This was the official program book of the exhibition of Wright’s work at the National gallery in London that I went to last month and really enjoyed. (File 770 ran a piece on it too.) The book consists of three parts – a short introduction from National Gallery directors Sir Gabriele Finaldi and Tony Butler OBE; an essay, “Between Darkness and Light”, by Christina Riding; and another essay, “A ‘Peculiar’ Painter of Candlelight”, by Jon King. The second paragraph of the last of these is:

It is likely that Wright’s celebrated candlelight scenes owe much to an early fascination with the principles of illumination and spectacle. Though his childhood is sparsely documented, insights can be derived from notes by his elder brother Richard and the unpublished memoirs of his niece, Hannah. According to Hannah, Wright demonstrated a curious and ‘active mind’ from a young age, spending his free time observing craftsmen at work – such as joiners and marble workers – and recreating what he saw.⁵ In addition to noting skilfully made projects such as a chest of drawers, a gun and a clock without a working mechanism, Hannah recounts Wright’s early fascination with raree boxes. These portable exhibitions presented unusual images illuminated by candlelight. As a boy, Wright not only grasped the mechanics but, Hannah records, he also impressed and embarrassed the showman with his ingenuity:

Having seen a raree show, he considered attentively upon what principal it could be formed; having discovered the manner of placing the glasses, he completed a show about three feet high; he then went to the Showman, and told him he had made a show like his; the man would not believe it at first, but upon inquiring how he had made it, he found it was quite right, & begged he would not tell any one by what means he had effected it.⁶

⁵ Wright 1850, p. 2.
⁶ Ibid., pp. 2-3.

I am more pleased with the balance of the essays in the book than I was with the commentary in the exhibition itself; Riding does write about the scientific content of Wright’s work, and King makes the point that this is also linked to changing concepts of education in the 18th century. Art criticism isn’t generally my bag, but this is very helpful, and also lavishly illustrated for quite a modest price. You can get Wright of Derby here; but also if you can, get to the National Gallery before the exhibition closes (currently schedled for 10 May).