Dimensions: support: 1016 x 1276 mm frame: 1155 x 1440 x 95 mm
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: So, here we have Joseph Wright of Derby's "A Moonlight with a Lighthouse, Coast of Tuscany," currently residing in the Tate. It's such a moody piece, all shadows and glimmers. What grabs your attention most about it? Curator: It's funny, isn't it? Light illuminating darkness. Wright was obsessed with it! The industrial revolution, you know, candlelight, furnaces... He turns the lighthouse into this beacon of reason against the sublime, unknowable night. Makes you wonder, are we really in control? Editor: That's a cool take! So, it's not just a pretty picture, but a bigger statement? Curator: Oh, always! Think about what light means to you, then layer it on the canvas. Editor: I'll never look at a lighthouse the same way again!
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wright-a-moonlight-with-a-lighthouse-coast-of-tuscany-n05882
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When journeying to and from Rome, Wright had crossed much of mainland Italy but his acquaintance with districts beyond Rome would have been brief. Years later, this imagined scene gave Wright a context in which to compare the differing effects of natural and artifical light-sources that had so long fascinated him. Here, the luminosity of the moonlight in the night sky is contrasted with the hazy beam of the lighthouse and its reflection in the water. The looming dark mass of the cliff and portentous-looking rocks in the bottom left create a sense of melodrama. Gallery label, August 2000
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