Roman Ruins: Part of the Colosseum (?) (Smaller Italian Sketchbook, leaf 11 recto)
Medium
Pen and ink, brush and gray wash and yellow wash or watercolor
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(11)
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1774–75, during his Grand Tour of Italy, English painter Joseph of Derby—renowned for his dramatic candlelit scenes and Enlightenment-era depictions of science and industry—filled sketchbooks with studies of ancient Roman ruins. intimate drawing from his *Smaller Italian Sketchbook (leaf 11 recto) captures what may be a section of the Colosseum rendered in pen and ink with subtle brushwork in gray and yellow wash (or watercolor). Measuring just 9 3/16 x 6 3/4 inches, it exemplifies the portable, on-site sketching practiced by 18th-century British artists traveling abroad to absorb classical...
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...