Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797)

Brief Biography of the Artist

Joseph Wright of Derby (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797) was an English landscape and portrait painter. His most enduringly celebrated works reflect the philosophical and technological preoccupations of the later eighteenth century, particularly the advent of the Industrial Revolution, and are notable for his use of tenebrism, which emphasises the contrast of light and dark, and for his paintings of candle-lit subjects. He was the first major English painter to work outside the capital all his life: apart from spells in Liverpool (1768–71), Italy (1773–5) and Bath (1775–7), he lived and worked in his native Derby, exhibiting in London at both the Society of Artists and the Royal Academy.

Read full Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Wright_of_Derby

Wright of Derby in the Archive Collections

Judy Egerton Archive

Judy Egerton (1928–2012) was an art historian and museum curator. In 1990 she curated an exhibition on Wright of Derby at Tate, also authoring the accompanying catalogue. The Egerton Archive contains approximately five files of material – including correspondence; research notes and images – related to these initiatives; as well as a copy of the exhibition catalogue annotated by Egerton. The Egerton Archive has not yet been catalogued but a boxlist is available online.

Ellis Waterhouse Archive

Sir Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse (1905–1985) was an art historian and museum director. The Waterhouse Archive contains a series of ‘Research files on artists’ which include the material he created, collected and compiled on different artists throughout his career. Within this series there are two files concerning Wright of Derby, which include nearly 200 images of works by the artist. The Ellis Waterhouse Archive has been catalogued and the descriptions can be searched online.

Brian Sewell Archive

Brian Sewell (1931–2015) was a British art historian, author, critic and media personality. His highly acclaimed work for the Evening Standard and other publications led him to write on a huge range of subjects, but particularly the arts. The archive contains one file which, alongside handwritten notes and research material, includes Sewell’s reviews of exhibitions featuring Wright of Derby between 1986 and 1989. The Brian Sewell archive has been catalogued and the descriptions can be searched online.

Wright of Derby in the Photographic Archives

• The Paul Mellon Centre Photo Archive consists of mounted reference images depicting works of art. It has been digitised in its entirety and contains around 850 images associated with Joseph Wright of Derby. Most of them are images of Wright’s landscapes and portraits, including photographic prints of his Roman sketchbook. Additionally, there are portraits of the artist by Richard Hurleston and William Tate, and engravings after the artist.
• The Tate Photo Archive has not been digitised, but contains two folders of images associated with Wright of Derby. It can be accessed on site with an appointment.

Wright of Derby in the Library

The Library has large amounts of material on this artist.

• Books – over 15 books related to Wright of Derby. The collection includes biographies, artist monographs and art criticism.
• Journal articles – over 15 journal articles that have been individually catalogued published in titles such as Apollo, Art History and the British Art Journal.
• Exhibition catalogues – over 10 exhibition catalogues dating from the late nineteenth century to the present day from regional and national museums in the UK and the US.
• Theses – two theses by US researchers on the art of Wright of Derby.

Wright of Derby in Paul Mellon Centre Publications

The Paul Mellon Centre has published two books concerning Wright of Derby. Among them a study of Wright of Derby by Matthew Craske, published in 2020, which takes seriously contemporary reports of his melancholia and nervous disposition, and goes on to question accepted understandings of the artist, positioning him in relation to the darker side of the English Enlightenment. Additionally, Painting for Money, the 1993 book by David H. Solkin that examines the attempts by artists in the early eighteenth century to represent commercial prosperity as a source of moral as well as material well-being, includes a chapter on Wright of Derby.