Joseph Wright of Derby. The Spectacle of Light - ACE211.3

An Iron Forge Viewed from Without. Porter on the 18th century Lunar Society, set up in Birmingham. Wright’s portraits of some of its members, Portrait: John Whitehurst and Portrait of Erasmus Darwin. Egerton on Wright’s portraits, commissioned by a circle of the bourgeoisie. Portrait of Christopher Heath and Mrs Sarah Caton; Mrs Wilmot in Riding Dress. Egerton points to the lightning in the portrait of Brooke Boothby (1781) and in Two Girls Decorating a Kitten by Candlelight. Self Portrait drawing. Commentary talks of his visit to Italy in 1773. His sketchbooks and sketches. Egerton VO describes them. Fireworks. Girandola at the Castle of St Angelo in Rome (1779) and The Annual Girandola at the Castel Sant' Angelo, Rome (1775-76). An Eruption of Vesuvius, Seen from Portici (c.1774-76), Vesuvius in Eruption With a View over the Islands in the Bay of Naples, Vesuvius in Eruption, An Eruption of Mount Vesuvius With the Procession of St Januarius’s Head. Volcano erupting. Fraser describes this major change in Wright’s subject matter. Dovedale by Moonlight. The Derwent Valley. Matlock Tor by Daylight, Derwent Valley limestone crags, Landscape With Figures and a Tilted Cart – Matlock High Tor in the Distance. Dovedale; View in Dovedale. Ruins of Dale Abbey; Landscape with Dale Abbey and Church Rocks which includes Matlock in the background.