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: 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

Joseph Wright of Derby (Artist)
Display Date: British, 1734 - 1797
Nationality: British
Biography: Artist.

Study of Trees

Date: c.1786-1790

Medium: Pen and ink over pencil with charcoal on laid paper.

Object Type:	Drawing
Dimensions:	Support: 251 × 165 mm (9 7/8 × 6 1/2 in.)
Description:	Nicolson suggests that this drawing and other tree studies within this group, could have been made during one of Wright's trips to Needwood Forest to visit his friend Rev Thomas Gisborne of Yoxall Lodge, and thus dates them to the late 1780s. [see Nicolson, B. 'Wright of Derby' (1968), p.134.] However, Jane Wallis draws attention to the similarity of these studies to the tree studies of Alexander Cozens. [see Wallis, J. 'Joseph Wright of Derby' (1997), pp.103-104. Indeed, the 'blot' technique advocated by Cozens in his 1759 'Essay' and 1785-6 'New Method' was applicable to trees, and it is to this that Wright's tree studies may be connected. Cozens later also published 'The Shape Skeleton and Foliage of Thirty Two Species of Trees' (1771), but the present tree study does not appear to be a study after any of the illustrations included in that publication. [LB: 2024]
Inscriptions:	Inscribed on verso (handwritten in pencil): 'Wright of Derby (5)'.
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:	1914-517/65