Joseph Wright (British Artists)

Joseph Wright (1734-1797), commonly known as "Wright of Derby," painted some of the most powerful works of eighteenth-century British art: blacksmiths hammering a glowing bar of iron, dramatic demonstrations on scientific apparatus, erupting volcanoes, gloomy prisons, a fashionably dressed gentleman reclining full-length in a forest. Stephen Daniels addresses this unusual diversity by looking closely at the inextricable links between Wright's art and the different worlds of the Enlightenment movement that so fascinated and inspired him. Wright's unique connection with the innovations of his age and his use of a wide range of pictorial and written sources, together with his interest in new techniques, single him out as one of the most original and enterprising artists of his time.