Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno [SEP] creator
Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno
Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno is the subject of at least four paintings completed by Joseph Wright of Derby following his visit there in 1774. The paintings show the different lighting at different times of the day.
Description.
The subject of these paintings are the grottoes near Naples. Wright went on a tour of Italy in the 1770s, where he spent a great deal of time in 1774 sketching and painting scenes around Salerno and Naples. Good details of these forages are available,
cave in dazzling light from a sunset with a group of bandits within. The "banditti" version and another version with Julia was sold by Wright as a pair with one of the Virgil's Tomb pictures to Mr Cockshut and then through the Meynell family. This version was auctioned again 2015 (see below).
Derby Museum and Art Gallery hold a collection of Wright's paintings and these include two "grotto paintings". The earlier one is titled "Grotto in the Gulf of Salerno, Italy, Moonlight" and