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| Joseph Wright of Derby Cottage on Fire 1793 oil on canvas Derby Museum and Art Gallery |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno, Moonlight ca. 1780-90 oil on canvas Derby Museum and Art Gallery |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby The Old Man and Death ca. 1775 oil on canvas Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby The Funeral Pyre ca. 1775 oil on canvas York City Art Gallery |
"The effects of light fascinated Joseph Wright of Derby. An attorney's son, he trained as a portrait painter in London, but he returned to Derby, the first major English painter to build his career outside the capital. . . . In 1773 Wright went to Italy. Vesuvius's volcanic eruption and Rome's annual fireworks display impressed him, and he began to understand how his interest in light sources could combine with landscape painting. Returning to Derby in 1777, he found a steady stream of portrait clients, whom he satisfied with more penetrating characterizations, more complex iconography, more subdued coloring, and, frequently, literary themes. With the leisure to choose subjects, he increasingly painted landscapes, seeking truthful observation of nature, including rock formations or effects of light and atmosphere, without sacrificing aesthetic values like poetry, beauty, drama, and composition."
– from biographical notes at the Getty Museum
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Studies of a Classical Bust ca. 1774-75 oil on paper, mounted on canvas Yale Center for British Art |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of Sarah Carver and her daughter Sarah ca. 1769-70 oil on canvas Derby Museum and Art Gallery |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of Miss Jane Monck ca. 1760 oil on canvas Temple Newsam House, Leeds |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of Miss Jane Monck ca. 1760 oil on canvas Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of The Reverend D'Ewes Coke, his wife Hannah, and Daniel Parker Coke ca. 1782 oil on canvas Derby Museum and Art Gallery |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of William Brooke 1760 oil on canvas Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, Yorkshire |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of Elizabeth Pigot ca. 1760 oil on canvas Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, Yorkshire |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of Samuel Oldknow ca. 1790-92 oil on canvas Temple Newsam House, Leeds |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of Anne Barrow ca. 1762-63 oil on canvas Derby Museum and Art Gallery |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of Lawrence Monck in Van Dyck Costume 1760 oil on canvas Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
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| Joseph Wright of Derby Portrait of Harriet (the artist's daughter) ca. 1790-93 oil on panel (grisaille) Derby Museum and Art Gallery |