From November 7, 2025, to Could 10, 2026, the Nationwide Gallery in London presents the exhibition “Wright of Derby: From the Shadows”
Supply: The Nationwide Gallery, London · Picture: Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’, ‘An Experiment on a Bird In the Air Pump’. The Nationwide Gallery, London
This exhibition will concentrate on Joseph Wright’s profession between 1765 and 1773, throughout which period he made a sequence of candlelit scenes. We’ll present various masterpieces from this era together with ‘Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight’ (1765, non-public assortment), ‘A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun’ (1766, Derby Museum and Artwork Gallery) and the Nationwide Gallery’s An Experiment on a Chicken within the Air Pump (1768). This marks the primary time in 35 years that each one these works will likely be introduced collectively.
In these ‘candlelight’ work, Wright of Derby exhibits thrilling moments, not simply of discovery however of shared studying. His dramatic depictions of pure and synthetic mild hyperlink his work again to the creative traditions of the Renaissance and artists akin to Caravaggio, whose sturdy mild and deep shadows have been hardly ever employed in British artwork earlier than the mid-18th century.
