Joseph Wright of Derby, September 3, 1734 – August 29, 1797, was an English painter of portraits, narrative scenes, and landscapes. Born and active for much of his life in Derby, he trained in London under the portrait painter Thomas Hudson from 1751 and returned for further instruction in 1756–1757. He also worked in Liverpool from 1768 to 1771 and travelled in Italy from 1773 to 1775.

Wright exhibited with the Society of Artists and the Royal Academy of Arts. He was associated with Derby’s scientific and industrial circle and with figures connected to the Lunar Society, although he was not a member of it. The printmaker William Pether reproduced several of Wright’s paintings as mezzotints, helping to circulate his work. William Tate was among his pupils.

Derby Museums holds the largest collection of Wright’s work, including paintings, drawings, prints, letters, and related archives. Other principal collections include the National Gallery, London; the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Tate; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

Self-Portrait, c 1765–1768

Oil on canvas, 27.6 x 23.1 in

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

A Philosopher Giving That Lecture on the Orrery in Which a Lamp Is Put in Place of the Sun, 1764–1766
Oil on canvas, 58 x 80 in
Derby Museums, Derby, UK

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, 1768
Oil on canvas, 72 x 96 in
National Gallery, London

Two Boys with a Bladder, c 1769–1770

Oil on canvas, 36.5 x 28.8 in

J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, and Prays for the Successful Conclusion of His Operation, as Was the Custom of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers, 1771
Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in
Derby Museums, Derby, UK

The Corinthian Maid, 1782–1784
Oil on canvas, 41.9 x 51.5 in
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Penelope Unraveling Her Web, 1783–1784
Oil on canvas, 41.8 x 51.7 in
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

The Dead Soldier, 1789
Oil on canvas, 65 x 79.1 in
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI

The Funeral Pyre, 18th century
Oil on canvas, 19 x 25.1 in
York Art Gallery, UK

Cut through the Rock at Cromford, c 1790
Oil on canvas, 18.1 x 22.1 in
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

Lake Nemi, 1790–1795
Oil on canvas, 14.3 x 21.5 in
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT

Fire Seen through Trees, 1793
Oil on canvas, 16 x 21.5 in
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

Seashore through Arch, c 1795
Oil on canvas, 19.6 x 15.7 in
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

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