A master of subtle chiaroscuro, Joseph Wright of Derby is one of the most important of the late eighteenth-century artists who define the British Romantic movement. Despite beginning his career as a portraitist, working briefly in Liverpool before attempting to fill the void left by Gainsborough's exodus from Bath, many of Wright's best loved works are landscape and genre scenes, especially those which deal in particularly dramatic effects of light. It is in paintings such as the present Cottage on Fire that Wright was able to show off his mastery of landscape painting in combination with his keen sense of the sensational effects of a bright light shone into deep darkness.

Wright's earliest known pure landscape is a picture entitled Rocks with Waterfall, painted in circa 1772 (Private Collection). It was not until he travelled to Italy however, that landscapes really start to feature prominently in his art, and it is this development that represents the most significant and lasting influence of Wright's experience on the continent. In Italy, away from the time constraints of portrait commissions, Wright was able to fully immerse himself in the study of topography and made more drawings than he had previously had time for. He also witnessed an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which surely impacted his fascination with the effects of light within a landscape. The trip was a personal revelation, and following his return to England he seized every chance he had to paint landscapes; writing to a friend in 1792 'I know not how it is, tho' I am engaged in portraits... I find myself continually stealing off, and getting to Landscapes'.

Wright of Derby created several "Cottage on Fire" landscapes late in his career, beginning in 1787 and then over the next five years. Clearly a popular subject with his clientele, the present work is one of nine listed by Nicholson, and though the theme is similar in each, the individual compositions present a different take on the moody and colorful evening subject, with varying degrees of drama and calm within the scenes. Paintings from this series include one now in the Minneapolis Museum of Art (fig. 1), where a larger family group is included escaping the burning cottage at center, as well as Fire seen through trees at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, which includes a still lake reflecting the red light of the fire.¹

In the present canvas, Wright of Derby was able to show off his unmatched ability to capture a pervasive, hot light as it pierces a dark, detailed environment; he carefully plays with the deep pink and yellow tones as they fall on the various surfaces of the composition, from the ruins of a castle in the left foreground to the lush greens of the trees and forest floor. Further, Wright’s deployment of twin light sources, the juxtaposition of the fire and moonlight, is a magnificent example of Wright's genius, and is what gives the composition its innate romanticism.

Wright’s early fascination with candlelit scenes and his dramatic use of strong chiaroscuro throughout his career – that characteristic mastery of ephemeral atmosphere that induced Nicolson to dub him the ‘Painter of Light’ – runs deeper than simply the inspiration of the seventeenth-century Dutch school, and is more centrally rooted in his relationship with the Lunar Society. A prominent group of Midlands intellectuals and industrialists who, by practical application of Enlightenment thought, were the driving force behind the early Industrial Revolution; the Lunar Society was a nebulous organization whose members shared a common interest in experimentation and invention, visiting each other regularly to conduct scientific investigations into subjects such as electricity, meteorology, astronomy and geology. Centered around a group of principal members that included Matthew Boulton, Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood, more peripheral members consisted of much larger group of scientists, philosophers and artists; including the inventor John Wyatt; the renowned polymath Benjamin Franklin; the naturalist and botanist Sir Joseph Banks; the astronomer and composer Frederick William Herschel; and Joseph Wright of Derby himself. Wright drew succor from this world of commercial enterprise and scientific enquiry, and the activities of the Lunar Society form the spiritual core of his art. Indeed both Wright’s candlelit interiors and his light-focused landscapes such as the present work can be seen as the artistic manifestation of those very activities: the introduction of light into darkness acting as a metaphor for the transition from religious faith to scientific understanding and enlightened rationalism.

David G. Carter and Louise Belknap met at the Met in the museum’s library stacks where she was cataloguing for her first job after graduating as an art history major from Bryn Mawr. David had a newly established Metropolitan Museum of Art fellowship after completing his doctoral studies at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. His earlier days saw him serve as a diplomatic courier during WWII , followed by a degree from Princeton as an Art & Archeology major, then an MA at Harvard / the Fogg and his doctoral studies at NYU. The subsequent union of David and Louise in 1951 began a lifetime passion for building a superb art collection that they enjoyed surrounding themselves with over their 63 wonderful years together. While David came to be known as a Dutch & Flemish scholar with a specialty in Rembrandt, his was also a fine and discerning eye as a connoisseur with deep understanding of artistry and quality when selecting artworks for their personal collection or as the director of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design and The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (where he nearly doubled the size of the exhibition space during his tenure). Art was the framework for his entire world. David and Louise traveled widely around the globe and the focus was always on immersing in the cultural wonders of each country. With an international outlook and a curiosity to constantly learn David would often consult Louise, but if David came across a piece of rare beauty such as Wright of Derby’s Cottage on Fire at Night, his acquisitive nature for the exquisite would enter in. He acquired this remarkable painting as a surprise and gifted it to Louise in 1966. It has held pride of place in their homes throughout their long marriage that took inspiration from sharing so much beauty together.

Sotheby’s is honored to be offering the collection of David and Louise Carter, including paintings, sculpture, and drawings, throughout Masters Week 2021.

1. https://agnes.queensu.ca/explore/collections/object/fire-seen-through-trees/