“I, to yon lonely tent by pity led,
View where the widow mourns her soldier, dead;
Turns from her babe, whose careless smiles impart
Strange woe, that harrows up the mother’s heart,
Hangs o’er the body, bleeding on the ground,
Clasps his cold hand, and faints upon the wound.”
The picture of the “Dead Soldier” was bought from the easel by Heath for £105, who afterwards sold it to J. L. Philips. It was sold in Manchester, when the effects of that Patron of the Fine Arts came to the hammer, by Winstanley and Taylor, in October, 1814, and then realized £315. It is thus described in the Catalogue:—“Lot 33, Wright, of Derby,—‘The Dead Soldier.’ This acknowledged chef-d’œuvre of this admired master, uniting great knowledge of grouping, excellent drawing, & correct colouring, with a fine feeling of sentiment, decidedly proves the assertion of Mr. Fuzeli, in his ‘Biographical Notice of Mr. Wright,’ that ‘he once eminently succeeded in the pathetic.’”
The line engraving by Heath appears, from the following correspondence, to have been a great success.
The following is a copy of the original circular issued by the Engraver:—
London, July 25th, 1795.
PROPOSALS
For Publishing by Subscription
A PRINT,
To be Engraved by
JAMES HEATH,
Historical engraver to his Majesty, &c.,
from
The celebrated picture
of
THE DEAD SOLDIER,
Painted by
WRIGHT, OF DERBY.
CONDITIONS:
That the plate shall be the Size of the Plate of the Death of General Wolfe. The price of each print will be One Guinea; Proofs, Two Guineas; Half to be paid at the time of subscribing, and the remainder on the delivery of the Print.
Subscriptions are received by the Proprietor, James Heath, at 42 Newman Street, where a proof of the plate may be seen.
Received ______________ 179 of the sum of ______________ being Half of the Subscription for ______ impression of the above-mentioned print, which I promise to deliver according to the proposals.