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Portrait of Joseph Wright of Derby

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Artist in the Global Art Registry

Joseph Wright of Derby

1734–1797 · British

Born
1734 · Derby
Died
1797 · Derby

37 works in the Collect24 Registry

Every work carries a permanent Collect24 Art ID, the way a book has an ISBN.

Joseph Wright, styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English painter specializing in portraiture and landscape art. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution."

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Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), 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". Wright is notable for his use of tenebrism, an exaggerated form of the better known 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 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.

Biography source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

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37

Registered works

37

In museum collections

0

In gallery collections

0

In private collections

Featured works

Selected registered works by Joseph Wright of Derby

Selected from 37 works by Joseph Wright of Derby in the Collect24 Registry.

Joseph Wright of Derby, Study of a Boy Reading

Joseph Wright of Derby

Study of a Boy Reading, about 1766

Grisaille pastel with touches of black chalk, on blue paper

45 × 31.5 cm

J. Paul Getty Museum

C24-204657

Joseph Wright of Derby, John Whetham of Kirklington

Joseph Wright of Derby

John Whetham of Kirklington, about 1779–1780

Oil on canvas

127 × 101.6 cm

J. Paul Getty Museum

C24-136437

Joseph Wright of Derby, Penelope Unraveling Her Web

Joseph Wright of Derby

Penelope Unraveling Her Web, 1783–1784

Oil on canvas

106 × 131.4 cm

J. Paul Getty Museum

C24-135311

Joseph Wright of Derby, Two Boys with a Bladder

Joseph Wright of Derby

Two Boys with a Bladder, 1767

Oil on canvas

92.7 × 73 cm

J. Paul Getty Museum

C24-132620

Joseph Wright of Derby, Portrait of Colonel Charles Heathcote

Joseph Wright of Derby

Portrait of Colonel Charles Heathcote, c. 1771–72

Oil on canvas

127 × 100 cm

Cleveland Museum of Art

C24-109047

Joseph Wright of Derby, The Rev. and Mrs. Thomas Gisborne, of Yoxhall Lodge, Leicestershire

Joseph Wright of Derby

The Rev. and Mrs. Thomas Gisborne, of Yoxhall Lodge, Leicestershire, 1786

oil paint

185.4 × 152.4 cm

Yale Center for British Art

C24-464132

Joseph Wright of Derby, A Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno, Sunset

Joseph Wright of Derby

A Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno, Sunset, 1780

oil paint

101.6 × 127 cm

Yale Center for British Art

C24-464129

Joseph Wright of Derby, Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman

Joseph Wright of Derby

Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman, 1771

oil paint

127 × 101.6 cm

National Gallery

C24-357661

Joseph Wright of Derby, Cottage on Fire at Night

Joseph Wright of Derby

Cottage on Fire at Night, 1789

oil paint

56.5 × 80 cm

Yale Center for British Art

C24-464133

Joseph Wright of Derby, The Prisoner

Joseph Wright of Derby

The Prisoner, 1788

oil paint

40.6 × 47 cm

Yale Center for British Art

C24-464134

Joseph Wright of Derby, Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery

Joseph Wright of Derby

Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery, 1768

oil paint

44.8 × 59.7 cm

Yale Center for British Art

C24-464105

Joseph Wright of Derby, Sir Brooke Boothby

Joseph Wright of Derby

Sir Brooke Boothby, 1781

oil paint

207.6 × 148.6 cm

Tate

C24-462819

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Museums and collections

Where works by Joseph Wright of Derby are registered

Registry catalogue

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Artists from the same period

British artists born around the same time