Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight
Particulars
- Accession number
- 2001.96.13
Meanwhile, in the life of Joseph Wright of Derby
The whole life1760–1773
Meets Wedgwood and Priestley
While living in Derby, Wright came to know the potter Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the Wedgwood company, and the chemist Joseph Priestley; he attended the scientists’ experiments and depicted them in drawings and paintings. Wedgwood, together with the industrialist Richard Arkwright, became one of Wright’s two most important patrons.
1764–1767
The deaths of his mother and father
The painter’s mother, Hannah Brookes, died in 1764, and his father, John Wright, an attorney and the town clerk of Derby, in 1767.
1768–1771
Liverpool: portraits and the name “of Derby”
Wright spent a productive spell in Liverpool painting portraits of prominent citizens and their families. It was then that he became known as Wright “of Derby”, to distinguish him from the artist Richard Wright, also based in Liverpool.
![Ginevra de' Benci [obverse], Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1474/1478](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/8f29e3c9-a289-4d53-abf0-31a66e9e98fa/full/!2400,2400/0/default.jpg)
![Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse], Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1474/1478](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/ff62e8d0-45c4-498f-ad36-6358de827e04/full/!2400,2400/0/default.jpg)
![A Marble Horse on the Quirinal Hill [recto], Raphael, c. 1513](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/2195c23f-cbc9-4d67-82e9-fbc6be7a4335/full/!2400,2400/0/default.jpg)
