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See also: Wright of See also: Derby, See also: English subject, landscape and portrait painter, was See also: born at Derby on the 3rd of See also: September 1734, the son of an attorney, who was afterwards See also: town-clerk
.
Deciding to become a painter, he went to See also: London in 1751 and for two years studied under See also: Thomas Hudson, the master of
See also: Reynolds
.
After See also: painting portraits for a while at Derby, he again placed himself for fifteen months under his former master
.
He then settled in Derby, and varied his See also: work in See also: portraiture by the production of the subjects seen under artificial See also: light with which his name is chiefly associated, and by landscape painting
.
He married in 1773, and in the end of that See also: year he visited See also: Italy, where he remained till 1775
.
While at Naples he witnessed an eruption of Vesuvius, which formed the subject of many of his subsequent pictures
.
On his return from Italy he established himself at See also: Bath as a portrait-painter; but meeting with little encouragement he returned to Derby, where he spent the rest of his See also: life
.
He was a frequent contributor to the exhibitions of the Society of Artists, and to those of the Royal See also: Academy, of which he was elected an associate in 1781 and a full member in 1784
.
He, however, declined the latter honour on account of a slight which he believed that he had received, and severed his official connexion with the Academy, though he continued to contribute to the exhibitions from 1783 till 1794
.
He died at Derby on the 2gth of See also: August 1797
.
Wright's portraits are frequently defective in See also: drawing, and without quality or variety of handling, while their flesh tints are often hard
.
He is seen at his best in his subjects of artificial light, of which the " Orrery " (1766), the See also: property of the corporation of Derby, and the " Air-See also: pump " (1768), in the See also: National Gallery, are excellent examples
.
His " Old See also: Man and See also: Death " (1774) is also a striking and individual production
.
An See also: exhibition of Wright's See also: works was brought together at Derby in 1883, and twelve of his pictures were shown in the winter exhibition of the Royal Academy in 1886
.
His biography, by See also: William Bemrose, was published in 1885
.
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