Portrait of Joseph Wright of Derby

Joseph Wright of Derby Painting Reproductions 3 of 6

1734-1797

English Romanticism Painter

Joseph Wright (September 3, 1734 - August 29, 1797), styled Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter.
He was born in Derby, the son of an attorney, who was afterwards town-clerk. Deciding to become a painter, he went to London in 1751 and for two years studied under Thomas Hudson, the master of Joshua Reynolds. After painting portraits for a while at Derby, he again placed himself for fifteen months under his former master. He then settled in Derby, and varied his work in portraiture by the production of the subjects seen under artificial light with which his name is chiefly associated, and by landscape painting.
He married in 1773, and in the end of that year he visited Italy, where he remained till 1775. While at Naples he witnessed an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which formed the subject of many of his subsequent pictures. On his return from Italy he established himself at Bath as a portrait-painter; but meeting with little encouragement he returned to Derby, where he spent the rest of his life.
He was a frequent contributor to the exhibitions of the Society of Artists, and to those of the Royal Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1781 and a full member in 1784. He, however, declined the latter honour on account of a slight which he believed that he had received, and severed his official connection with the Academy, though he continued to contribute to the exhibitions from 1783 till 1794.
Wright's portraits are frequently defective in drawing, and without quality or variety of handling, while their flesh tints are often hard. He is seen at his best in his subjects of artificial light, of which the Orrery (1766), the property of the Corporation of Derby (now Derby City Council), and An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768), in the National Gallery, are excellent examples. His Old Man and Death (1774) is also a striking and individual production. An exhibition of Wright's works was brought together at Derby in 1883, and twelve of his pictures were shown in the winter exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1886.

125 Wright of Derby Paintings

Edwin from Dr Beattie's Minstrel, c.1777/78 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Edwin from Dr Beattie's Minstrel c.1777/78

Oil Painting
$2078
SKU: WOD-4328
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Maria from Sterne, 1781 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Maria from Sterne 1781

Oil Painting
$2241
Canvas Print
$56.75
SKU: WOD-4329
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 160 x 115 cm
Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, United Kingdom

Brooke Boothby, 1781 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Brooke Boothby 1781

Oil Painting
$2389
SKU: WOD-4330
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Virgil's Tomb with the Figure of Silius Italicus, 1779 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Virgil's Tomb with the Figure of Silius Italicus 1779

Oil Painting
$1846
Canvas Print
$60.32
SKU: WOD-4331
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 101.6 x 127 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Virgil's Tomb Sun Breaking through a Cloud, 1785 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Virgil's Tomb Sun Breaking through a Cloud 1785

Oil Painting
$1437
Canvas Print
$55.79
SKU: WOD-4332
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 47 x 65 cm
Ulster Museum, Belfast, United Kingdom

Romeo and Juliet, the Thomb Scene 'Noise again! then I'll be', 1790 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Romeo and Juliet, the Thomb Scene 'Noise again! ... 1790

Oil Painting
$2153
Canvas Print
$56.75
SKU: WOD-4333
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 101.6 x 127 cm
Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, United Kingdom

Lady Wilmot and her Child, 1788 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Lady Wilmot and her Child 1788

Oil Painting
$2223
SKU: WOD-4334
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

The Lady in Milton's Comus, 1785 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

The Lady in Milton's Comus 1785

Oil Painting
$1947
SKU: WOD-4335
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom

The Widow of Indian Chief Watching the Arms of her Deceased Husband, 1785 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

The Widow of Indian Chief Watching the Arms of ... 1785

Oil Painting
$2011
Canvas Print
$59.09
SKU: WOD-4336
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 101.6 x 127 cm
Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, United Kingdom

Penelope Unraveling Her Web by Lamp Light, 1785 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Penelope Unraveling Her Web by Lamp Light 1785

Oil Painting
$2287
Canvas Print
$61.01
SKU: WOD-4337
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 101.6 x 127 cm
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA

The Corinthian Maid, c.1782/85 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

The Corinthian Maid c.1782/85

Oil Painting
$2096
Canvas Print
$61.28
SKU: WOD-4338
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 106.3 x 130.8 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA

Self Portrait at the Age of about Forty, c.1772/73 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Self Portrait at the Age of about Forty c.1772/73

Oil Painting
$1437
Canvas Print
$61.01
SKU: WOD-4339
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

A Cavern Morning, 1774 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

A Cavern Morning 1774

Oil Painting
$1906
Canvas Print
$60.19
SKU: WOD-4340
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 101.6 x 127 cm
Private Collection

A Grotto by the Sea Side in the Kingdom of Naples with Banditti a Sunset, 1778 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

A Grotto by the Sea Side in the Kingdom of Naples ... 1778

Oil Painting
$3026
Canvas Print
$54.27
SKU: WOD-4341
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 122 x 172.7 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA

An Eruption of Vesuvius seen from Portici, c.1774/76 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

An Eruption of Vesuvius seen from Portici c.1774/76

Oil Painting
$1882
SKU: WOD-4342
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom

Vesuvius in Eruption with a View over the Islands in the Bay of Naples, c.1776/80 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Vesuvius in Eruption with a View over the Islands ... c.1776/80

Oil Painting
$1777
Canvas Print
$53.59
SKU: WOD-4343
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 122 x 176.4 cm
Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Vesuvius in Eruption, c.1777/80 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Vesuvius in Eruption c.1777/80

Oil Painting
$1846
SKU: WOD-4344
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

The Annual Girandola at the Castle of St Angelo Rome, 1776 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

The Annual Girandola at the Castle of St Angelo Rome 1776

Oil Painting
$2078
Canvas Print
$60.60
SKU: WOD-4345
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 138 x 173 cm
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom

An Eruption of Mout Vesuvius with the Procession of St Januarius's Head, 1778 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

An Eruption of Mout Vesuvius with the Procession ... 1778

Oil Painting
$2096
SKU: WOD-4346
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia

The Girandola or Grand Fire Work at the Castle of St Angelo in Rome, 1779 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

The Girandola or Grand Fire Work at the Castle of ... 1779

Oil Painting
$2078
Canvas Print
$57.44
SKU: WOD-4347
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 162.5 x 213 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Rocks with Waterfall, c.1772 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Rocks with Waterfall c.1772

Oil Painting
$1925
SKU: WOD-4348
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

A View of Catania with Mount Etna in the Distance, c.1775 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

A View of Catania with Mount Etna in the Distance c.1775

Oil Painting
$1592
SKU: WOD-4349
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Sunset on the Coast near Naples, c.1785/90 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Sunset on the Coast near Naples c.1785/90

Oil Painting
$1273
SKU: WOD-4350
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Dovedale by Moonlight, 1785 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Dovedale by Moonlight 1785

Oil Painting
$1214
Canvas Print
$63.62
SKU: WOD-4351
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 62.2 x 74.3 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA

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