WRIGHT, Joseph
(b. 1734, Derby, d. 1797, Derby)

View of San Felice Circeo, near Gaeta, Italy

c. 1475
Oil on canvas, 53 x 92 cm
Private collection

This landscape depicts a view of the old town of San Felice Circeo, with Mount Circeo beyond, at the northern end of the Gulf of Gaeta. Joseph Wright of Derby spent nearly two years travelling in Italy, for much of which he was based nearby in Rome, from where he would make sorties out into the neighbouring countryside to sketch the dramatic Italian scenery and absorb the Mediterranean light that so inspired him.