Joseph Wright, styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English painter who specialised in portrait painting and landscape art. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution".
Paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby
The Alchemist Discovering Phosphorus (1771)
The Alchemist Discovering Phosphorus is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby originally completed in 1771 then reworked in 1795. The full title of the painting is The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, and prays for the successful Conclusion of his operation, as was the custom of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers. It has been suggested that The Alchymist refers to the discovery of phosphorus by the Hamburg alchemist Hennig Brand in 1669. This story was often printed in popular chemical books in Wright's lifetime, and was widely known.
The picture shows the alchemist trying to produce the elusive Philosopher's stone, which could turn ordinary metal into gold, but instead, to his amazement, he discovers phosphorus. However, Wright does not picture the alchemist in a 17th-century background, but he romanticises the room by imagining medieval gothic arches and high, pointed windows as if he is in a church. He also gave a very favourable impression of the actual process, which involves the reduction by boiling of urine. A 1730 description of the manufacture of phosphorus described the need for 50 or 60 pails of urine that was both putrid and "bred worms".
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery (1766)
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery, or the full title, A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun, is a 1766 painting by Joseph Wright of Derby depicting a lecturer giving a demonstration of an orrery – a mechanical model of the Solar System – to a small audience. It is now in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery The painting preceded his similar An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (National Gallery, London).
The first of Wright's candlelit masterpieces, Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight, was painted in 1765, and showed three men studying a small copy of the "Borghese Gladiator". The Gladiator was greatly admired; but his next painting, The Orrery, caused a greater stir, as it replaced the Classical subject at the centre of the scene with one of a scientific nature. Wright's depiction of the awe produced by scientific "miracles" marked a break with previous traditions in which the artistic depiction of such wonder was reserved for religious events, since to Wright the marvels of the technological age were as awe-inspiring as the subjects of the great religious paintings.
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768)
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump is a 1768 oil-on-canvas painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, one of a number of candlelit scenes that Wright painted during the 1760s. The painting departed from convention of the time by depicting a scientific subject in the reverential manner formerly reserved for scenes of historical or religious significance. Wright was intimately involved in depicting the Industrial Revolution and the scientific advances of the Enlightenment. While his paintings were recognized as exceptional by his contemporaries, his provincial status and choice of subjects meant the style was never widely imitated. The picture has been owned by the National Gallery in London since 1863, and is regarded as a masterpiece of British art.
The painting depicts a natural philosopher, a forerunner of the modern scientist, recreating one of Robert Boyle's air pump experiments, in which a bird is deprived of air before a group of onlookers. The group members exhibit a variety of reactions, such as grief, disbelief, and dismay, but for most of the audience, scientific curiosity overcomes concern for the bird. The central figure looks out of the picture as if inviting the viewer's participation in the outcome.
Virgil's Tomb (Joseph Wright paintings) (1779)
Virgil's Tomb is the title of at least three paintings completed by Joseph Wright of Derby between 1779 and 1785.
The subject of these paintings is a fruit of Wright's Italian tour undertaken in 1773–1775. These three depict the ruined structure near Naples that was traditionally identified as the tomb of the Latin epic poet Virgil. The earliest of the three, dated to 1779, includes the figure of Silius Italicus, a slightly later poet known to have been an admirer of Virgil.
Indian Widow (1785)
Indian Widow is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, completed in late 1783 or early 1784 and first shown in his solo exhibition in London in 1785. The painting is since 1961 in the collection of Derby Museum and Art Gallery.
Indian Widow was a title used by the painter, but a longer and more descriptive title also exists, The Widow of an Indian Chief Watching the Arms of Her Deceased Husband. According to Benedict Nicolson, in clothing the figure of the widow, Wright "has fallen back on those well-worn neo-classic draperies which served for any distressed female". Nicolson finds that other details, however, are more authentic: "the form of her head-band, the treatment of the feathers, the quilled cords and knife-sheath, and the buffalo-robe painted on the skin side show knowledge of Indian technology from at least as far west as the upper Great Lakes: this proves that Wright used authentic props". The concept of the Noble Savage, applied to Native Americans, was all the more popular in Britain in the 1780s when Americans of European origin could be regarded as rebels.
Romeo and Juliet: the Tomb Scene (1790)
Romeo and Juliet: the Tomb Scene is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, completed by 1790, exhibited in 1790 and 1791, shown in the Derby Exhibition of 1839 in the Mechanics' Institute, and now displayed in Derby Museum and Art Gallery. The painting exhibits Wright's famed skill with nocturnal and candlelit scenes. It depicts the moment in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet when Juliet, kneeling beside Romeo's body, hears a footstep and draws a dagger to kill herself. The line is "Yea, noise? Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger!"
The idea for the painting came from Wright in December 1776 when he proposed a painting of "Juliet waking in the tomb". The commission was agreed by Alderman John Boydell for his "Shakespeare Gallery". However the work was the cause of a major row between them. Wright discovered that Boydell had classified the painters he had commissioned into two classes. Wright had discovered that he was assigned to the second class. He was to be paid 300 pounds for one painting and he was aggrieved to discover that some artists were being paid a thousand pounds. Wright's objection was more to do with the damage to his reputation than for the loss of income.
A Philosopher by Lamplight (1769)
A Philosopher by lamplight (also known as A Hermit Studying Anatomy) is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby. It is not known when Wright painted the picture, but it was first exhibited in 1769 in London with the Society of Artists. This was one of the earliest of many lamplight or candlelight paintings and portraits for which Wright is famed.
This picture was described in the catalogue of the 1801 sale as a companion to The Alchemist Discovering Phosphorus. Each has a main figure in the foreground with two subsidiary ones behind, both are night scenes and show old men engaged in scientific research.
The Earthstopper (1773)
Earthstopper on the Banks of the Derwent is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby originally completed in 1773. The scene shows a man digging at nighttime beside the River Derwent in Derbyshire.
The painting shows a man blocking foxholes so that a subsequent foxhunt could kill the fox without the animal having the opportunity to hide underground. This man was known as an Earthstopper.
The Captive (painting) (1774)
The Captive, from Sterne is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby completed in 1774 and now in the National Gallery of Canada. Sterne's Captive, first exhibited by the artist in 1778, is a similar painting by Wright in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery. The latter painting resulted in a rare engraving, as its purchaser commissioned a print run of only twenty copies before the copper printing plate was destroyed. In 2012, Derby Museum commissioned another Captive painting from Emma Tooth.
Both paintings show the despair of a traveller who finds himself abandoned in a foreign jail. The Captive title is based on the section of the same name in Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768). In the episode in question, the hero of the story, Yorick, imagines that he is imprisoned in the Bastille because he has lost his passport. Yorick is later released because his name is taken to indicate that he is an important person, because he is a court jester: Yorick is a jester in Shakespeare's play Hamlet. The journey takes place in 1762, when Britain was at war with France, and imprisonment was a real possibility for a traveller from a hostile country.
The Captive King (1772)
The Captive King is a sketch by Joseph Wright of Derby completed in 1772 or 1773. It depicts the French nobleman Guy de Lusignan held prisoner by Saladin. The sketch is thought to have been a preparation for the now-lost painting Guy de Lusignan in Prison.
The sketch was titled The Captive King and it shows the French nobleman Guy de Lusignan held prisoner by Saladin. Lusignan had fought Saladin on 4 July 1187 and was taken prisoner following his army's defeat. It is said that the relics from the true cross were also lost during this battle. Lusignan, who came from near Poitiers in France, had become the King of Jerusalem as a result of his marriage to Sibylla of Jerusalem. Eventually, Lusignan was released by Saladin and went on to rule Cyprus. The sketch by Joseph Wright contains annotations by his friend Peter Perez Burdett. Wright had taken lessons from Burdett in perspective and consulted him over the construction of his paintings.
Miravan Breaking Open the Tomb of his Ancestors (1772)
Miravan Breaking Open the Tomb of his Ancestors is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby originally completed in 1772 .
The painting was titled Miravan Breaking Open the Tomb of his Ancestors and it shows a Persian nobleman, Miravan, who has discovered one of his ancestor's tombs. Driven by greed he orders that the tomb be broken open after he sees that the tomb's inscription claims that a "greater treasure than Croesus ever possessed" is within. The painting shows the revulsion of Miravan and his anguish when he realises that he has been tricked. The inscription he finds inside the tomb says that Miravan will not enjoy eternal repose as he has disturbed one of his progenitors.
Thomas Borrow and Ann Borrow (1762)
Thomas Borrow and Ann Borrow are two paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby from 1762 to 1763.
Thomas Borrow was the eldest son to Isaac and Honor Borrow and was born on 3 June 1709. His father who resided at Castlefield, a very large country house, was twice Mayor of Derby in 1730 and 1742. There is a painting of Isaac Borrow extant and the Borrow house is included in a 1725 painting called A Prospect of Derby.