Self-Portrait in a Fur Cap
1765/68
Medium
Monochrome pastel (grisaille) on blue-gray laid paper
Dimensions
42.5 × 29.5 cm (16 3/4 × 11 5/8 in.)
Classification
pastel
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
76295
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Joseph Wright, a leading artist of the eighteenth century, spent most of his life in the central Midlands town of Derby, where he ran a successful portrait-painting practice. His best work in this vein portrays solid middle-class citizens, much like himself, with a keen perceptiveness of both character and physical appearance. Throughout his career, Wright was preoccupied with the evocative effects of light, specifically those produced by a single light source such as a candle, and the resulting...