Joseph Wright

Background

Joseph Wright was born on September 3, 1734, in Derby, England, United Kingdom. He was the the third son of John Wright and Hannah Brookes.

Education

Joseph Wright was trained as a portrait painter by Thomas Hudson from 1751 to 1753, and later between 1756 and 1757, forming a lasting friendship with his fellow pupil John Hamilton Mortimer.

Career

Joseph Wright toured the East Midlands as a portrait painter in 1769 and worked in Liverpool from 1768 to 1771. Otherwise, he practiced in Derby, and the bulk of his output was portraiture. In the mid-1760s, he began painting "Candlelight" pictures, his own phrase, chiefly of scientific subjects. He quickly achieved a high reputation in this field, in which he was an innovator. He first exhibited at the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1765, showing there regularly until 1776, when he transferred to the Royal Academy.

Wright spent nearly two years in Rome, from 1773 to 1775, where he was overwhelmed by the remains of classical antiquity and drew assiduously. On his way home, he stopped briefly in Florence, Bologna, Venice, and other centers. When he returned, Wright abandoned his scientific and industrial scenes in favor of landscapes and literary subjects. After a disastrous two years in Bath, where he had hoped to take the place of Gainsborough, who had left for London in 1774, Wright settled in his native Derby. In 1785 he held his own exhibition of his works at Robin's auction rooms in London. From early middle age, he suffered from chronic ill health, which frequently incapacitated him for months.

Achievements

• Joseph Wright was one of the most interesting and important painters of the late 18th century. He was the first artist to depict industry and the scientific experiments of the age: such a choice of subject matter was a radical departure from mythological or historical scenes popular in Baroque. He had painted more then 100 works.
  
  Derby Museums have the world’s largest collection of Wright’s work but his art also graces the walls of some of the most famous galleries, including The Hermitage in St Petersburg, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Britain, and the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.
  
  

Works

More photos

• painting

  • A Philosopher by Lamp Light

    1769

  • Self-Portrait

    1765

  • Maria, from Sterne, a Companion to the Picture of Edwin

    1781

  • Portrait of Sarah Carver and her daughter Sarah

    1769

  • Inside the Arcade of the Colosseum

    1775

  • Two Boys Fighting over a Bladder

    1770

  • Dovedale by Moonlight

    1785

  • Mrs. Andrew Lindington

    1762

  • Arkwright's Cotton Mills by Night

    1782

  • John Milnes

    1776

  • A Girl reading a letter by Candlelight, with a Young Man peering over her shoulder

    1762

  • Francis Burdett

  • William Rastall

    1764

  • Lake Nemi

    1792

  • Old John, Head Waiter at the King's Head in Derby

    1780

  • Vesuvius in Eruption

    1780

  • Captain Robert Shore Milnes

    1772

  • Landscape with Figures and a Tilted Cart, Matlock Hogh Tor in the Distance

    1790

  • An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump

    1768

  • Lake Albano

    1792

  • Brooke Boothby

    1781

  • An Eruption of Vesuvius, seen from Portici

    1776

  • Erasmus Darwin

  • View of the Lake of Nemi

    1795

  • Thomas and Joseph Pickford as Children

    1779

  • Firework Display at the Castel Sant' Angelo in Rome

    1779

  • Widow of an Indian Chief

    1785

  • Christopher Heath

    1781

  • Dressing the Kitten

    1768

  • View in Dovedale

    1786

  • The Children of Hugh and Sarah Wood of Swanwick, Derbyshire

    1789

  • Vesuvius from Portici

  • Sir William FitzHerbert as a boy

  • Self-Portrait at the Age of about Twenty

    1753

  • Self-Portrait in a Black Feathered Hat

    1770

  • The Lady in Milton's Comus

    1785

  • The Blacksmith's Shop, 18th century

  • The Corinthian Maid

    1785

  • Study of the Interior of Glass House

    1772

  • An Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, with the Procession of St. Januariu'-s Head

    1778

  • A Grotto in the Kingdom of Naples, with Banditti

    1778

  • Self-Portrait at the Age of about Fifty

    1782

  • Lake with Castle on a Hill

    1787

  • Portrait of Fleetwood Hesketh

    1769

  • Self-Portrait

    1780

  • Portrait of a Girl in a Tawny Colored Dress

    1780

  • John Pickering

    1780

  • Cornet Sir George Cooke

    1768

  • Study of a Young Girl in a Turban and Frilled Collar

    1768

  • Mrs. Samuel Crompton

    1780

  • William Brooke

    1760

  • Portrait of a Lady

  • Nicholas Heath

    1763

  • The Prisoner

    1790

  • John Whitehurst

    1783

  • D'Ewes Coke, His Wife Hannah and Daniel Parker Coke

    1782

  • A Conversation between Girls, or Two Girls with their Black Servant

    1770

  • An Academy by Lamplight

    1769

  • Jedediah Strutt

    1790

  • Landscape Study Development from a Blot

    1770

  • Edward Becher Leacroft

    1762

  • Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Coltman

    1772

  • A Blacksmith's Shop

    1771

  • Mrs. Sarah Clayton

    1769

  • Portrait of Richard Arkwright Junior with his Wife Mary and Daughter Anne

    1790

  • An Open Hearth with a Fire

    1770

  • Sunset on the Coast near Naples

    1790

  • Italian Landscape

    1790

  • Vesuvius from Posillipo

  • Virgil's Tomb

  • View in Matlock Dale, Looking Towards Black Rock Escarpment

    1785

  • Landscape with a Rainbow

    1794

  • Portrait of Jane Darwin and her son William Brown Darwin

    1776

  • Ullswater

    1795

  • The Earthstopper on the Banks of the Derwent

    1773

  • Landscape with Dale Abbey

  • Cottage on Fire at Night

  • Simon Wilmot

    1760

  • Robert Vernon Atherton Gwillym

    1766

  • Portrait of a Lady with Her Lacework

    1770

  • Portrait of Susannah Leigh

  • Study of the Terrain near Vesuvius

    1774

  • Harvey Wilmot

    1760

  • Landscape near Bedgellert

    1795

  • Harriet Wright, the Artist's Daughter

    1793

  • Portrait of Mrs Catherine Swindell

    1772

  • Portrait of Dr Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) scientist, inventor and poet, grandfather of Charles Darwin

    1770

  • Miravan Breaking Open the Tomb of his Ancestors

    1772

  • Lady Wilmot and Her Child

    1788

  • Mrs. John Ashton

    1769

  • John Coates Browne

    1784

  • Portrait of Mrs.Abney

  • The Old Man and Death

    1774

  • Romeo and Juliet: The Tomb Scene, 'Noise again! then I'll be brief'

    1790

  • Convent of San-Cosimato and Part of the Claudian Aqueduct near Vicovaro in the Roman Campagna

    1786

  • The Alchemist Discovering Phosphorus or The Alchemist in Search of the Philosophers Stone

    1771

  • Penelope Unravelling her Web

  • A Cottage on Fire

    1787

  • Self Portrait at the age of about Forty

    1773

  • Mr. and Mrs. William Chase

  • Cavern, Near Naples

    1774

  • A Cavern, Evening

    1774

  • A Girl reading a Letter, with an Old Man reading over her shoulder

    1770

  • A Grotto in the Gulf of Salernum, with the figure of Julia, banished from Rome

    1780

  • Anne Bateman, later Mrs. John Gisbourne

    1755

  • The Iron Forge

    1772

  • Charles Hurt of Wirksworth

    1790

  • Sir Richard Arkwright

    1790

  • John Whetham or Kirklington, Nottinghamshire

    1782

  • An Italian Landscape with Mountains and a River

    1790

  • Mrs. Francis Hurt

    1780

  • Samuel Crompton

    1780

  • The Eruption of Vesuvius

  • Vesuvius from Posillipo

  • Thomas Gisborne and His Wife Mary

    1786

  • A View of Mount Etna and A Nearby Town

    1775

  • Mrs. Wilmot in Riding Dress

    1763

  • Matlock Tor by Daylight

    1780

  • Benjamin Franklin

    1782

  • Anne or Molly Cracroft

    1760

  • Virgil's Tomb, with the Figure of Silius Italicus

    1779

  • Portrait of a Gentleman

  • James and Mary Shuttleworth with One of Their Daughters

    1764

  • Boy with Plumed Hat and Greyhound

    1750

  • The Cloister of San Cosimato

    1789

  • Harry Peckham

    1763

  • Richard Cheslyn

    1777

  • Mrs. Robert Gwillym

    1766

  • The Annual Girandola, at the Castle of St.Angelo, Rome

    1776

  • Portrait of the Revd. Samuel Rastall, Dean of Killaloe, Ireland

  • Peter Perez Burdett and his First Wife Hannah

    1765

  • The Dead Soldier

    1789

  • Susannah Hurt with Her Daughter Mary Anne

    1790

  • Study of a Young Girl with Feathers in Her Hair

    1768

  • Vesuvius in Eruption, with a View over the Islands in the Bay of Naples

    1780

  • Edwin, from 'Minstrel' by Dr. Beattie

  • Study of Melancholy Girl

    1775

  • Study of John Staveley's Head

    1775

  • Thomas Day

    1770

  • Reverend Basil Bury Beridge

    1785

  • Maria, 'A Sentimental Journey' by Laurence Sterne

    1777

  • A Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno, Sunset

    1781

  • Francis Noel Clarke Mundy

    1763

  • Francis Hurt

    1780

  • Portrait of Samuel Oldknow

    1792

  • The Captive, from Sterne

    1774

  • The Orrery

    1766

  • Portrait of a Lady

    1760

  • Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight

    1765

Membership

Joseph Wright was never a formal member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, but his long friendship with John Whitehurst (1713-1788) and Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) certainly made him a Lunar satellite.

• 

  Royal Academy of Arts , United Kingdom

  1784

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "He is perhaps best known, however, for the three science-themed paintings that set him apart from most artists of his time: those of "The Air Pump, The Orrery, and The Alchemist."

Connections

On 28 July 1773, Joseph Wright married Ann (also known as Hannah) Swift, the daughter of a leadminer. They had six children, three of whom died in infancy.

Father:

John Wright

Mother:

Hannah Brookes

Spouse:

Ann Wright

Friend:

John Hamilton Mortimer

Friend:

John Whitehurst

Friend:

Erasmus Darvin

References

• Joseph Wright of Derby: Bath and Beyond This book examines Wright's little-known Bath period, places the artist in the context of a city then at the height of its unique cultural significance.
  2014
• Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734-1797
  1997
• Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool This beautifully illustrated book examines Wright's remarkable impact on the artistic climate of the city of Liverpool, on its cultural institutions and on the other artists working there.
  2008