Self-portrait c. 1780, oil on canvas, in the Yale Center for British Art
Born
(1734-09-03)3 September 1734
Derby, England
Died
29 August 1797(1797-08-29) (aged 62)
Derby, England
Resting place
St Alkmund's Church, Derby
Nationality
English
Other names
Wright of Derby
Occupation
Painter
Works
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
Spouse
Ann Swift
(m. 1773; died 1790)
Children
6
Joseph WrightARA (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution".[1]
Wright is notable for his use of tenebrism, an exaggerated form of the better known chiaroscuro effect, which emphasizes the contrast of light and dark, and for his paintings of candle-lit subjects. His paintings of the birth of science out of alchemy, often based on the meetings of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group of scientists and industrialists living in the English Midlands, are a significant record of the struggle of science against religious values in the period known as the Age of Enlightenment.
Many of Wright's paintings and drawings are owned by Derby City Council, and are on display at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery.[2]
^F. D. Klingender; quoted in Ellis Waterhouse, Painting in Britain 1530 to 1790, Fourth Edition, New York, Viking Penguin, 1978; p. 285.
^Kennedy, Maev (23 February 2012). "Restoration of Joseph Wright of Derby paintings reveals hidden details". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
and 23 Related for: Joseph Wright of Derby information
JosephWright ARA (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled JosephWrightofDerby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed...
JosephWright may refer to: JosephWrightofDerby (1734–1797), English painter JosephWright (American painter) (1756–1793), American portraitist Joseph...
by JosephWrightofDerby and now resides in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool [United Kingdom]. It depicts three men examining a reproduction of the...
artists such as Georges de La Tour and Trophime Bigot in France and JosephWrightofDerby in England, carried on with such strong, but graduated, candlelight...
place of the Sun, is a 1766 painting by JosephWrightofDerby depicting a lecturer giving a demonstration of an orrery – a mechanical model of the solar...
painting by JosephWrightofDerby, one of a number of candlelit scenes that Wright painted during the 1760s. The painting departed from convention of the time...
and Dressing the Kitten) (c. 1768–1770) is a "fancy painting" by JosephWrightofDerby (1734–1797). The painting is displayed at the Kenwood House Public...
Indian Widow is a painting by JosephWrightofDerby, completed in late 1783 or early 1784 and first shown in his solo exhibition in London in 1785. The...
thought that the first solo exhibition in Britain was staged by JosephWrightofDerby in 1785, the year after he refused to become a Royal Academician...
painting by JosephWrightofDerby originally completed in 1771 then reworked in 1795. The full title of the painting is The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's...
Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno is the subject of at least four paintings completed by JosephWrightofDerby following his visit there in 1774. The paintings...
who trained Joshua Reynolds and JosephWrightofDerby. Richardson also trained the most notable Irish portraitist of the period, Charles Jervas who enjoyed...
4 km) west ofDerby. The hall and village are these days known as Radbourne. In 1782, they moved to Full Street, Derby. They had four sons, one of whom died...
Dovedale by Moonlight, 1784, is one of five paintings by JosephWrightofDerby which uses the picturesque valley of Dovedale as its subject. These paintings...
Tomb of his Ancestors is a painting by JosephWrightofDerby originally completed in 1772 . The painting was titled Miravan Breaking Open the Tomb of his...
figures with connections to Derby include the painter JosephWright, known as WrightofDerby, who was known for his innovative use of light in his paintings...
Project Penelope Unravelling Her Web – a painting of Penelope by JosephWrightofDerby (from the Getty Museum) Penelope and the Suitors, a painting by...
cover of the book, designed by Paul Kidby, is a parody of the 1768 painting "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump" by JosephWrightofDerby. The Discworld...
Moon. Seaport by Moonlight (1771) by Claude Joseph Vernet Dovedale by Moonlight (1784) by JosephWrightofDerby A Philosopher in a Moonlit Churchyard (1790)...