Wright, James
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- Wright, James
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(c.1717 - 1803) of Woodford Essex, s. of Thomas Wright of Warwick; m. 1754 Catherine Stapleton; res. Venice 1766 - 74; KT 1766; cr. Bt. 1772.
1758 - 60 Venice (by 5 Dec. 1758 - Feb. 1760), Rome, Naples, Florence (by Jun.), Venice (Jul.)
1766 - 73 Turin (2 Sep. 1766), Venice (13 Sep. 1766 - Aug. 1769) [England Aug. 1769 - Aug. 1771] Venice (1771 - Jun. 1773)
1791 - 2 Rome (12 Dec. 1791), Naples ( - Feb. 1792), Rome (Feb. - May - ), Florence, Venice (3 - 5 Sep. 1792)
Most of Wright's years in Italy were spent in Venice, where he was first staying with his wife in December 1758. They were then observed by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who considered them 'a very agreeable English family', whose conversation was 'the greatest pleasure I have here'; she knew many of Wright's relations in England and Mrs Wright was 'Niece to Lord Westmorland. She is a very pretty, sensible young Woman'. They had stopped in Venice 'by her Lying in, unfortunately of a Dead child, But are preparing for Rome and Naples, and from thence design to return home', but this might not be for two years.1 It is not clear what happened in the next year, but the Wrights were next described by Lady Mary as leaving Venice towards the end of February 1760 with a Mr Stuart and Thomas Panton, 'intending for Rome and Naples'.2 In June 1760 Horace Mann obtained for them a ten-month passport to travel from Florence, where they had stayed some time, through Germany;3 they were in Venice in July.4 In the course of this visit Wright acquired works of art. James Adam told his brother Wright had made 'many purchases of pictures, prints, &ca here with but little taste',4 and in November 1760 Mann bought for him an intaglio with an Apollo (and sent him some seeds from a red-leaved ivy, which Wright had thought rare when he had seen it in the Boboli gardens in Florence).5
In 1766 Wright, who had been made a Knight of the Thistle, was appointed British resident at Venice. With Lady Wright he arrived at Turin on 2 September6 and reached Venice on 13 September.7 By the following March Lord Northington had requested that Wright (his nephew) should succeed to the first vacancy at Naples or Florence, intelligence which momentarily flustered Horace Mann until Wright assured him of his affection and loyalty and Lady Wright sent him a picture of the King 'of her own doing'.8 Ill health plagued both the Wrights at Venice; on 12 October 1768 Lord Kildare said Lady Wright's illness had prevented him from enjoying their good company, and on the 19th she was to receive for the first time after her illness.9
From August 1769 to August 1771 Wright was in England on sick leave (Robert Richie deputising for him in Venice).(10) They returned for less than two years, finally leaving Venice in June 1773,7 and Sir James's appointment as resident was formally ended in September 1774.
It appears that Wright had continued to acquire works of art in Venice. In 1771 Matthew William Peters painted him there with his family (untraced) and copied a Venus by Titian from Wright's collection. Wright later gave John Skippe some Italian drawings, including a number by Venetian artists (Piazzetta, Rosalba Carriera and Veronese).(11) But James Adams's allegation of Wright's lack of taste was apparently borne out when in 1799 'a miserable collection made up it is said by Sir James Wright' was sold at Christie's (24 Jun.).(12) There was also a posthumous sale in 1804 (Christie's, 8 - 9 Jun.) which included 174 paintings.
The Wrights were again in Italy between 1790 and 1793, nursing their sick son, George, though it appears the parents were not always travelling together. Lady Wright came to Italy with Maria Cosway (n?e Hadfield) in 1790,13 and by December she was in Pisa with George and his tutor, a Mr Ireland. There she obtained lodgings for Lord Bruce and Thomas Brand, who thought her 'a Lioness'.14 By June 1791 Lady Wright and her son had been in Rome and had gone on to Naples, Lady Knight observing that George was 'a fine youth but in bad health'.15 They were still in Naples in December, George suffering from fits of asthma and a high fever.16 It was probably during this stay in Naples that George sat to Robert Fagan (the portrait now in the NGI). In the autumn of 1791 a 'Lady Rolle' was said to have come for a short time to Naples and Vietri with a Mr Ireland, 'who kindly read Latin' with the children of the Rev. Edward Taylor,17 probably a garbled reference to Lady Wright and her son's tutor.
On 12 December 1791 Sir James was in Rome,18 on his way to Naples. In February 1792 Sir William Hamilton was seeking permission for Wright to export from Naples a horse which he had bought for his son.19 Hamilton said the Wrights were then in Rome and about to leave, but Lady Knight was conversing with the 'very agreeable' Lady Wright in Rome in May.20 Early in September 1792 Sir James was in Venice with James Pinnock,21 while Lady Wright and her son were in Florence22 and did not come to Venice until April 1793. On 30 May she passed through Bassano on her way back to England.23 Sir James was made one of the executors of the painter Jacob More (who died in Rome on 1 October 1793), but it is not clear he was then in Rome.24
1. Montagu Letters, 3:194 - 5 (5 Dec. 1758). Biog. note by Julia King. 2. Montagu Letters, 3:235. 3. ASF se 2741. 4. Note by J. Fleming from the Clerk of Penicuik MSS. 5. Wal.Corr., 21:457. 6. SP 105/317, f.248 (Sherdley, 17 Sep. 1766). 7. Horn, 1:85. 8. Wal.Corr., 22:499 - 501, 510 - 11. 9. Leinster Corr., 3:539, 541. 10. F. Vivian, Apollo, 131 [1990]:310. Horn,
1:85. 11. Skippe MSS (Wright to Skippe, 14 Jun. 1783). 12. Farington Diary (24 Jun. 1799). 13. Wal. Corr., 11:285n15. 14. Brand letters MSS c (2 Dec. 1790). 15. Knight Letters, 161. 16. Ibid., 166. 17. Taylor Papers, 13. 18. The World, 5 Jan. 1792. 19. ASN E 673. 20. Knight Letters, 171. 21. ASV is 765 (3 - 5 Sep.). 22. Carr letters MSS (24 Sep. 1792). 23. ASV is 767. 24. Farington Diary (5 Nov. 1793).