
Joseph Wright of Derby Painting Reproductions Gallery 4 of 6
1734-1797English Romantic 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 Paintings of Wright of Derby
Minneapolis Institute of Arts Minnesota USA
Cottage on Fire
$1307
$54.96
Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge United Kingdom
Matlock Tor by Daylight
$1539
Yale Center for British Art Connecticut USA
Lake Albano
$983
$46.93
Yale Center for British Art Connecticut USA
Lake Nemi
$780
$46.93
Louvre Museum Paris France
Lake Nemi at Sunset
$1486
Galleries and Museums Sheffield United Kingdom
Landscape with Dale Abbey and Church Rocks
$1390
National Gallery of Art Washington USA
Italian Landscape
$1468
$56.64
Private Collection
View in Dovedale
$1034
Private Collection
The Convent of San Cosimato and part of the ...
$1209
City Art Gallery Southampton United Kingdom
Landscape with Figures and a Tilted Cart, Matlock ...
$1411
Yale Center for British Art Connecticut USA
View in Matlock Dale looking South to Black Rock ...
$1230
$54.18
Museum and Art Gallery Derby United Kingdom
Landscape with a Rainbow
$1580
Private Collection
Portrait of Sir Richard Arkwright
$1810
City Art Gallery Leeds United Kingdom
Portrait of Samuel Oldknow
$1777
Private Collection
Portrait of Francis Hurt
$1610
$56.51
Private Collection
Portrait of Mrs Francis Hurt
$1740
Museum and Art Gallery Derby United Kingdom
Portrait of Jedediah Strutt
$1559
$55.73
Private Collection
Portrait of Samuel Crompton
$1341
Private Collection
Portrait of Mrs Samuel Crompton
$1390
Private Collection
Portrait of Charles Hurt of Wirksworth
$1885
Private Collection
Portrait of Susannah Hurt with her daughter Mary Anne
$2335
Private Collection
Portrait of Richard Cheslyn
$1720
Private Collection
Portrait of Christopher Heath
$1826
Museum and Art Gallery Derby United Kingdom
Rydal Waterfall
$1362