Landscape with a Two-Story Building on a Hill (Smaller Italian Sketchbook, leaf 29 recto)

Art Historical Context

Joseph Wright of Derby, a leading British artist of the Enlightenment era renowned for his dramatic candlelit scenes, created this intimate landscape sketch during his transformative Grand Tour of Italy from 1773 to 1775. Titled *Landscape with a Two- Building on a Hill*, appears on leaf 29o of his Smaller Italian Sketchbook—a personal album of rapid studies capturing the rugged beauty of the Italian countryside. Dated 1774–75, the drawing reflects Wright's keen eye for topography, with a sturdy two-story building perched dramatically on a hillside amid rolling landscapes. Executed in graphite heightened with brown and gray ink washes on a modest 9 3/16 x 6 3/4-inch sheet, the work showcases Wright's masterful use of mixed media to evoke depth, shadow, and atmospheric haze. These washes lend a soft, tonal subtlety, transforming a quick on-site notation into a poetic evocation of light and form—techniques honed from his oil painting expertise but adapted for portability during travel. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (acquired via Rogers Fund, 1957), this sketch offers a rare glimpse into Wright's preparatory process. It underscores the 18th-century artist's fascination with natural grandeur and classical ruins, bridging Romantic sensibilities with empirical observation, and inviting visitors to ponder the inspirations behind his grander canvases.

About the Artist

Joseph Wright (Wright of Derby) · 1734–1797

Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) was an English painter celebrated for his dramatic use of candlelight and artificial illumination, which earned him a unique position in eighteenth-century British art as the painter of the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment. Born in Derby in the English Midlands, he studied in London under Thomas Hudson, a leading portrait painter, before returning to D...