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Joseph Wright of Derby

Born: Derby, England, 30 September 1734
Died: Derby, England, 29 August 1797
Nationality: English
Background: 

son of a lawyer

Studies: 

with Thomas Hudson (1751-53, London)

Career: 

-portrait painter

1781 – elected Associate of the Royal Academy, where he exhibited regularly

Travels

Italy (1773-74)

Commissions from: 

 John Boydell (Shakespeare Gallery)

Important Artworks: 

Self-Portrait, c. 1753 (Derby Museum)   

A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery, 1766 (Derby Museum) 

The Old Man and Death, 1773 (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford)

Vesuvius (30 paintings, 1775-95) 

Brooke Boothby, 1781 (Tate, London) 

Corinthian Maid, 1783-84 (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven)

The Widow of an Indian Chief Watching the Arms of Her Deceased Husband, 1785 (Derby Art Gallery)