Joseph Wright of Derby, A.R.A. and Studio 1734-1797

Painted circa 1782-3 this remarkable composition shows Derbyshire at the heart of industrial revolution.  Arkwright's cotton mills were situated in Cromford, on tbe southern edge of the Peak District.  Two mills had been built at Cromford by 1777.  The first and upper mill was in operation by 1771, the year in which Arkwright moved from Nottingham to Cromford.  The second was under construction in 1776-7.  Wright has depicted both mills bathed in a bright moonlight.  The overall sensation, however, is one of foreboding gloom.  A solitary figure and his horse both stoop under the weight of their loads.  To the left of the composition Cromford Bridge leads into the unknown, and the waters of the Derwent River which power the mills appear glassy and dark.  Wright certainly cannot have been unaware of the growing exploitation of the workers in the cotton mills, and his depiction of a candle in each of the many windows alludes to the reality of a factory which was kept going day and night.  This moonlit scene was painted some years after Wright's famous series of candlelit compositions of the 1760's, and indicates his continuing attraction to the artistic effect of chiarascuro.

Some years later Wright painted a second view of the  mills circa 1790.  On this occasion he painted the mills by day, and includes the significant development of the watercourse which had been re-directed alongside the road.

The present work is an identical composition to the painting by Wright in a private collection (Nicolson, Cat.No. 311) which is currently on loan to Debry City Art Gallery,