# Self-Portrait in a Fur Cap

- By: Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
- Date: 1765/68
- Medium: Monochrome pastel (grisaille) on blue-gray laid paper
- Classification: Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions: 42.5 × 29.5 cm (16 3/4 × 11 5/8 in.)
- Culture: England
- Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/76295)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/f656efb0-b800-1f80-f087-0d21f1a0ee5f/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Joseph Wright, a leading artist of the eighteenth century, spent most of his life in the central Midlands town of Derby, where he ran a successful portrait-painting practice. His best work in this vein portrays solid middle-class citizens, much like himself, with a keen perceptiveness of both character and physical appearance. Throughout his career, Wright was preoccupied with the evocative effects of light, specifically those produced by a single light source such as a candle, and the resulting play of shadows. Influenced by the powerful chiaroscuro of the superb mezzotints of Thomas Frye, a contemporary printmaker, Wright produced a number of dramatically lit self-portraits in oil, charcoal, and black-and-white pastel during the mid-1760s. Depicting himself in nocturnal lighting, wearing an exotic black hat, the artist evoked a time-honored tradition in portraiture: the deeply pensive artist who confronts himself and the viewer with a quiet challenge. Wright later ventured into landscape and genre subjects, the most original of which are concerned with the exploration of light phenomena. Portrait commissions continued to be a reliable source of income throughout his career.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0