Joseph Wright was born and raised in Derby. After becoming an accomplished painter, he eventually took the name of Wright of Derby when he moved to Liverpool. He took liking to the nickname to set himself apart from Richard Wright, an already established painter in Liverpool. Although he became known for the work he did in Liverpool, his realistic paintings were greatly influenced by his humble home in Derby. Though he was well known in Derby for being a talented portraitist, his works in Liverpool far surpassed the portraits he painted for middle-class citizens.1 He intricately portrayed scenes of brilliant thinkers in their studies with the atmosphere of his humble hometown. A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery was the second of three paintings produced by Wright of Derby in which the scholars were depicted in their studies at night, by candlelight. “The Orrery” was painted in 1766. The sequence of candlelight paintings was done for personal reasons and not for money. However, these three pieces became very popular amongst middle-class homes.
The distinctive piece in each of of the three candlelight paintings is the light source. Wright places the light source of the entire room in the center of the painting, giving the rest of the room an almost creepy glowing effect. Since the light is placed in the center of the painting, all corners of the room seem to be lit, even though the top right corner shows a mere silhouette. The insufficient amount of light gives the viewer an idea of how dedicated the subjects were in order to be in the room to hear the lecture that the philosopher was giving. The glow of the light also clearly portrays the lack of technology and lack of light sources owned in each household. In addition to th...
... middle of paper ...
... product of Joseph Wright is currently displayed at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery in Derby, England. It is measured at 58 inches by 80 inches and was painted using oils on canvas.1 This piece clearly displays Wright’s painting style. By using dark backgrounds and fairly bland colors, he recreated the general fashion of the middle class citizen of that time period. He used an immense amount of detail in this portrait, making it extremely realistic, as if the viewer was watching the scene take place as it occurred.
Works Cited
Furtado, Peter. "Joseph Wright of Derby." History Today 57, no. 11 (November 2007): 7. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 10, 2011).
"Wright, Joseph." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. Ed. Ian Chilvers. Oxford University Press, 2004. eNotes.com. 2006. 13 Mar, 2011
John Singleton Copley was born in 1738 in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother Martha Babcock Amory was married to Richard Copley who died shortly after John’s birth. A couple of years later his mother remarried to Peter Pelham. Peter would prove to be a big influence on John’s early career. Pelham, one of Boston’s top engravers, would teach him the intricacies of printing and give Copley a chance to access a large library of prints to work from. These would later be used in the compositions of paintings like The Return of Neptune (fig1.1) and Mrs. Jerathmael Bowers. At first he borrowed poses and backgrounds from his step father's mezzotints, and tricks of color and modeling from his elders in Boston's portrait-painting fraternity. But he soon found he could go farther by paying scant attention to the modes and strict attention to his models. He would spend up to 100 hours on a portrait wit...
Wayne, transforms this painting into a three dimensional abstract piece of art. The focal point of the painting are the figures that look like letters and numbers that are in the front of the piece of art. This is where your eyes expend more time, also sometimes forgiving the background. The way the artist is trying to present this piece is showing happiness, excitement, and dreams. Happiness because he transmits with the bright colours. After probably 15 minutes on front of the painting I can feel that the artist tries to show his happiness, but in serene calm. The excitement that he presents with the letters, numbers and figures is a signal that he feels anxious about what the future is going to bring. Also in the way that the colors in the background are present he is showing that no matter how dark our day can be always will be light to
The view of the painting brings to mind the all the senses. Smell is the first to come to mind as the smoke from the candle billows up, the burning smell reaches the noise as well as the burning cigar. The fruity smell overshadows that of the smell of chicken and peas. The noise of a dropped tray and the breaking of glass as it hits the floor makes everyone turn to the right. People talking over each other to be heard. All of the senses are realized as the painting is viewed.
This work shows impeccably drawn beech and basswood trees. It was painted for a New York collector by the name of Abraham M. Cozzens who was then a member of the executive committee of the American Art-Union. The painting shows a new trend in the work of the Hudson River School. It depicts a scene showing a tranquil mood. Durand was influenced by the work of the English landscape painter John Constable, whose vertical formats and truth to nature he absorbed while visiting England in 1840.
Herberholz, Barbara. "Jacob Lawrence: The Glory of Expression." Arts and Activities 129.1 (2001): 12. ProQuest. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
Stokstad, M., & Cothren, M. W. (2008). Art history: Volume 1 (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall. Print.
... Hunter, John Jacobus, Naomi Rosenblum and David M. Sokol, American Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Decorative Arts, Photography, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 1979
It is not specifically known how Anthony Johnson came to own his “modest estate” or how he ended up in Northampton. Historians believe that his former master, Rirchard Bennett,...
2 Frank Lloyd Wright: The Masterworks by Bruce B. Pfeiffer, David Larkin, Paul Rocheleau, and Michael Freeman -Rizzoli International Publications (September 15, 1993)
Paul Revere is Copley’s only finished portrait of an artisan dressed in shirtsleeves and shown at work. Revere is shown half length, seated behind a highly polished table, and casually attired. He cradles his chin in his right hand and regards the viewer as if he has just looked up from the teapot in his left hand; the pot is finished but remains undecorated, and the engraving tools at Revere’s elbow attest to the work yet to come. When Copley painted Revere’s portrait, his sitter was an accomplished, well-established silversmith and master of the rococo style, both in engraving and in three dimensional hollow ware such as teapot. He completed the Sons of Liberty Bowl , now considered one of the United States’ most cherished historical treasures,
Stokstad, Marilyn and David Cateforis. Art History. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Trenton: Prentice Hall, 2002.
We walked and walked looking at each art piece, which were all well displayed. Then as I looked at the back wall, a large oil canvas painting looked right back at me. I could feel its pain and so then, I decided to do my paper on this piece. The painting was The Ragpicker by Manet. (The Ragpicker. Edouard Manet.1865.Oil on canvas.) The painting was so enormous that it was hard to miss. Such a huge painting for one man, it almost looked life-like. The dimensions of this work is 76.75” x 51.25”. This scene seems to take place of a lower-class man late in his age, probably near his seventies, appears to be looking out of the corner of his eye. The ...
Thomas Cole was born on February 1, 1801 in Bolton, Lancashire, England. Due to financial problems his family endured, Cole, at the ripe old age of just fourteen, had to find work to assist with the family needs. He entered the work force as a textile printer and wood engraver in Philadelphia. In 1819, Cole returned to Ohio where his parents resided. Here, a portrait painter by the name of Stein, would become Cole’s primary teaching vehicle and inspiration for his oil techniques we’ve come to be familiar with. During this time, Cole was extremely impressed by what he saw in the landscapes of the New World and how different they were from the small town of England from whence he hailed. Self taught, art came naturally to Cole.
He implements several references to light, from refraction to reflection to distortion, he makes it clear that his light has meaning. He defines the light by placing the strongest source in the center, precisely where the experiment is taking place. Once he has connected his “illumination” with a scientific experiment, it doesn’t take the audience a huge leap of faith to assume that the light symbolizes, or at least has some connection to, the progress of science. This is further exemplified by the fact that behind the characters stands an open door that seemingly contains only darkness. Wright has the characters move from a dark room into one lit up by a scientific experiment similar to how mankind, roughly during the time of this painting, shifted from the dark ages into the age of enlightenment. The situation in the scene is a rather
Gardner, Helen, and Richard G. Tansey. Gardner's Art through the Ages. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College, 1996. Print.