Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight

Before Valentine Green and Richard Earlom, William Pether created major mezzotints from several of the 14 paintings Joseph Wright of Derby exhibited in London between 1765 and 1772. Many of these were “candlelight pictures,” a genre exceedingly well suited to mezzotint tones. Yet Pether waited for a successful review of the 1766 painting for A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery before he began the laborious mezzotint process, completing it only in 1768. The print sold so well that Valentine Green saw a lucrative opportunity and absconded with the mezzotint commission that could have been Pether’s for Experiment on the Air Pump.