From Soup to Nuts: A Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby

Martin Postle is at Derby Museum & Art Gallery on Thursday 29 October, from 3pm to 5pm, with a talk on the oil paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby. It's called From Soup to Nuts: A Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby, and the title gives it away: Postle is talking through the research for his forthcoming catalogue of Wright's oil paintings, which the Paul Mellon Centre is about to publish.

It's a proper deep dive. The catalogue covers Wright's entire painted oeuvre — portraits, landscapes and subject pictures — and it's built on archival research and a review of existing literature. It also brings in newly recovered works from public and private collections, so there's stuff in here that hasn't been seen or recorded in a while. Postle will be drawing on that ongoing work for the talk, so you're getting a look at the research while it's still in the making.

The session is part of Joseph Wright Rediscovered, a series of curated talks about the artist's life and work organised by Derby Museums and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. That, in turn, sits within The year of Joseph Wright, the museum's wider programme dedicated to him. It's a fitting place for it: Derby Museums holds the world's largest collection of Wright's work, and the Joseph Wright Gallery is a permanent space in the museum dedicated to his paintings. Wright was born in Derby in 1734 and is now remembered as a 'painter of light' associated with the Enlightenment, so the whole thing is very much a local story.

Tickets are £15, or £10 for Derby Museums Friends, and it's free for students and under 25s. The talk is for adults (18+), and booking is essential because places are limited. It runs from 3pm to 5pm at the museum on The Strand, DE1 1BS.