During his apprenticeship and early career Wright concentrated on portraiture. By 1762, he was an accomplished portrait artist, and his 1764 group portrait "James Shuttleworth, his Wife and Daughter" is acknowledged as his first true masterpiece. Benedict Nicolson suggests that Wright was influenced by the work of Thomas Frye; in particular by the 18 bust-length mezzotints which Frye completed just before his death in 1762. It was perhaps Frye's candlelight images that tempted Wright to experiment with subject pieces. Wright's first attempt, "A Girl reading a Letter by candlelight with a Young Man looking over her shoulder" from 1762 or 1763, is a trial in the genre, and is fetching though uncomplicated.