Indian Widow is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby

Joseph Wright of Derby

Joseph Wright , styled Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution"....

, completed in late 1783 or early 1784 and first shown in his one-man exhibition in London in 1785. The painting is now on display at Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Derby Museum and Art Gallery was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collection includes a whole gallery displaying the paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby; there is also a large...

, Derby

Derby

Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

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Description

Indian Widow was a title used by the painter himself, but a longer and more descriptive title also exists: The Widow of an Indian Chief Watching the Arms of Her Deceased Husband. According to Benedict Nicolson, in clothing the figure of the widow Wright "has fallen back on those well-worn neo-classic draperies which served for any distressed female". Nicolson finds that other details, however, are more authentic: "the form of her head-band, the treatment of the feathers, the quilled cords and knife-sheath, and the buffalo-robe painted on the skin side show knowledge of Indian technology from at least as far West as the upper Great Lakes: this proves that Wright used authentic props". The concept of the Noble Savage

Noble savage

The term noble savage , expresses the concept an idealized indigene, outsider , and refers to the literary stock character of the same...

, applied to Native Americans, was all the more popular in Britain in the 1780s when Americans of European origin could be regarded as rebels.

In contrast with Wright's paintings of candlelit scenes, here the main figure is seen silhouetted against sunlight and a stormy sky.

Similar work

An engraving of this painting was made by another Derby artist, John Raphael Smith

John Raphael Smith

John Raphael Smith was an English painter and mezzotint engraver, son of Thomas Smith of Derby, the landscape painter, and father of John Rubens Smith, a painter who emigrated to the United States.-Biography:...

, in 1785. Wright painted a similar painting based on female fortitude entitled The Lady in Milton's Comus and a very near copy of the Indian Widow. The Lady in Milton's Comus is in the Walker Gallery in Liverpool whilst the near copy was lost in a fire. This painting and the The Lady in Milton's Comus were exhibited in Wright's one man show in 1785. It is thought that this might be the first "one man show

Solo show (art exhibition)

A solo show or solo exhibition is an exhibition of the work of only one artist. The artwork may be paintings, drawings, etchings, collage, sculpture, or photography. The creator of any artistic technique may be the subject of a solo show. Other skills and crafts have similar types of shows for the...

" in England. Wright laid out his plans for the solo exhibition in the same year that he refused to become a Royal Acadamician

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

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