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18 century collection

Introduction
'The Guitar Player', Jacob van Schuppen
The Amber Cabinet, Poland
'Mr and Mrs Atherton', Arthur Devis
'David Garrick as Richard III', William Hogarth
'James Stanley', George Stubbs
'The Fortress of Königstein', Bernardo Bellotto
'Miss Elizabeth Ingram', Joshua Reynolds
'Molly Longlegs', George Stubbs
'Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle', Richard Wilson
'Fleetwood Hesketh', Joseph Wright of Derby
'Sir Robert Clayton', Thomas Gainsborough
'Richard Gildart', Joseph Wright of Derby
'Isabella', Thomas Gainsborough
'A Horse frightened by a Lion', George Stubbs
'The Family of Sir William Young', Johan Zoffany
'Self-portrait', Anton Raphael Mengs
'The Annual Girandola'
'The Lincolnshire Ox', George Stubbs
'A Green Monkey', George Stubbs

'The Annual Girandola at the Castel Sant' Angelo, Rome', Joseph Wright of Derby, 1775-76

A firey scene lighting up a city dominates the left side of the canvas. The smoke swirls out clockwise leading to the darker foreground containing trees which contrast against the light.

Oil on canvas, 138 x 173cm

Accession Number WAG1428

This was painted shortly after Wright returned from a trip to Italy. It was paired with the 'Eruption of Vesuvius' painting: 'the one the greatest effect of Nature, the other of Art that I suppose can be' he said.

Wright was fascinated all his life with powerful effects of light and made his name painting them. Here the annual Easter firework display in Rome becomes an almost apocalyptic vision of the city.