This powerful rendering of an old man deep in thought is recorded in Wright’s Account Book in 1780 as: 'A Kitcat of old John Stavely for Mr. Holland, 18.18'. The painting was not intended as a portrait of Stavely, but rather as a character study, probably for an apostle or philosopher. Stavely was a favorite model of Wright’s during the 1770s, who clearly saw the potential of his rugged, timeworn features: Wright made five small head studies of the sitter from different angles, four of which are recorded by Nicolson (op. cit., p. 233, nos. 183-186, figs. 160 and 161) and featured him in a number of his subject pictures, including The Captive, from Sterne (Vancouver Art Gallery; on permanent loan to the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa) and The Old Man and the Ass, from Sterne (location unknown). A pen and ink study for the latter is inscribed: 'Portrait of John Staveley [sic] who came from Herefordshire with Mr French & sat to Mr Wright…'. Captain Richard French of the Royal Horse Guards was painted by Wright in circa 1771-72 (Nicolson, op. cit., pp. 198-9, no. 64, fig. 85). Wright refers to 'Cap.t French' as a 'good friend' in a letter to his sister from Rome, dated 13 April 1774 (W. Bemrose, The Life and Works of Joseph Wright, A.R.A. commonly called 'Wright of Derby', London, 1885, p. 31).

If the work does represent an apostle, it is an interesting example of the artist using a familiar religious form as a pretext to depict a sitter of highly individualized character. In common with Reynolds and indeed Caravaggio, who used beggars and street urchins as models for their subject pictures, Wright was able in these works to depict individuals from a lower social level than that allowed by conventional portraiture. These character studies have their roots in a Northern tradition; as Nicolson wrote of the present picture: 'In the last of the series dating from about 1780, when memories of Rome were fading and the art of the Netherlands was creeping back to take its place, we find ourselves once more in the world of Gerrit Dou, for whom Wright had the impudence to express admiration when on sacred Italian soil; even though in the interval since his youth he may have gained, through contact with the South, a greater breadth of vision' (op. cit., p. 64).

John Holland of Ford Hall, Derbyshire, for whom this work was painted, was a close friend and important patron of the artist. He amassed a large collection of Wright's work, including portraits of himself and his wife (Nicolson, figs. 274 and 275) and, as one of Wright's executors, was involved with the sale of the artist's pictures at Christie's in 1801. The painting retains its original Neo-classical frame of a pattern designed by the artist and used exclusively by him. By devising this unique type of frame, particularly for exhibition works, Wright was advertising the individuality of his pictures.