Ways of Looking with Art Expert

By Peter Gilbert, Volunteer and Speaker Liaison

On Tuesday 11th April, on the evening of the full moon, we had the great pleasure of hearing Lucy Bamford, Senior Curator of Art at Derby Museum, talk to a full house, on her special subject “Joseph Wright, The Philosophers’ Painter”.  Lucy is the acknowledged UK expert on Wright. She is also known internationally.

The opening of the evening was about Joseph Wright the man with a self-portrait on the screen.  Lucy asked us to describe the self-portrait.  Interestingly the answers varied from “vulnerable”, “confident” to “defiant”.

Lucy then took us through his upbringing and professional career. Joseph Wright was born into a middle class, relatively wealthy, family in Derby.  His father was a respected lawyer in the city.  He was described as an intelligent young man who developed a talent for sketching.  He persuaded his father to let him go to London to study under Thomas Hudson, the famous portrait painter, who was also master to Joshua Reynolds. Rather grudgingly, his father financed two years of study with Hudson at, what we would now consider, a very large fee.

He returned to Derby where he and developed a friendship with John Whitehurst, the Derby clock and instrument maker. Through him he met members of the Lunar Society and later The Derby Philosophical Society and probably attended some of their meetings.  Such meetings inspired his paintings of scientific experiments such as “The Bird in the Air Pump” and “The Orrery”.  Lucy also described how these paintings were also examples of his technique, lighting the picture with soft, candlelight.  Several of the Lunar Men became subjects for his portraits, he also painted family portraits such as those of Josiah Wedgwood and Richard Arkwright.  It was pointed out that in many of these family portraits, the family was almost incidental, it was more a statement of the wealth and possessions  and a representation of power.

We were told that he took his family trip Italy and landed in Naples.  The Vesuvius volcano had a great impact on him although it is doubtful that he ever saw an eruption.  However, many of his subsequent well known paintings usually contained volcanic representations. Even the portrait of John Whitehurst contains a small volcano as an acknowledgement of his geological researches.

On his return from Italy he tried to break into the portrait painting world of Bath but, in spite of a letter of introduction from Erasmus Darwin, he failed to penetrate this market and returned to Derby rather disenchanted.

His health was poor and it was also suggested that he suffered from depression.  There are records of Erasmus Darwin advising and treating him.  He died in 1799 at the age of 63.

Lucy took us through all these paintings describing the nuances of texture, gesture, dress and the use of props.  With this guidance we were able to read much more into the pictures and see that they contained a considerable degree of social comment.

It was a most enjoyable and very informative evening and a great tribute Lucy, who made her considerable knowledge so accessible.