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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Wright of Derby
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(Joseph Wright, 1734–97) Painter whose career was made in the industrial Midlands around his home town of *Derby. His strong and direct style of portraiture suited his patrons, men of business who were more robust than the fashionable clientele in London; and his personal fascination with the effects of artificial light, whether candles, furnaces or fireworks, made science and industry a natural subject matter. His two most celebrated works are candle-lit and scientific, both dating from about 1768 – A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery, in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun (Derby Art Gallery) and An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (National Gallery). A trip to Italy in 1773–5 provided him with two other favourite themes – a firework display at the *Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, and an eruption of Vesuvius.
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