The major part of this book consists of seven essays which take as their starting point a single artist, each essay nominally discussing a single painting - but there is more besides. First we have Joseph Wright of Derby's depiction of Sir Richard Arkwright's cotton mills at Cromford. The author tells us that the first person to use the expression 'industrial revolution' was Friedrich Engels.I He starts chapter one with a quotation from Eric Hobsbawn to the effect that if you want to learn about the industrial revolution you should look at cotton manufacture. Arkwright's Mill at Cromford is a quintessential early example of a successful cotton mill. The main painting discussed here is the portrait of Arkwright by Joseph Wright. Richard Arkwright liked this painting and it would appear to be a good likeness. On the facing page is a portrait by Mather Brown which could be of almost any well-built gentleman of the period, it is bland, routine and totally fails to bring out the character of the man. The chapter continues with illustrations of Cromford Mill from a distance, in daytime and at night. These paintings are so well known they will already be familiar to most readers.
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