JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY (BRITISH 1734-1797)PORTRAIT OF FRANCIS FOX (1724-1789), BUST-LENGTH, IN A BROWN COAT; AND PORTRAIT OF DOROTHY FOX (1733-1793), IN A BLACK AND WHITE DRESS AND HATOil on canvas75 x 62cm (29½ x 24¼ in.) (2)Provenance:By descent through the sitters's family Exhibited:Derby, Corn Exchange, A Catalogue of the Art and Industrial Exhibition..., 1866 (nos. 206, 209), lent by Rev. S. Fox Literature:Benedict Nicolson, Joseph Wright of Derby : Painter of Light, London, Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art, 1968, nos. 62 and 63In his 1968 Catalogue Raisonné Benedict Nicholson suggests that it is more likely that the sitters represent Mr. and Mrs. William, however this were presumably based principally on the location of the Fox portraits entry in the account book, where it appears directly above entries for various views in the Lake District of the mid-1790s. However, Wright's account book does not follow a strict chronological order and is not a reliable mechanism for dating purposes. In addition, the identities of the sitters are confirmed not only by the old labels attached to the stretchers, but also by their provenance, by direct descent from Francis and Dorothy Fox to the present owner. Both works are to be included in Martin Postle's forthcoming catalogue raisonné.