A Church in Italy 

Joseph Wright of Derby sketched "A Church in Italy" using monochrome washes during his grand tour of the Italian peninsula. Wright was an artist who rose to prominence painting the new industry of Britain. The grand tour was a rite of passage for wealthy men, designed to instill a sense of classical values. Yet, Wright remained a provincial artist, based in Derby, where he maintained connections with industrialists such as Jedediah Strutt, for whom Italy was not a source of aesthetic refinement. Here, Wright translates the Italian landscape into an image with its own cultural and political significance. The painting depicts the visible church, yet the image is about the invisible social networks of the industrial revolution. To learn more about the history of the grand tour and its relation to industrialization, consult art historical journals and biographies of Joseph Wright of Derby.