Joseph Wright of Derby - part 3

1765-68c Self-Portrait 
oil on canvas 69.8 x 58 cm 
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Joseph Wright (1734 – 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”. Wright is noted for his use of Chiaroscuro effect, which emphasises 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 meetings of the Lunar Society, a group of very influential 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.

This is part 3 of a 5 - part post on the works of Joseph Wright. For full biographical notes see part 1. For earlier works see parts 1 - 2 also.


1774-75c Smaller Italian Sketchbook. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:

Graphite, pen and ink, grey and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Roman Ruins Including an Arched Aqueduct and Tower 
grey ink and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Roman Ruins with Arched Alcoves 
ink and grey wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Granary 
brush and ink, grey and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Graphite, ink and grey and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Villas and a Church 
brush and ink and grey wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with a Curved Wall, Round Tower and Distant Villa 
pen and ink, brush and grey wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm  
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Roman Ruins 
pen and grey ink and wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Roman Ruins: Part of the Colosseum 
pen and grey ink, grey and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Villa Surrounded by Trees 
graphite, brown wash, touches of pen and brown ink and blue wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with a Distant Buildings 
pen and ink, grey and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Cedars and Buildings 
graphite, pen and ink, grey and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Distant Buildings 
graphite, pen and ink, grey and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Distant Buildings 
graphite, brown and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Distant Buildings 
graphite, brown and yellow wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with a Two-Story Building on a Hill 
graphite, brown and grey wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Tiled Roofed Building with an Arcade 
graphite, grey ink and wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with a Towered Building and Domed Church 
pen and grey ink. and wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Roman Arch with Road Below and Trees Above 
graphite, pen and brown ink 23.4 x 17.1 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Church with a Tiled Roof and Tower 
graphite, pen and brown ink and wash17.1 x 23.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Trees and Distant Hills 
grey ink and wash 23.4 x 17.1 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Landscape with Domed Church 
graphite, pen and black ink, grey and brown wash 17.1 x 23.4 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Trees, Bushes and Vegetation 
black and grey ink and wash 23.4 x 17.1 cm 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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1774-75 Studies of a Classical Bust 
oil on paper mounted on canvas 51 x 42.9 cm 
Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT

1774-75c Part of the Colosseum Seen in Sunlight 
pen and ink and wash on paper 38.1 x 51.7 cm
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, UK

1774-76 Richard Hurleston ( attributed to ) 
oil on canvas 67.3 x 56.5 cm
Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT

1774-76c An Eruption of Vesuvius, Seen from Portici 

oil on canvas 101.6 x 127 cm 

University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK

1776-80c Vesuvius in Eruption, with a View over the Islands in the Bay of Naples 
oil on canvas 122 x 176.4 cm
Tate, London

1777-80c Vesuvius in Eruption 
oil on canvas? 124.4 x 180.3 cm 
Private Collection

1778 exhibited An Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, with the Procession of St. Januarius's Head 
oil on canvas 162 x 213.4 cm 
Pushkin Museum of Fine Art, Moscow, Russia

1774-78 Firework Display at Castel Sant'Angelo 
oil on canvas 42.5 x 70.5 cm 
Birmingham Museums Trust,  UK

exhibited 1776 The Annual Girandola, at the Castle of St. Angelo, Rome 
oil on canvas 137.5 c 173 cm 
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK

1779 Firework Display at the Castel Sant' Angelo in Rome ( La Girandola ) 
oil on canvas 162.5 x 213 cm
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

1775 Study of Melancholy Girl 
pen and ink on paper 55 x 41.3 cm 
British Museum, London

1775c Study for "The Old Man Grieving over His Ass" from Sterne 
pen and ink on paper 55.4 x 34.9 cm
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

1775-77c "The Captive" from  Sterne 
oil on canvas 101.6 x 127 cm 
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, UK

1775c A View of Catania with Mount Etna in the Distance 
oil on canvas 66 x 88.6 cm 
Tate, London

1776 John Milnes 
oil on canvas 127 x 101 cm 
The Louvre, Paris

1776 Portrait of Jane Darwin and her son William Brown Darwin 
oil on canvas 75 x 62 cm

1777 "Maria" from Sterne 
oil on canvas 100.3 x 125.7 cm 
Private Collection

1777 Richard Cheslyn 
oil on canvas 127 x 101.6 cm 
Private Collection

1777-78 Minstrel. Edwin, from Dr Beattie's 
oil on canvas 160 x 116.8 cm 
Private Collection

1778 John Raphael Smith after Joseph Wright "Edwin ( Thomas Haden )" 
mezzotint on ivory laid paper 47.7 x 35.2 cm ( image ) 
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1781 Maria, from Sterne, a Companion to the Picture of Edwin 
oil on canvas 160 x 115.6 cm
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, UK

1864 Francis Seymour Haden after Joseph Wright "Thomas Haden" 
etching and drypoint on paper 58 x 51 cm
Harvard Art Museums - Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA

1777-79c Thomas and Joseph Pickford as Children 
oil on canvas 
Private Collection

1777-80 Portrait of a Gentleman 
oil on canvas 75.5 x 63.2 cm 
Manchester City Galleries, UK

1777-80c Matlock Tor by Moonlight 
oil on canvas 64.1 x 76.5 cm 
Detroit Institute of Arts, MI

1778-80c Matlock Tor 
oil on canvas 73.1 x 100 cm 
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK

1777-80c Reverend John Pickering 
oil on canvas 81 x 69.5 cm 
Private Collection

1779 Virgil's Tomb, with the Figure of Silius Italicus 
oil on canvas 101.6 x 127 cm 
Private Collection

1778 A Grotto by the Sea-Side in the Kingdom of Naples, with Banditti, a Sun-Set 
oil on canvas 122 x 172.7 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

exhibited 1780 A Grotto in the Gulf of Salernum, with the Figure of Julia, Banished from Rome 
oil on canvas 114.3 x 175.3 cm 
Private Collection

1780-90 Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno, Italy, Moonlight 
oil on canvas 101.6 x 127 cm
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, UK

1780 Landscape 
oil on canvas 101.5 x 128.5 cm 
Civic Centre, Southampton, Hampshire, UK

1780-82 A Lake by Moonlight 
oil on canvas 62.2 x 75.6 cm 
Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT

1780-85 Matlock Dale, looking toward Black Rock Escarpment 
oil on canvas 58.4 x 76.2 cm
Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, CT

1780-85 Reverend Thomas Seward, MA 
oil on canvas 76 x 61 cm 
English Heritage, Down House, Kent, UK

1780-85c Caernarvon Castle by Moonlight 
oil on canvas 54 x 64.4 cm 
Manchester City Art Galleries, UK

1780c Elizabeth Crompton 
oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm 
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, UK