Painting of a waterfall with a bridge beyond. Sunlight peeps through the tree canopy above. The viewpoint is low and looks across the surface of a river towards the waterfall, set within a narrow rocky gorge. Pebbles and rocks are visible benath the water's surface. The canvas is inscribed 'I W Pinxt./ 1795', on a rock, in the lower right hand corner. Painted by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797). Oil on canvas in gilded frame.

Exhibitions:

  • Title: Art & Industrial Exhibition
    Venue: Corn Exchange, Derby
    Dates: from 25/09/1866 to
  • 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: Pictures by Joseph Wright of Derby
    Venue: Graves Art Gallery
    Dates: from 17/07/1950 to 27/07/1950
  • Title: Romanticism - A New Feeling Towards Nature
    Dates: from to
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734 - 1797
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from to
  • 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: The Viewfinders (Lake District Landscapes)
    Dates: from 31/05/1980 to 27/07/1980
  • Title: The Discovery of the Lake District 1750 - 1810
    Dates: from 20/05/1982 to 31/10/1982
  • Title: The English Lake District
    Dates: from 19/09/1984 to 13/01/1985
  • Title: William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism
    Venue: New York Public Library
    Dates: from 27/10/1987 to 02/01/1988
  • Title: Wright of Derby
    Venue: Tate Gallery
    Dates: from 16/04/1990 to 16/04/1990
  • Title: L'Invention du Sentiment
    Venue: Musée de la Musique
    Dates: from 03/04/2002 to 30/06/2002
  • 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: Wright of Derby
    Published Place: London
    Copyright: The Tate Gallery
    Published Year: 1990
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light
    Sub-Title: Volume 1
    Volume: 1
    Published Place: London
    Copyright: Benedict Nicolson, 1968
    Published Year: 1968

Related People

  • Joseph Wright of Derby (Artist)

    Display Date: British, 1734 - 1797

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Artist.

Rydal Waterfall

Date: 1795

Medium: Oil on canvas

Object Type:Painting
Dimensions:Frame: 760 × 955 × 106 mm (29 15/16 × 37 5/8 × 4 3/16 in.) Support: 571 × 762 mm (22 1/2 × 30 in.)
Description:Rydal Waterfalls; Wright painted this Lake District beauty spot two years before his death. He wrote to his brother Richard "...having explored the most stupendous scenes I ever beheld... they are to the eye, what Handel's choruses are to the ear... to have done these tremendous scenes any justice, I should have visited them twenty years ago..."; Wright visited the 'Lakes' in 1794 and painted this view of Rydal Water the following year. In October 1795 he wrote to J L Philips, his patron and purchaser of the painting, that he had tried to capture the effect of the broken reflections of the pebbles below, onto the surface of the water above - but in his view had not succeeded, as it required to be painted on the spot to do it justice. In a later letter he added Rydal Water had been <I>'a very intricate subject and I never wished myself out of a wood so much in my life'</I>. Two related studies for the painting are in the collection of the Morgan Library and Musum in New York (accession numbers 2009.416 and 2009.414). [LB: 2025]
Inscriptions:'I. W. Pinxt./ 1795' recto, lower right (on rock).
Provenance:Listed in Wright's Account Book as 'A smallish one of the little Cascade at Sr. Mic la Flemings, sold to Mr. L. Philips & paid for, £31.10'; offered in the posthumous sale of Wright’s friend and patron, John Leigh Philips at Winstanley & Taylor, Manchester, 31 October 1814 (lot 31, as 'The Bridge and Waterfall at Rydal in Westmorland), whereupon sold to 'H. W' (Harriet Wright, the artist's daughter) for £48.6.0; ...; by descent through the Cade family to Thomas Charles Cade in 1866; thence to his son-in-law, Frederick Barnes Lott, Esq. (husband of Anna Maria Cade) in 1934;...; Miss Dorothy Mary Rowena Cade, of Porth Curns, by whom donated to Derby Museums in 1939.
Viewing Status:Contact Us
Item Ref:1939-877
Browse Collection
Browse Collection