“Your letter to Mr. Wright, I delivered to his daughter, who happened to be with us when it arrived, and he has been since so good as to give me a few instructions in drawing.”
“A cordial friendship had long existed between Wright, the admirable painter, of Derby, and the father of Alphonso; but the latter, in writing to his friend, had only requested him to gratify the little traveller with the permission of sometimes passing a leisure hour in his painting-room, and with the indulgence of seeing him exercise his pencil. The amiable artist, with that warm benevolence which formed a striking part of his character, went beyond the request of his old friend, and being more and more pleased with the intelligence, spirit, and docility of his little visitor, spontaneously bestowed on him such repeated instructions, as perfectly awakened in him a passion and a genius for art, which, being afterwards inspirited by the affectionate encouragement of his father, of Romney, and of Flaxman, ultimately changed his very early professional destination from medicine to sculpture.”
Mr. Hayley to Mrs. Hayley.
“I am infinitely pleased with the first-fruits of the little man’s northern pencil, and charmed with the kindness of my friend Wright, in condescending to instruct such an urchin.”
T. A. Hayley to Mr. Hayley.
“I continue to draw, and you will be glad to hear with the approbation of my great master. I shall have a great collection of performances to show you when we meet. I hope it will not be long before that happy moment arrives.”
Mr. Hayley to T. A. Hayley.
“I did not, I believe, send your medallion of Romney to our amiable friend Wright. I wish you to present him such a becoming mark of your gratitude for the extreme kindness that we have ever received from him. Would to heaven I could send him a good portion of health and spirits to attend your interesting offering to the very amiable invalid. From all of him I collect from Meyer, I fear his pencil has been very inactive for some time. I always grieve when men of talents are condemned by ill-health to involuntary indolence; and I doubly grieve when that misfortune falls upon a friend whose works I have often surveyed with delight.”
The following letter relates to the picture of the “Alchymist,” now belonging to the Derby Corporation Art Gallery, having been presented to that Town as a memorial to the painter, by a few of his admirers, in 1883:—
“Dear Wright,
“Dr. Turner will in his letter be more particular than I can possibly be on a subject to which I am a stranger. I have conceived that the chemist should be sitting on this side the table, & turning his head towards glass upon his assistant exclaiming upon the first appearance of the luminous exhalation from the Retort into receiver of the phenomenon. The lamp is still under the influence of the blast of wind remaining in the bellows below which the chemist has been using in another process. Whether this idea of the flame will in the least answer your purpose you alone can judge; you will wonder when you are told that I am painting History without figure, Landscape without trees, and Shipwreck without water. Mrs. Burdett joins me in love, compliments, and everything else to your Family.
“Yrs sincerely,
“J. P. BURDETT.
“Liverpool, Feby. 4, 1771.”