A rarely seen painting by world renowned artist Joseph Wright is now on display in his home city of Derby, thanks to a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to share a national treasure.
One of the most interesting and important painters of the late 18th century, Wright was born in Derby in 1734 and remained closely involved with his home city, where he lived and worked for most of his life, becoming known simply as ‘Wright of Derby’.
Regarded as the most original, versatile, and accomplished British artist of his time, his paintings grace the walls of world-famous galleries across the globe, including New York, London and Australia – but Derby is where visitors will find the world’s largest collection of his work.
Now, Derby Museum and Art Gallery has become the guardian of a major new acquisition for the nation after it unveiled Self-Portrait at the Age of About Forty in its Joseph Wright Gallery.
Not only is the self-portrait itself a major draw, but the reverse side has an early study of Wright’s most famous artwork. A bespoke free-standing case will allow visitors to see both sides of the painting.
In what is described as an exceptional opportunity, the remarkable painting – owned as part of a private collection since it was completed in around 1772 – has been accepted in lieu of Inheritance Tax by HM Government and allocated to Derby Museums, administered by Arts Council England.
The scheme enables those with a liability for inheritance tax, or estate duty, to pay with heritage property; and, together with further support from a range of funding bodies, the acquisition means Derby will now be the new home for this nationally important artwork.
Seldom exhibited in public, the self-portrait captures a sense of the self-confidence and recognition of Wright’s growing reputation for his so-called “candlelight paintings” and is packed with references to his specialism as a master painter of light effects.
It stands out amongst his many works as the only one of Wright’s 10 self-portraits in which he specifically depicts himself as an artist, and also because of the study on the reverse side for An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, which was painted in or just prior to 1768.
The study sheds important light on the development of Wright’s ideas for The Air Pump, a painting that is widely credited as the artist’s masterpiece and the first of his works to enter a British public collection when it was acquired by the National Gallery in 1863.
Self-Portrait at the Age of About Forty will be on permanent display, but due to its delicate nature – and to support its conservation – it will be on its special plinth for certain periods and then ‘rested’ from time to time to preserve it for future generations. When it is not on its double-sided plinth visitors will be able to view information about the verso on the interpretation panels that have been specially created to tell its wider story.
Derby Museums also houses the Joseph Wright Study Room which is home to over 300 drawings and sketches by Wright, as well as engravings, letters and a large library of related books.
To find out more about the Museum, visit www.derbymuseums.org/museum-and-art-gallery/
For tourist information about Derby as a destination, see www.visitderby.co.uk
Photo, above: Self-portrait at the age of about forty, by Joseph Wright, oil on canvas, c.1772. © Image Omnia Art Ltd
