing works at Heaton Mersey and was eagerly engaged in the burgeoning hub of manufacture centred in the Midlands. Wright records in his account book ‘A full length of the late Mr. Oldknow, £52.10’ in the opening years of the 1790s and below it ‘D^o. of Mr. Samuel Oldknow, £52.10’, suggesting that the two brothers’ portraits were commissioned at the same time. Thomas Oldknow died in 1791, leaving a will dated 2nd February, and bequeathing his substantial assets to his widow and young children. Wright’s portrait, dated to a similar period, was probably begun from life but completed posthumously.