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A Celebration of Thomas Wright (1711 – 1786)
Eighteenth-Century Polymath
Saturday 25 June 2011

Thomas Wright was born into a yeoman’s family on 22 September 1711 at Peg’s Pool, Byers Green near Bishop Auckland. Details recorded in the Journal of his early years trace the education and apprenticeships that nurtured his lifelong interest in theology, astronomy, natural history, philosophy and literature. These gave him the opportunity to develop considerable skills in surveying, draughtsmanship and mathematical calculations.

This polymathic perspective permeates Wright’s body of work and the qualities of his landscapes led George Mason to accord Wright the title ‘Professor of Gardening’. The conference will seek to unravel some of the threads in the web woven by this complex and gifted man. As part of the celebration of Wright’s tercentenary, the Institute will be organising a series of field visits to Shugborough, Hampton Court House and Horton Park in July, August and September respectively, which will make sense of how Wright was driven by an obsession to create his earthly vision of Paradise: ‘Elysian Fields, Pindaric Shades and a Myriad Inchanting Mansions’.

Speakers and their titles :

Professor Emeritus Sir Arnold Wolfendale, Thomas Wright and the Nature of the Universe

Professor Emeritus James Stevens Curl, The Landscape Garden and Freemasonry

Steven Desmond, 'Calm and serene sensations’: Thomas Wright at Home

Terence Reeves-Smyth, Wright and the Irish Gothick Revival

Judy Preston,‘Anything without a meaning will always be insipped'

Jezzar Giray, Restoring the Star to Wright’s Landscape

Joe Hawkins, 'Et in Arcadia Ego’: Celebrating Wright’s Tercentenary

To book a place at the conference and associated site visits  please complete a form and return to Judy Preston jp4653@bristol.ac.uk. Forms can be downloaded here.

This event is supported by the Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts (BIRTHA) and The Alumni Fund of the University of Bristol

The Grotto at Hampton Court House (above left), photograph courtesy of Nicki Faircloth. Design ‘H’ taken from Wright’s Arbours & Grottos; A Facsimile of the Two Parts of Universal Architecture (1755 and 1758); with a Catalogue of Wright’s Works in Architecture and Garden Design, ed. by Eileen Harris (London, 1979), courtesy of Special Collections, University of Bristol.