Available November 2026
Edited by Julia Siemon
A timely reexamination of Joseph Wright’s captivating “candlelight” paintings, featuring the recently rediscovered Two Boys with a Bladder.
The dramatic “candlelight” paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) cast a spell, enthralling viewers with striking scenes that portray human curiosity, the quiet intensity of domestic life, and the excitement of scientific discovery. With a variety of brushstrokes—dabbed here, whiskered there, and dragged elsewhere—Wright pushed boundaries with the transformative power of light. In 2020, the Getty Museum acquired the newly rediscovered Two Boys with a Bladder (1767), a luminous study of innovation, intimacy, and artistic brilliance that challenged established assumptions about Wright and sparked renewed interest in his experiments with light.
A Light in the Dark presents new research to uncover the origins of Two Boys and expand our understanding of Wright's early candlelights, tracing the invention and initial development of his distinctive style. Whereas recent scholarship has maintained an outward approach that ties the artist’s oeuvre to places that he visited, this volume returns the focus to Wright himself—his biography, technique, and hometown of Derby—in a much-needed reexamination. Complete with fresh historical and technical evidence, this is a fascinating look into the inspirations, aspirations, and experiments behind some of the most remarkable paintings in the history of British art.
This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from November 24, 2026, to March 14, 2027.
Julia Siemon is deputy director and chief curator at Bard Graduate Center. Her publications include, as editor and primary author, The Silver Caesars (2017), and, as contributing author, The Medici (2021), A Royal Renaissance Treasure and Its Afterlives (2021), and others.
“This remarkable catalogue, concentrating solely on Wright of Derby’s early candlelight paintings, is a major addition to scholarship on an artist whose reputation has never been higher. It combines the very best of empirical research with fascinating new light on Wright’s technique and materials.”
—Brian Allen, Chairman, Hazlitt Group; former Director of Studies, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
144 pages
8 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches
81 color and 10 b/w illustrations, 1 table
ISBN 979-8-88712-041-6
paperback
Getty Publications
Imprint: J. Paul Getty Museum
2026