Self Portrait at the Age of about Forty; Verso: Study for 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'

Joseph Wright of Derby's late self-portrait depicts him around 1800, near the end of his career, with the quiet directness of a man who had established one of the most original bodies of work in British painting. Wright had pioneered candlelit scientific and industrial subjects in the 1760s and 1770s that uniquely documented the intellectual excitement of the English Midlands during the Industrial Revolution. This self-portrait shows him in comfortable middle age, without pretension — the unfashionable Midlands painter who never moved to London but whose distinctive vision left an indelible mark on British art history.

Wright's self-portrait demonstrates the mastery of light effects that defined his career. The careful rendering of the artist's features and the atmospheric use of light and shadow reflect the same technical concerns that produced his famous candlelight compositions.