Exhibitions:

  • Title: Wright of Derby: The Bi-centenary Exhibition of Paintings by Joseph Wright
    Venue: Derby Corporation Art Gallery
    Dates: from 03/09/1934 to 18/11/1934
  • 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 of Derby
    Venue: Tate Gallery
    Dates: from 15/04/1990 to 15/04/1990
  • 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: Museum Menagerie
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 11/02/2017 to 19/02/2017
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Life on Paper
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 23/05/2025 to 07/09/2025

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: Allan Ramsay: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings
    Published Place: New Haven and London
    Published Year: 1999

Related People

  • John Prideaux Basset (Content)

    Display Date: British, 1740 - 1756

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Son of John Pendarves Basset (1713–1739) of Tehidy Park, Cornwall and Anne Prideaux (1718–1782), daughter of Anne Hawkins and Sir Edmund Prideaux, fifth Baronet of Netherton. Basset, whose father died before his birth, came from one of the wealthiest families in Cornwall, with a fortune derived from minerals and tin mines. It is therefore unsurprising that he is named among the subscribers to William Borlase’s Observations on the Antiquities Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall, published in 1754, where he is listed as subscribing to no less than twenty copies. He died at the age of sixteen, when a pupil at Eton College. An elaborate funeral procession was arranged for the journey by foot from Slough to his place of rest in the family vault at Illogan, Cornwall. [Source: Emily Burns, entry for Art and the Country House online catalogue, published by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. Accessed on 10 July 2024]

  • Joseph Wright of Derby (Artist)

    Display Date: British, 1734 - 1797

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Artist.

  • John Faber Junior (After)

    Display Date: Dutch, died 1756

    Nationality: Dutch

    Biography: Engraver; painter of portrait miniatures.

  • Allan Ramsay (After)

    Display Date: British; Scottish, 1713 - 1784

    Nationality: British; Scottish

    Biography: Painter.

Master John Prideaux Basset, after John Faber Junior, after Allan Ramsay

Date: 1750 or 1751

Medium: Pen and ink and ink wash on tan washed, laid paper.

Object Type:Drawing
Dimensions:Support: 337 × 235 mm (13 1/4 × 9 1/4 in.)
Description:Judy Egerton was the first to publish this drawing in her catalogue for the Tate Gallery exhibition 'Wright of Derby', in 1990. In her entry for the drawing, Egerton cites David Alexander as having identified its source as a mezzotint by John Faber junior, after a painting by Allan Ramsay. Egerton surmised that it was by copying prints that Wright first taught himself to draw, and that this subsequently contributed 'powerfully' to his interest in strong contrasts of light and dark. [Egerton, J. 'Wright of Derby' (1990), p.135.] Joseph Wright, like many other eighteenth century artists, copied other artists' work as a form of early self-training, in design, composition, etc. His inscription on this copy of the Faber engraving after Allan Ramsay's portrait of Master John Prideaux Bassett, shows him to be aged 16. Wright worked from Faber junior's mezzotint engraving of c.1750, rather than the Ramsay original. It has been suggested that the copying of such mezzotints with their strong contrasts of light and shade were to contribute greatly to Wright's later mature style. [Wallis, J. 'Joseph Wright of Derby' (1997), p.49.] The sitter is John Prideaux Basset of Tehidy Park in Cornwall, originally painted by Ramsay in c.1747-48. This painting was at the family home of Tehidy until it was sold in 1920. It is now in a private collection. The portrait shows Basset in pink satin 'Van Dyck' dress. Interestingly, Wright departs very slightly from the mezzotint (and painting) in showing Basset looking not to the left of the viewer, but directly at them instead. Note that Egerton and Wallis describe the drawing as having been made with charcoal and stump. However, the medium looks more like pen and ink with ink wash on tan washed laid paper. The record has been amended to reflect this. [LB: 2024] Provenance recorded as 'Cade Collection' in 1934 Derby exhibition catalogue entry. Also states drawing was exhibited at Derby in 1877.
Inscriptions:Inscribed lower left hand corner (handwritten in ink): 'Delineata a Joseph Wright anno atatis sua 16'.
Provenance:...; Cade Collection (?); ...; A. Whitman of Cheltenham, antiquarian bookseller, from whom purchased by Derby Museums in 1920.
Viewing Status:Contact Us
Item Ref:1920-805
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Browse Collection