Hey Blog! Here\u2019s a post about an art exhibition that\u2019s currently on near me, which focuses on one artist known for light, shadow, and dramatic paintings: Joseph Wright of Derby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not Left of Derby. Nor even Right of Derby. Wright of Derby was a famous painter in the late 1700s, a contemporary of Richard Arkwright (the mill owner, spinning machine inventor, and richest commoner in England) and painted his \u2018official\u2019 portrait, the one that is seen in all the posters. Wright also painted Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of the famous Charles), local gentry, and various landscapes of mills and nature. He led a very interesting life, visiting Italy (like all gentlemen of the age, who went on the Grand Tour) and being inspired by Vesuvius in particular. Learning in London from fashionable portraitists, he lived at the time of the founding of the Royal Academy, the start of the \u2018golden age\u2019 of British painting, and was apprenticed to the same painter who taught Joshua Reynolds, the Academy\u2019s first president. Though later in life his paintings took a more reflective tone, with thicker brushstrokes and a concentration on unusual scenes, his greatest talent, employed throughout his artistic career, was something called tenebrism. Coming from the Italian word meaning darkness<\/em> (in the senses of mood, knowledge, and absence of light all), this style makes darkness the defining, focal feature of the painting. It describes a style where shadow is just as important as light to make the artwork stand out, which is what Wright is famous for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you look at some of Wright\u2019s paintings, like Bird in an Air Pump<\/em> or The Orrery<\/em>, then you can see how the use of shadow impacts the work. Darker examples, like The Gladiator<\/em> and The Alchemyst<\/em>, have darkness taking up most of the frame, and highlight the few bits of light that are seen. The best way to get an idea of his paintings and idiosyncrasies would be to go to the exhibition that\u2019s on in Derby Museum and Art Gallery at the moment, which I can recommend!<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the things I like about the current exhibit is that it is neither too small, containing a couple of paintings and a tiny bit of information about the artist; nor too large, so by the end of it you\u2019ve been arted-out. It\u2019s the perfect size, with enough information and beautiful paintings, but placed in such a way that you don\u2019t get exhausted by the sheer display of detail and beauty in the paintings. It\u2019s also well situated near to several very good caf\u00e9s, so once you\u2019ve finished, there\u2019s something else to do before the train home\u2026!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hey Blog! Here\u2019s a post about an art exhibition that\u2019s currently on near me, which focuses on one artist known for light, shadow, and dramatic paintings: Joseph Wright of Derby. Not Left of Derby. Nor even Right of Derby. Wright of Derby was a famous painter in the late 1700s, a contemporary of Richard Arkwright […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-ed-in-a-shed-2"],"yoast_head":"\n