Portrait of Joseph Wright of Derby

Joseph Wright of Derby Painting Reproductions 6 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

The Dead Soldier, c.1789 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

The Dead Soldier c.1789

Oil Painting
$1976
Canvas Print
$61.03
SKU: WOD-17518
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 101.6 x 127 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Vesuvius from Posillipo, c.1788 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Vesuvius from Posillipo c.1788

Oil Painting
$1942
Canvas Print
$57.54
SKU: WOD-17519
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 63.5 x 83.8 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Matlock Tor by Moonlight, c.1777/80 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Matlock Tor by Moonlight c.1777/80

Oil Painting
$1255
Canvas Print
$63.53
SKU: WOD-17520
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 63.5 x 76.2 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Lake Scene, 1790 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Lake Scene 1790

Oil Painting
$1732
Canvas Print
$54.34
SKU: WOD-17521
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 53.3 x 76.2 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Landscape with a Rainbow, c.1793/94 by Wright of Derby | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with a Rainbow c.1793/94

Oil Painting
$1918
Canvas Print
$54.34
SKU: WOD-17522
Joseph Wright of Derby
Original Size: 70 x 100 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

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