Study of clouds by moonlight, black and white chalks on light blue paper, late 1760's; Study of Clouds by Moonlight, c.1771; black and white chalks on light blue paper; 9 5/8 x 14 in (24.5 x 35.6 cm).; Study of clouds by moonlight 9.625 in x 14 in, black and white chalks on light blue paper; From an archive of 82 sheets of drawings by and associated with Joseph Wright, dating from 1751-1769.; JAW : 23.9.1996

Exhibitions:

Title: Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734-1797: Bicentenary Exhibition
Venue: Wallis, Jane
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: Constable's Sky Sketches
Volume: 32
Author: Louis Hawes
Journal: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
Published Year: 1969

Related People

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

Study of Clouds by Moonlight

Date: 1750-1769

Medium: black and white chalk on blue laid paper

Object Type:	drawing
Dimensions:
Description:	The moon and clouds in this study resemble those seen through the ruined thatched roof in Wright's 'Blacksmith's Shop' painting of 1771. If this is indeed a preparatory study for the oil, then it is Wright's earliest known 'sky study'. Three years later, in Italy, Wright was to develop his observation of nature with more naturalism, in a series of studies of clouds and sky in his Roman sketchbook of 1774 (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated in Egerton, Tate Gallery 1990, cat.77). Wright's Italian Visit 1773-1775 Wright left Derby and sailed for Italy on the 1st November, 1773, accompanied by his wife Nancy (or Anne), whom he had married in July that year. With them were Wright's pupil, Richard Hurleston (fl.1763-1780); the portrait painter John Downman (1750-1824); and the sculptor James Paine (1745-1829). They travelled through the Straits of Gibraltar and harboured at Nice in December, where Wright made some landscape sketches. The party then made their way to Rome by two-wheeled carriage, travelling 'betwixt 20 and 30 miles a day to arrive each night at a poor house with large cold rooms and bad accommodation, very unpleasing to the English traveller'(1). The company finally reached Rome on 3rd February, 1774. Wright's letters home tell of his delight for the City, 'Rome answered my expectations at first, but my love and admiration of it increase daily. Tis a noble place to study in, and if so many years had not passed over my head I should be tempted to stay longer' (2). Wright was aged thirty-nine! 1 Letter from Rome to Richard and Nancy Wright, 4th February, 1774. Reproduced in Bemrose 1885, p.29 2 Letter from Rome to Nancy Wright, 13th April, 1774. Reproduced in Bemrose 1885, p.30 Italy, Landscapes The landscape of Italy was to have a profound and lasting effect on Wright's output. He described the Italian landscape, in a letter to his sister Nancy on May 22nd 1774, as 'beautiful and uncommon, with an atmosphere so pure and clear that objects twenty miles distant seem not half the way'.
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Item Ref:	1996-1/82