Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a firework display at night, identified as a view of the 'Girandola' in Rome. The view shows rockets flying from the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, with the dome of Saint Peter's beyond and a burst of sparks to the right. A monumental column is visible to the left of the scene, its top obscured by smoke. Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), 1774. Pen and brown ink with sepia wash on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.

Exhibitions:

  • Title: Pictures by Joseph Wright of Derby
    Venue: Graves Art Gallery
    Dates: from 17/07/1950 to 27/07/1950
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby
    Venue: Norwich Castle Museum
    Dates: from 03/01/1959 to 01/02/1959
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: An Exhibition to Commemorate the Centenary of Derby Museums and Art Gallery
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 21/04/1979 to 21/07/1979
  • Title: Wright in Italy. Joseph Wright of Derby's Visit Abroad, 1773-5
    Venue: Fraser, David
    Dates: from 08/08/1987 to 20/09/1987
  • Title: Wright of Derby
    Venue: Tate Gallery
    Dates: from 16/04/1990 to 16/04/1990
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734-1797: Bicentenary Exhibition
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 21/06/1997 to 28/09/1997
  • Title: A Sentimental Journey: Joseph Wright in Italy, 1773-1775
    Venue: Pickford's House Museum
    Dates: from 01/06/2010 to 05/09/2010
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Bath and Beyond
    Venue: The Holburne Museum of Art
    Dates: from 25/01/2014 to 05/05/2014
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Bath and Beyond (2)
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 24/05/2014 to 31/08/2014
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Life on Paper
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 23/05/2025 to 07/09/2025
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings Arranged by the Arts Council
    Venue: Walker Art Gallery
    Dates: from 16/04/2026 to

Publications

  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby 1734 - 1797
    Sub-Title: An introduction to the work of Joseph Wright of Derby with a catalogue of drawings held by Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Published on the occasion of an exhibition commemorating the Bicentenary of the artist's death.
    Published Place: Derby
    Published Year: 1997
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light
    Sub-Title: Volume 1
    Volume: 1
    Published Place: London
    Copyright: Benedict Nicolson, 1968
    Published Year: 1968
  • Title: Wright in Italy
    Sub-Title: Joseph Wright of Derby's Visit Abroad, 1773-5
    Published Place: Sudbury
    Published Year: 1987

Related People

  • Joseph Wright of Derby (Artist)

    Display Date: British, 1734 - 1797

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Artist.

Girandola at the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome

Date: 4.6.1774

Medium: Pen and ink and sepia wash on paper.

Object Type:Drawing
Dimensions:Support: 352 × 530 mm (13 7/8 × 20 7/8 in.)
Description:Benedict Nicolson first pointed out that the scene is not a faithful rendition of the urban topography of Rome, but a capriccio (quite literally, 'fanciful' scene) of famous monuments [see Nicolson, B. 1968, p.80]. Later, David Fraser noted, for instance, the appearance of the Pantheon and a 'Roman column', which have been transported from another part of the city to occupy the scene [see Fraser, D. 1987, p.11]. The identity of the column was more recently confirmed by Amina Wright as the Antonine column which, like the Pantheon, is located across the river Tiber from the Castel Sant'Angelo and St Peter's [see Wright, A. 2014, p.54]. As Fraser and others have since pointed out, the study was composed as a study of nocturnal light effects, rather than a faithful rendition of the urban landscape of Rome. It was to form the basis for an oil painting of the Girandola that Wright developed whilst in Bath (now in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), which takes a very similar view to this study. The oil painting also included the detail of an explosion of sparks in the sky within a clearing of clouds to the top right, although the view he adopts in the painting is from much further away than the present study, incorporating landscape and the framing feature of a tree. Judy Egerton notes that the insciption on the drawing 'must...record the date on which he completed the drawing', not of the event he saw. In 1774, the earliest Girandola he could have witnessed was on Monday 4 April. The next was on 29 June for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The drawing is dated 4 June 1774, and must therefore depict his impressions of the Easter Girandola [see Egerton, J. 1990, p.146].
Inscriptions:Inscribed on recto, to top left left (handwritten in ink): 'JW Rome June 4 - 1774'.
Provenance:...; William Bemrose of Derby; by descent to his son, Charles Lloyd Bemrose, by whom donated to Derby Museums in 1914.
Viewing Status:Contact Us
Item Ref:1914-517/4
Browse Collection
Browse Collection