A Cottage in Needwood Forest Joseph Wright c1790

When looking for suitable landscape subjects, Joseph Wright usually travelled to the north of Derby, following the course of the Derwent. This painting, however, was made in Needwood Forest to the southwest whilst visiting his friend the Reverend Thomas Gisborne. The two would go sketching and this painting is likely to have been worked up in the studio from a sketch made on the spot. An otherwise tranquil genre scene showing a worker’s cottage in the forest at sunset, is given a sense of topographical accuracy through the specific configuration of the surrounding hills and valley.

The Map-seller and Geography from three putti representing the Liberal Arts, William Duesbury & Co c1765 and Derby China Works c1753-55

Prints of street-criers, each hawking their wares, were popular across Europe. The map-seller is after an engraving made in Paris by Ann-Claude-Philippe de Tubières. The porcelain figure holds what can be read as a stylized map of Derbyshire. Beside the map-seller a chubby putti holding a globe represents Geography.

Augmentation

During his career Wright formed close relationships with a number of strong, influential men. Gisborne was one, and another was Peter Perez Burdett who appears in a number of his paintings. Burdett was a multi-talented opportunistic character, who eventually left the country owing Wright money he had borrowed to help finance his survey of Derbyshire. Burdett produced an unusually detailed map at a scale of one inch to one mile, but sales were disappointingly low and the venture proved unprofitable.