Wright often used a twilled canvas for his portraits, and sometimes for his landscapes. He mostly painted very thinly, and it is perhaps partly in consequence of this practice that his pictures have stood the test of time better than those of many contemporary artists. He but seldom signed his paintings; when he did, he generally gave the initials, “I. W., pinxit,” and the dates.
His early portraits partake very much of the hard handling and stiff style of Hudson, his master; but as time elapsed and experience was gained, he adopted more pleasing and original treatment.
In the early part of this century, an artist, Rawlinson by name, who resided at Matlock Bath, copied some of Wright’s pictures with some success.
On Oct. 6th, 1777, Wright and his family returned to Derby from Bath, and went to lodge at Mr. Eley’s, which was opposite to his brother Richard’s house, where he still continued to paint. There he lived very happily and cheerfully, being constantly employed in the evening. When not in the painting-rooms he would read, draw, play upon the flute, or romp with his children; he was so pleasant and accommodating to all the family, that though the Eleys were at first unwilling to receive him, they quite lamented when he left.
In the spring of 1779, Wright removed to St. Helen’s House. This house was built by the Fitzherberts, upon the same plan, and apparently by the same architect, as Somersal Hall, Staffordshire. Alleyne Fitzherbert, who was created Baron St. Helen’s in 1801, was born in this house, and from it took his title. The ground formerly belonged to the Abbey of St. Helen, and on the old house being taken down, a skeleton and numerous bones were found under the foundations, which lead to the supposition that it was the burial ground of the Abbey; its site is at the present time occupied by part of St. Helen’s Street, and Messrs. Hall’s Marble Works. The present St. Helen’s, now the Grammar School, is on the opposite side of King Street, and was built by—— Gisborne, Esq. The comparatively retired situation of this old house on the outskirts of the town, suited Wright. It had a large court before it, and the sitting rooms looked into the gardens, which were large. Wright always encouraged his children in the enjoyment of active amusements, as being conducive to health. “The broad gravel walk, the length of the largest garden,” writes his niece, “was a famous place for playing at ball, baseball, &c., in which his nieces used to join with delight, there being no fear of any injury being done. The old house was well calculated for all sorts of games; from the rooms opening into each other and into different passages, no place could be better for hide and seek, and the large hall for blind-man’s-buff, and games that required space. Swinging was likewise a great pleasure. There was not any part of the house in which they might not play, and they could even whip tops in the room where the pictures were arranged all round, and upon the floor.”
ST. HELEN’S HOUSE IN 1792.
Wright would allow them to play in his painting-room when he was not employed, and his niece does not remember him being afraid of anything being damaged, except when he was painting the portrait of Sir Richard Arkwright, in which the machine he constructed for spinning cotton was introduced; then he would not allow anyone to go near the table lest it should be injured.
The painting-rooms at St. Helen’s House were not so convenient as those at his brother’s, Dr. Wright’s, in the Iron Gate, where one room opened into the other, so that by darkening the one room he could introduce the proper light and subject he intended to paint, and view them to advantage from the other room. His mechanical genius, however, enabled him to construct an apparatus for painting candle-light pieces and effects of fire-light. It consisted of a framework of wood resembling a large folding screen, which reached to the top of the room, the two ends being placed against the wall, which formed two sides of the enclosure. Each fold was divided into compartments, forming a framework covered with black paper, and opening with hinges, so that when the object he was painting from was placed within with the proper light, the artist could view it from various points from without.
In a note to a poem on the Chauntry House, Newark, by the Rev. H. N. Bousfield, B.A., the following anecdote occurs:—