Joseph Wright

Born in New Jersey, Joseph Wright traveled to England with his mother, an artist and Revolutionary spy. He studied under Benjamin West and John Hoppner, later traveling to Paris, where he painted society portraits under the patronage of Benjamin Franklin. Wright returned to America penniless after a shipwreck off the Spanish coast. He was a skilled clay and wax modeler, and George Washington named him the first draftsman of the US Mint; Wright designed many of the first American medals and coins.