Portrait of Anne, Lady Wigram (1794-1844) C.1818; Thomas Barber (C.1768-1843)

An exquisite portrait of Anne Wigram (nee Arkwright) wearing a pink dress and pink flowers in her hair. Highly decorative, as much attention is paid to the apparel as the facial features. The fabrics and the flesh are defined with lightness and dexterity. The style and influence of Thomas Lawrence whom the artist trained under is evident and the clear fresh palette, bright eyes, and rendering are beautiful.

Ann was the younger daughter of the richest British man from the bourgeoisie at the time, Richard Arkwright Jr. of Willersley Castle, Derbyshire (1775-1843). Her grandfather, Sir Richard Arkwright of Preston (1732-1792) was the first of the 'cotton kings' and one of the giants of the Industrial Revolution. He patented the water frame, a roller-spinning machine powered by water, that turned textile spinning into a factory industry and in so doing he developed a major industrial empire. He is acknowledged as the founder of the modern factory system. Anne’s father, Richard Jr. further developed the factory system and became immensely wealthy. When he died his vast fortune amounted to over three million pounds.

Anne married the Rt. Hon. Sir James Wigram (1791-1844), Vice-Chancellor in the Court of Chancery (1841-1850). Sir James was the third son of Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet. He was educated privately and at Trinity College, Cambridge and he was later admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn in 1813 and was called to the bar there in 1819. He was an MP for Leominster and was also Vice-Chancellor of England.

The present portrait of Anne is a pendant to that of her husband, which we also have for sale at the time of writing. It is likely that the pair of portraits were commissioned to celebrate the couple’s wedding in 1818.

Oil on canvas in the original good quality frame.

Thomas Barber, called Barber of Nottingham, captured the local portrait market during the later part of the 18th century and early part of the 19th. Born at Nottingham he was the only son of well off local man Thomas Barber (1729-1775) and his wife Ann Abbott, formerly Mrs. William Tomlin. The father belonged to the ancient Dark Peak Barber family, so the artist had deep Derbyshire roots going back to John Barber of Edale, yeoman, who died in 1535.

Barber was a contemporary of Joseph Wright (of Derby) who painted both the sitter’s father and grandfather and other members of the family. Equally prolific and being local, he remained local, like Wright. Having shown a talent for painting, young Thomas was sent in 1786 to work in the studio of Sir Thomas Lawrence, RA, the epitome of a dashing Regency society painter. He worked in Lawrence’s studio until about 1793, when he returned to Nottingham and set up on his own account at Parkside, Nottingham. His clientele expanded rapidly which led him to opened another studio in Friar Gate, Derby in 1813. Many of his sitters were the movers and shakers of Derbyshire including more Arkwrights, Boothbys, Batemans, and prominent lawyer Lord Denman who lived at Stoney Middleton Hall.

His first wife was Mary died in 1825, whereupon he married Anne, widow of the aristocratic Derby attorney William Bateman: hence the number of paintings Barber did of Bateman family members, including a delightful double portrait in 1816 of the eight year old Thomas Osborne Bateman and his younger brother Hugh, which hung at their seat, Hartington Hall, and later at their Derby villa, Litchurch Lodge, now the Rolls-Royce Social Club. This portrait was sold at Christies in 1989 for a respectable £8,000.

In 1819, whilst residing in Derby, Barber exhibited a portrait of the actress Mrs. Siddons at the Royal Academy and, amongst the other Derby notables who sat for him Octavius Oakley, John Radford of Smalley Hall (1809), John Balguy of Duffield Park, then Recorder of Derby, the Revd. Charles Hope, Tory vicar of St. Alkmun

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