Moonlight and Mortality: The enigmatic works of Joseph Wright of Derby

Was Joseph Wright of Derby Britain’s answer to Caravaggio? He was a painter of light; candlelight, moonlight and fire. But he also painted another kind of light, the light of knowledge. His magical works give us an insight into a unique period of time; the British enlightenment.

Wright of Derby shows us a society on the brink of change, when a shift was taking place between religious ways of thinking, to a more ‘scientific’ approach. His works raise poignant questions about ethics, morality and man’s power over life and death.