Exhibitions:

  • Title: 21st Exhibition of the Royal Academy
    Venue: Royal Academy of Arts
    Dates: from 15/04/1789 to 15/04/1789
  • Title: Joseph Wright and the Lure of Italy
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 18/03/2016 to 12/06/2016

Publications

  • 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.

The Colosseum, Rome - Daylight

Date: 1780-1789

Medium: Oil on canvas.

Object Type:Painting
Dimensions:Frame: 1340 × 1598 × 130 mm (52 3/4 × 62 15/16 × 5 1/8 in.) Support: 1041 × 1295 mm (41 × 51 in.)
Description:the Colosseum, Rome, daylight; Wright was captivated by the remains of the Colosseum, Rome. His beautiful and detailed drawings provide evidence of his intent to produce later paintings of a subject that would prove popular with those who had undertaken the `Grand Tour'. His account book lists four later oil paintings of the Colosseum: three in sunshine and one in moonlight. This damaged painting is believed to be one of the `sunshine' views. The damage was extensive, the area from the top right corner to, and including the figure, is largely over-painting by a later hand.
Inscriptions:'I. W. P. /178[?]' recto, lower right (very faint).
Provenance:Listed in Wright’s Account Book as ‘Parts of the Colleseum sunshine; Do. its Companion moonlight £52.10.0’ (each); remained unsold during Wright's lifetime; offered at his posthumous sale, Christie’s 6 May 1801 (lot 54, as ‘The Colosseo at Rome with Figures, a highly finished View of this grand and interesting Monument of Antiquity’), whereupon purchased by Thomas Borrow (later Borough) of Derby and later Chetwynd Park, Salop, for £74.11.0; by descent to Colonel John G. Burton Borough of Chetwynd Park, Salop; by whom bequeathed to Derby Museums in 1961.
Viewing Status:Contact Us
Item Ref:1961-508/4