Moonlight and Mortality: The Enigmatic Works of Joseph Wright of Derby

Interesting online lecture by Stella Grace Lyons looking at the life and work of Joseph Wright of Derby.

Lyons told the story of Wrights work through a series of his best known works. Seen as an artist of the Enlightenment, Wright was fascinated by the contrast of light and dark and was best known for his candlelit pictures of contemporary scientific and industrial scenes, most famous of which is the National Gallery’s “Experiment on an Bird in an Air Pump” which I love.

She introduced me to works I didn’t know such as “The Alchymist” from 1771 which shows an alchemist’s discovery of phosphorus. He sinks to his knees before the experiment in wonder as the moon, a reference to the Lunar Society, shines thought the window.

Other examples she used included the beautiful “Iron Forge”, a scene partly celebrating the liberation from hard physical labour and prosperity brought by the introduction of machinery to an iron foundry, and “A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at an Orrery” which is full of the wonderful expressions of wonder and concentration in the lecturers audience, all literally illuminated by the scientific instrument.

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