Joseph Wright’s Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump is probably the most dramatic and disturbing painting he ever created. The wild-eyed lecturer fixes us with his gaze, asking us whether we want to see how much longer the bird can survive. However it is not a photograph but a purposively contrived and complex picture. Initially Wright failed to sell, it but then agreed a secret, cut-price deal with a friend.
This mini-monograph examines the background to the use of living creatures in Air Pump experiments from the time of Robert Boyle onwards. Experimental demonstrations by roving lecturers played an important role in creating the ‘public sphere’ of science in the 18th century – not only bringing scientific ideas to the wider public, but showing the new way of establishing ‘authority’. Air Pump demonstrations were ubiquitous but some felt the use of live creatures was unacceptable and a ‘Lungs glass’ was invented to accommodate their reactions. However this device gave an incorrect understanding of what happens to an asphyxiated creature.
Wright’s original Sketch has survived on the back of a self-portrait he gave to his friend, Thomas Coltman, by way of thanks for support for his Grand Tour. This is now on display in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Though the indications are that the setting and possibly the personnel are the same, there are significant differences in the final painting. It is suggested that the occasion was once again stimulated by Peter Perez Burdett, and perhaps he choreographed the changes. He is shown with his wife’s young companion and subsequent member of their ménage à trios, the singer Friedrike Kottowsky. The picture’s eventual purchaser was a medical friend of Wright’s with surprising associations. These clues and the distant church tower which is scarcely visible through the window in the darkness may provide indications of an actual location and hence possibly the identities of other participants. The destruction of potentially relevant records and papers seems to prevent definitive conclusions, but the search reveals previously unsuspected connections.
The original mini-monograph was developed from a lecture given by Professor Powers at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery on 18th March 2017. This was withdrawn from sale following the realisation that the National Gallery’s identification of the young couple in the painting as ‘Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman’ is clearly incorrect. A new (free) supplementary booklet was produced in 2022, owning up to the error and exploring its implications.
Many colour and b/w illustrations
Experimentising the Bird in the Air Pump
ISBN 978-1-9997451-0-3
Pages: iii, 57; published June 2017, reprinted 2019
New Discoveries, a complimentary supplement
ISBN 978-1-913253-22-6
Pages: i, 15: published August 2022
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