Joseph Wright

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Arts & Culture

Joseph Wright

English painter

Also known as: Wright of Derby

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Wright, Joseph: Moonlit Landscape

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Category: Arts & Culture

Byname:: Joseph Wright of Derby

Born:: September 3, 1734, Derby, Derbyshire, England

Died:: August 29, 1797, Derby (aged 62)

Movement / Style:: English school

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Joseph Wright (born September 3, 1734, Derby, Derbyshire, England—died August 29, 1797, Derby) English painter who was a pioneer in the artistic treatment of industrial subjects. He was also the best European painter of artificial light of his day. Wright was trained as a portrait painter by Thomas Hudson in the 1750s. Wright’s home was Derby, one of the great centres of the birth of the Industrial Revolution, and his depictions of scenes lit by moonlight or candlelight combine the realism of the new machinery with the romanticism involved in its application to industry and science. His pictures of technological ...(100 of 135 words)

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