Matthew Craske, Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Darkness, by Emily Knight
Joseph Wright of Derby’s skill in chiaroscuro was fed by an obsession with gloomy subjects, writes Emily Knight
Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Darkness Matthew Craske Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, £45 ISBN 9781913107123
Matthew Craske’s fascinating biography of Joseph Wright looks afresh at the artist known as the ‘painter of light’. The title refers to Benedict Nicolson’s authoritative book on the painter, published just over years ago. Craske does not seek to supersede Nicolson’s book, which, he argues, retains its authority as a catalogue, as well as providing a convincing picture of the social context in which the artist worked. Instead, he provides an alternative reading of this ‘self-professed melancholic’, drawing on neglected sources to mine the motivations and forces behind the creation of Wright’s oeuvre. Craske argues that Wright’s interest in darkness developed out of a literary culture in which ‘the night’ was a place for pensive souls.
Divided into two parts, this richly illustrated book begins with an exploration of the artist’s identity as a painter who eschewed the politics of the London art world and ‘retired’ to Derbyshire. Wright was born in Derby but in moved to the capital, where he studied under the portraitist Thomas Hudson. Two years later he returned to his hometown, where, aside from periods in Liverpool, Bath and Italy, he remained for the rest of his life. Supported by a close network of friends including the poet William Hayley, Wright established a reputation as a melancholic recluse who chose to absent himself from the superficial distractions of metropolitan life. The success of reproductive prints after his paintings and his regular inclusion in exhibitions in London allowed Wright to appear on the national stage without ever having to take up residence in the capital. Unlike many previous scholars of Wright, including Nicolson, who discounted the early biographies of the artist, Craske takes these accounts of his life seriously, analysing the context of their production and the relationship between the biographer and artist. These texts offer fresh insight into an artist whose public persona was often carefully managed by his supporters, and whose bouts of depression fed into his image as a melancholic genius.