Sir Brooke Boothby
- Artist: Joseph Wright of Derby
- Date: 1781
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 1486 x 2076 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "Sir Brooke Boothby" by Joseph Wright of Derby. Painted in 1781, this oil on canvas captures the Derbyshire landowner, poet, and philosopher in a moment of quiet contemplation. He reclines beside a gentle stream, surrounded by woodland, his hand resting on a vellum‑bound book. With a finger pointing to the name "Rousseau" on the spine, he signals his pride in having published the first volume of Jean‑Jacques Rousseau’s autobiographical Dialogues in 1780. Wright chooses a landscape format, echoing the Elizabethan tradition of full‑length, reclining subjects, but here the mood is more reflective than melancholy. The man’s fashionable attire – a double‑breasted frock coat, wide‑brimmed hat, and plain muslin cravat – contrasts with the natural setting, underscoring Rousseau’s ideal of harmony between humanity and nature. Boothby’s unbuttoned waistcoat and relaxed pose suggest a deliberate distraction from worldly concerns, aligning with his philosophical leanings. The portrait was bequeathed to the collection by Miss Agnes Ann Best in 1925, and it has since appeared in shows such as "A Picture of Britain" and "Citizens and Kings, Portraiture in the Age of David and Goya, 1770‑1830".
See it in person
Sir Brooke Boothby is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
