Sarah Clayton

2 Pages 462 Words

I visited the Fitchburg Art Museum on October 22, 2004, this was the second time that I’ve visited this museum and I actually decided to write about the piece that I discovered upon my last visit to the museum. I don’t have a very broad knowledge of art. I do appreciate it when I see it but I never pursued it anymore than I did probably due to the fact of my own artistic inability.
Last year when I visited the museum I was very impressed with the entire museum, especially the exhibit on American and European portraits. The pictures were very detailed. My favorite of the paintings was by Joseph Wright of Derby, it was called Sarah Clayton. This painting was done through oils on canvas and was painted sometime between 1768 and 1771. The portrait was of a women at her desk and was writing lines with ink on her finger. It wasn’t very clear as to what she was writing but this picture definitely caught my attention and that is why I chose to analyze it.
Joseph Wright of Derby was the English painter who painted “Sarah Clayton. Wright was born in 1734 and died in 1797. He lived in Derby and depicted realism. Wright was inspired by the Dutch followers of Carvaggio. The name “Wright of Derby” was given to him to help differentiate him from Liverpool artist, Richard Wright.
In 1771 during the time “Sarah Clayton” was illustrated there were many events going on in the world. This was actually the year that scientists made the discovery of oxygen. Spain ceded the Falkland Islands to England. The massacre at Bloody Falls also took place.
As I was looking at this painting I couldn’t help but notice all of the different visual components. It was done with colors such as purple, white, black and green. It also looks as though it was three dimensional. The line is vertical. The picture is very realistic. Color is used in cool hues. Shading is used as with blending. It has a linear perspective.
On the woman...