Landscape with Cedars and Buildings (Smaller Italian Sketchbook, leaf 24 recto)
Medium
Pen and ink, brush and gray and yellow wash or watercolor, over graphite
Dimensions
Sheet: 9 3/16 x 6 3/4 in. (23.4 x 17.1 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1957
Accession Number
57.102.1(24)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), celebrated for his dramatic candlelit scenes and early depictions of the Industrial Revolution, ventured to Italy from 1773 to 1775 as part of the Grand Tour tradition. *Landscape with Cedars and* (1774–75), from his Smaller Italian Sketchbook (leaf24 recto), captures rugged beauty of the Italian countryside. Towering cedars frame distant buildings under a vast sky, reflecting Wright's keen eye for natural light and atmospheric depth during his travels through Naples and beyond. Executed on a modest 9 3/16 x 6 3/4-inch sheet, this drawing employs graphite u...
About the Artist
Joseph Wright (Wright of Derby) · 1734–1797
Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) was an English painter celebrated for his dramatic use of candlelight and artificial illumination, which earned him a unique position in eighteenth-century British art as the painter of the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment. Born in Derby in the English Midlands, he studied in London under Thomas Hudson, a leading portrait painter, before returning to D...