Joseph Wright of Derby: Life on Paper

This spring, Derby Museum and Art Gallery reveals a deeply tender, rarely seen intimate side to the internationally-renowned artist Joseph Wright (1734 – 1797) in its new exhibition Joseph Wright of Derby: Life on Paper (23 May – 7 September 2025).

Inspired by Self Portrait at the Age of About Forty (c.1772), the only known portrait in which Wright shows himself as an artist, Life on Paper assembles more than 70 of Wright’s largely overlooked until now, personal drawings, sketches and letters, spanning the full breadth of the artist’s life and career. Life on Paper marks the beginning of a nationwide ‘Year of Wright’, which includes a major collaboration with the National Gallery, London.

Lucy Bamford, Senior Curator for Art, Derby Museums Trust said:

“When Self Portrait at the Age of About Forty, was acquired for the nation and joined Derby’s unrivalled Wright collection in 2022, a fascinating discovery was made that prompted a significant new line of research. In this painting, Wright not only shows himself as an artist, but specifically as a draughtsman as he leans on his portfolio with a porte crayon in hand, both items readily associated with drawing. It suggests that drawing was an important element of Wright’s practice.

“Derby Museums is the custodian of just over 300 of Wright’s works on paper. These show that Wright made drawings at every stage of his life, from childhood through to his late years.  For Wright, drawing was a means of recording, distilling, testing, and communicating ideas, and paper the site for exciting journeys of discovery and experimentation. Inspired by a unique self-portrait, Life on Paper promises to spark a fresh appreciation for one of Britain’s best-loved artists”.

Self Portrait at the Age of About Forty, c.1772, is the starting point of the exhibition, and the catalyst for the upcoming nationwide ‘Year of Wright’; it is displayed first by itself in an introductory room. Life on Paper is then organised chronologically into six sections, with a wide range of ‘drawing’ techniques and materials presented: from pencil to gouache and ink studies. Revealing the artist’s natural versatility, Wright’s subjects on display also vary, from portraits of family and friends to studies of classical antiquities and natural landscapes.

In the first section, Wright’s earliest drawing, Head of Silenus, c.1745, is shown in public for the first time, following its recent discovery in a private collection. Thought to be a copy of a local inn or street sign made when he was 11 years old, family memoirs indicate that this is how Wright trained himself to draw, often keeping his drawings secret by hiding them in the family’s attic.

While Wright’s relationship with drawing evidently formed at an early age, it grew most during his period of formal training in the studio of Thomas Hudson (1701-1779). Two portraits by Wright of Hudson, possibly drawn from life c.1751 in black and white chalk on blue paper, are highlights of section two, which also includes Portrait study of the artist’s father (c.1753-55) and Portrait study of a young woman, possibly the artist’s mother, Hannah (c.1753-55). His earliest known sky chalk drawing, Study of Clouds by Moonlight, c.1771, meanwhile, is a highlight of the third section.

Five studies of a crawling baby (Anna Romana), pencil on paper, 1774-5, offers perhaps the most intimate window into Wright’s personal life in section four; the drawings show Wright tenderly responding to his new baby daughter, who was born on 24 June 1774 during his honeymoon in Italy. His subsequent letters home are also full of observations, often humorous, illustrating the happiness of a proud new father. Wright’s studies of sculpture during this time are equally infused with life, in particular Study of ‘The Barbarini Faun’, after the Antique, pen and brown ink over pencil on paper, dated 23 March 1775, which lays bare the sculpture’s latent homoeroticism.

Works revealing Wright’s personal passions for learning, nature, and music are included throughout. Wright was a gifted singer and flutist, and the exhibition crescendos with landscapes charged with fire and tranquillity; from Vesuvius in Eruption (c.1774), which is often thought to have been painted the spot or very soon after, with gouache enabling Wright to capture in colour his first spontaneous impressions; to Blot Drawing of Landscape, in the Manner of Alexander Cozens, sepia ink on paper, (c.1785-6) which reveals Wright’s interest in experimental drawing techniques. The exhibition’s finale is a new installation titled Astronauts of Light by Derby-based artist E.J Lance, who invites visitors to consider why we draw, and the life-changing uses it might be put to.

Tony Butler OBE, Director, Derby Museums Trust said:

“The next year promises to be an inspiring one for audiences nationally and internationally to discover and re-discover Joseph Wright of Derby. Derby Museum and Art Gallery is the proud custodian of more than 500 paintings and works on paper by Joseph Wright; we are excited to share a powerful selection of these in Life on Paper, and to launch our nationwide ‘Year of Wright’. Life on Paper will be closely followed by the first major exhibition in 2025/6 dedicated to Wright’s celebrated ‘candlelight’ paintings. Initiated by Derby Museum and Art Gallery in partnership with the National Gallery, London, Wright of Derby: From the Shadows opens in London this autumn (7 November 2025 – 10 May 2026). When it travels to Derby in 2026, two of Wright’s most famous works, The Air Pump and The Orrery, will also return to his hometown, Derby, for the first time in 80 years”. 

Gabriele Finaldi, Director, The National Gallery, London said:

“You can only fully immerse yourself in the world of Joseph Wright by visiting his home city of Derby, experiencing Life on Paper, and seeing the world’s largest collection of works by the artist in a purpose-built gallery”

“Together in May we’re launching a phenomenal Year of Wright of Derby at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery. In November the exhibition Joseph Wright of Derby: From The Shadows opens at the National Gallery, bringing together for the first time in almost a century his two masterpieces An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump and The Orrery. In June 2026 From The Shadows comes to Derby.”