#josephwrightofderby

Landscape with a Rainbow, 1794, Joseph Wright

Cottage on Fire, Joseph Wright of Derby, c. 1786-1787, Minneapolis Institute of Art: Paintings

This nocturnal scene features dramatic contrasts: the hot red light of the fire versus the cool white moonlight, the cottage abruptly consumed by flames as opposed to the slowly decaying castle. Unusual light effects fascinated Joseph Wright, who knew several prominent English scientists investigating the nature of light and vision. After a trip to Italy in 1773-75, where he witnessed a violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius and a spectacular fireworks display at the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, Wright made sensational lighting effects the keynote of many of his landscapes. Wright's work prefigured trends in Romantic landscape painting a generation later: themes of tragic destruction would become popular in the 19th century in both England and France. At the same time, this picture reveals its kinship with the decorative landscape styles of the 18th century, seen in its gracefully curving trees, flickering highlights, and simplified coloring. Size: 22 7/8 x 30 in. (58.1 x 76.2 cm) (canvas) Medium: Oil on canvas

The Gulf of Salerno, Joseph Wright of Derby, 1783, Art Institute of Chicago: European Painting and Sculpture

L.L. and A.S. Coburn, Josephine and John I. Louis, Jr., and Alexander A. McKay Endowments; through prior acquisition of the Charles H. and Mary F.S. Worcester Endowment Size: 16 3/8 × 23 3/8 in. (41.6 × 59.4 cm) Medium: Oil on canvas

An Academy by Lamplight, 1769, Joseph Wright

The Dead Soldier, 1789, Joseph Wright

Brooke Boothby, 1781, Joseph Wright

A Cottage on Fire, 1787, Joseph Wright

Medium: oil,canvas

The Cloister of San Cosimato, 1789, Joseph Wright

Medium: oil