Two Demons and Two Legs, probably after Michelangelo (Smaller Italian Sketchbook, leaf 16 recto)
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and yellow wash, 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(16)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the intricate world of Joseph Wright of, an Enlightenment-era artist renowned for his dramatic candlelit scenes and innovative use of light. Created during his Italian Grand Tour of 1773–75, *Two Demons and Two Legs (from the Smaller Italian Sketchbook, leaf16 recto) captures's fascination with Renaissance masters. Dated 1774–75, this drawing echoes Michelangelo's muscular forms and fantastical motifs, reflecting the 18th-century British artist's deep study of classical antiquity and High Renaissance anatomy amid Rome's ruins. Executed in pen and brown ink with brush and yellow wash...
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...