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Joseph Wright of Derby - Portrait of Mrs. William Chase, Sr.

Portrait of Mrs. William Chase, Sr. (ca. 1760–65)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
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License: All public domain files can be freely used for personal and commercial projects.
Why is this image in the public domain?
The Artist died in 1797 so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries where the copyright term is the Artist's life plus 70 years or fewer.
Joseph Wright of Derby

Joseph Wright ARA , 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 notable for his use of tenebrism 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.

Joseph Wright was born in Irongate, Derby, to a respectable family of lawyers. He was the third of five children of Hannah Brookes (1700–1764) and John Wright (1697–1767), an attorney and the town clerk of Derby. Joseph had two elder brothers, John and Richard Wright.

Deciding to become a painter, Wright went to London in 1751 and for two years studied under Thomas Hudson, the master of Joshua Reynolds. After painting portraits for a while in Derby, Wright again worked as an assistant to Hudson for fifteen months. In 1753 he returned to, and settled in Derby. He varied his work in portraiture by the production of subjects with strong tenebrism under artificial light, with which his name is chiefly associated, and by landscape painting. Wright also spent a productive period in Liverpool, from 1768 to 1771, painting portraits. These included pictures of a number of prominent citizens and their families.

Wright married Ann (also known as Hannah) Swift, the daughter of a lead miner, on 28 July 1773.

Wright and his wife had six children, three of whom died in infancy. Wright set off in 1773 with John Downman, a pregnant Ann Wright, and Richard Hurleston for Italy. Their ship took shelter for three weeks in Nice before they completed their outward voyage in Livorno in Italy in February 1774. Downman returned to Britain in 1775. Although he spent a great deal of time in Naples, Wright never witnessed any major eruption of Mount Vesuvius, however, it is possible that he witnessed smaller, less impressive eruptions, which may have inspired many of his subsequent paintings of the volcano. On his return from Italy he established himself at Bath as a portrait-painter, but meeting with little encouragement, he returned to Derby in 1777, where he spent the rest of his life. He became increasingly asthmatic and nervous about the house, and for these complaints he was treated by his friend Erasmus Darwin. Ann Wright died on 17 August 1790. On 29 August 1797 Wright died at his new home at No. 28 Queen Street, Derby, where he had spent his final months with his two daughters.

Wright was a frequent contributor to the exhibitions of the Society of Artists, and to those of the Royal Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1781 and a full member in 1784. He, however, declined the latter honour on account of a slight that he believed that he had received, and severed his official connection with the academy, although he continued to contribute to the exhibitions from 1783 until 1794.

Wright acknowledged that he was influenced by Alexander Cozens, owned paintings by him, and applied his ideas as inspiration for compositions. He also described the technique Cozens recommended for creation from blots.

More Artworks by Joseph Wright of Derby (View all 125 Artworks)

Portrait of Colonel Charles Heathcote

Portrait of Colonel Charles Heathcote (c. 1771-72)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
A Church in Italy

A Church in Italy

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
Landscape with a Towered Building and Domed Church

Landscape with a Towered Building and Domed Church (1774–75)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
Ruined Roman Tower in a Landscape

Ruined Roman Tower in a Landscape (1774–75)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
Two Boys with a Bladder

Two Boys with a Bladder (1769–1770)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
Portrait of Lucy Stafford, Later Mrs Wilkinson (B. 1738)

Portrait of Lucy Stafford, Later Mrs Wilkinson (B. 1738)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
Landscape with Cedars and Buildings

Landscape with Cedars and Buildings (1774–75)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
The Dead Soldier

The Dead Soldier

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
Sketch of a Female Nude Resembling the Medici Venus

Sketch of a Female Nude Resembling the Medici Venus (1774–75)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
Two Demons and Two Legs, probably after Michelangelo

Two Demons and Two Legs, probably after Michelangelo (1774–75)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
Self-Portrait

Self-Portrait

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
Tree Branches

Tree Branches (1774–75)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
A philosopher by lamplight

A philosopher by lamplight

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
The Alchemist

The Alchemist (1775)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
The Dead Soldier

The Dead Soldier (1797)

Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
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