Group portrait or 'conversation piece' of two men and a woman in a landscape, identified as (from top and clockwise) Reverend D'Ewes Coke, his wife Hannah, and Daniel Parker Coke, MP. They are gathered around a table and appear to be discussing a drawing or design on paper held by Daniel Parker Coke. Hannah Coke leans on a portfolio of drawings, identified as such by the appearnace of a corner of a sheet of paper showing foliage studies. On the table is a green umbrella. Painted by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797). Oil on canvas in gilded frame.

Exhibitions:

  • Title: Wright of Derby: The Bi-centenary Exhibition of Paintings by Joseph Wright
    Venue: Derby Corporation Art Gallery
    Dates: from 03/09/1934 to 18/11/1934
  • Title: Pictures by Joseph Wright of Derby
    Venue: Graves Art Gallery
    Dates: from 17/07/1950 to 27/07/1950
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby
    Venue: Norwich Castle Museum
    Dates: from 03/01/1959 to 01/02/1959
  • Title: Gifts to the Galleries (NACF)
    Dates: from 16/04/1968 to
  • Title: Zwei Jahrhunderte Britischer Malerei
    Dates: from 16/04/1969 to 16/04/1969
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734 - 1797
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from to
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: An Exhibition to Commemorate the Centenary of Derby Museums and Art Gallery
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 21/04/1979 to 21/07/1979
  • Title: Wright of Derby
    Venue: Tate Gallery
    Dates: from 16/04/1990 to 16/04/1990
  • Title: Love's Prospect: Gainsborough's Byam Family and the Eighteenth Century Marriage Portrait
    Venue: The Holburne Museum of Art
    Dates: from 14/02/2001 to 08/04/2001
  • Title: Citizens and Kings: Portraits in the Age of Revolution, 1760-1830
    Venue: Royal Academy of Arts
    Dates: from 03/02/2007 to 20/04/2007
  • Title: Faces In The Crowd: Joseph Wright And Friends In Georgian Derbyshire
    Venue: Buxton Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 05/03/2011 to 30/05/2011
  • Title: Loan Exhibition of Works by Joseph Wright A.R.A. of Derby
    Venue: Graves' Galleries
    Dates: from 16/04/2026 to 16/04/2026
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings Arranged by the Arts Council
    Venue: Walker Art Gallery
    Dates: from 16/04/2026 to

Publications

  • Title: Wright of Derby
    Published Place: London
    Copyright: The Tate Gallery
    Published Year: 1990
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light
    Sub-Title: Volume 1
    Volume: 1
    Published Place: London
    Copyright: Benedict Nicolson, 1968
    Published Year: 1968

Related People

  • Daniel Parker Coke (Content)

    Display Date: British, 1745 - 1825

    Nationality: British

    Biography: M.P. for Derby and Nottingham. Patron of Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797).

  • Reverend D'Ewes Coke (Content)

    Display Date: British, 1747 - 1811

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Lived at Brookhill Hall, Derbyshire. Married Hannah Heywood (d. 1818).

  • Hannah Coke (Content)

    Display Date: British, died 1818

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Lived at Brookhill Hall, Derbyshire. Married to Reverend D'Ewes Coke (1747-1811).

  • Joseph Wright of Derby (Artist)

    Display Date: British, 1734 - 1797

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Artist.

The Rev D'Ewes Coke, his wife Hannah and Daniel Parker Coke

Date: 1780-1782

Medium: Oil on canvas.

Object Type:Painting
Dimensions:Frame: 1689 × 1950 mm (66 1/2 × 76 3/4 in.) Support: 1524 × 1778 mm (60 × 70 in.)
Description:This painting depicts members of the Coke family outdoors, in a popular format of group portraiture known as a ‘conversation piece.’ Here, Wright used a triangular composition of figures to present an idealised image of domestic harmony and close bonds; a device that he returned to often for family portraits. Reverend D’Ewes Coke, rector of Pinxton and South Normanton and a natural history enthusiast, is shown at the peak of the family pyramid. Below him are his wife Hannah, and his distant cousin Daniel Parker Coke, a radical local M.P. Together they discuss a landscape sketch, or possibly a design for the gardens for Brookhill Hall, which D’Ewes Coke had inherited in 1780.
Provenance:Listed in Wright's Account Book as 'A Conversation Picture of D. P. Coke Esqr., The Revd. Mr. Duse Coke & his Lady, £75.12', among works of the early 1780s; by descent through the Coke family to R. G. S. Coke, from whom purchased by Derby Museums in 1965.
Viewing Status:Contact Us
Item Ref:1965-676
Browse Collection
Browse Collection