page_title: Sir James Wright, 1st Baronet
section_title: Residence, collection and estates
hierarchical_section_title: Sir James Wright, 1st Baronet / Residence, collection and estates
caption_attribution_description: English: Allegory
context_page_description: Sir James Wright, 1st Baronet, of Ray House, Essex, was a British diplomat and art collector. He was the ambassador to Venice for Great Britain from 1766 to 1774.
context_section_description: In about 1770 Wright bought Ray House in Woodford from Bennet Hannot. He later took up residence in the two-storey five-bay brick mansion. Around 1773–6 Robert Adam worked on Ray House for Wright. Here Wright housed a collection of paintings acquired in his time in Venice. He was an art dealer, and made exaggerated claims for the works: a painting now attributed to Palma Vecchio was described by him as a Giorgione. He purchased amongst other works The Finding of Moses by Giambattista Tiepolo (as a Benedetto Caliari) in 1769, on behalf of Lord Bute. The painting of the biblical story is now in the National Gallery of Scotland.
  His time in Venice had allowed Wright some opportunity to develop as a connoisseur of painting, and he became a patron. He commissioned portraits: from Robert Fagan, Matthew William Peters, Joshua Reynolds, and Johann Zoffany. In the heated crayon debate of British art in the late 18th century, he contributed an opinion. Joseph Farington recorded in 1796 that at a Royal Academy committee meeting:
  A letter was read from Sir James Wright stating that 'having observed how much Crayon painting is fallen off in what he sees at the Exhibitions'. He offers the Academy a portrait by F. Cotes of Bromfield, the surgeon, as a lesson to the Students.
  Wright founded an artificial slate business on his estate in Woodford, noticed in Environs of London by Daniel Lysons, and mentioned by John Hassell as in a building using such slates. The product was publicised in an anonymous pamphlet of the 1780s, particularly directed towards export to the West Indies. In 1776 Wright went into the business as proprietor by purchasing a patent, from Henry Cook of Norfolk. He refined on the manufacturing process by importing ideas from Italy. Wright also acquired several adjacent estates, including Monkham house and farm.
caption: Allegory by Palma Vecchio, owned by Sir James Wright, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
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