Joseph Wright, Esq. Painter and Gentleman

Book excerpt: Andrew Graciano’s thorough study is a re-evaluation of Joseph Wright’s career and social status that demonstrates how his later landscapes, portraits and historical pictures are connected to a broader historical context, including contemporary science, industry and economics. In doing so, Graciano reinforces the idea that Wright was an intellectual painter, very much engaged with current ideas in these realms, as well as a gentleman of means beyond his artistic income, which gave him a social standing that has often been ignored by previous scholars.