Attributed to Joseph Wright of Derby (Derby 1734-1797)
The Bay of Naples from Posillipo
oil on canvas
31.1 x 40.4cm (12 1/4 x 15 7/8in).
Footnotes:
Joseph Wright of Derby first visited Naples in 1774–75 and made most of his sketches of Mount Vesuvius at that time. He never witnessed an actual eruption, but the idea had a considerable impact on his imagination. The subject proved especially popular with his patrons. In the following years he painted at least twenty-seven different versions of the volcano in eruption. The present composition is very close to his A Picture of a distant View of Vesuvius from the Shore of Posilipo, on panel, 63.5 x 83.8 cm., of circa 1788, now in the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale Center for British Art, which, according to Wright's account book, was intended for Sir Robert Wilmot, second Baronet of Osmaston, a Derbyshire landowner who paid Wright £42 for the picture.
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