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An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump

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An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump is a 1768 oil-on-canvas painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, one of a series of candlelit scenes that Wright painted during the 1760s. The Air Pump departed from previous painting conventions by depicting a scientific subject in the reverential manner previously reserved for scenes of historical and religious significance. Wright was intimately involved in depicting the Industrial Revolution and the scientific advances of the Enlightenment, but while his paintings were recognized as something out of the ordinary by his contemporaries, his provincial status and choice of subjects meant the style was never widely imitated. The painting depicts a natural philosopher recreating of one of Robert Boyle's air pump experiments, in which a bird is deprived of oxygen, before a varied group of onlookers. Scientific curiosity overcomes concern for the bird. The central figure looks out of the picture as if inviting the viewer's participation in the outcome.

Historical background

In 1659, Robert Boyle had commissioned the construction of an air pump (now known as vacuum pump and at the time also as a "pneumatic engine"). The air pump had been invented by Otto von Guericke in 1650, but the cost deterred most scientists from constructing the apparatus. Boyle, the son of the Earl of Cork, had no such worries — after its construction, he donated the initial 1659 model to the Royal Society and had a further two redesigned machines built for his own use. Aside from Boyle's three pumps, there were probably no more than four others in existence during the 1660s: Christian Huygens had one in The Hague, Henry Powers may have had one at Halifax, and there may have been pumps at Christ's College, Cambridge and the Montmor Academy in Paris. Boyle's pump, largely constructed by Robert Hooke, was complicated, temperamental, and difficult to operate.[1] Nevertheless, it enabled him to conduct a great many experiments on the properties of air, the most dramatic of which was a demonstration of the reliance of living creatures on air for their survival, which formed "Experiment 41". In this attempt to discover something "about the account upon which Respiration is so necessary to the Animals, that Nature hath furnish'd with Lungs", Boyle placed a large variety of different creatures, including birds, mice, eels, snails and flies, in the vessel of the pump and studied their reactions as the air was removed. Here, he describes an injured lark:

...the Bird for a while appear'd lively enough; but upon a greater Exsuction of the Air, she began manifestly to droop and appear sick, and very soon after was taken with as violent and irregular Convulsions, as are wont to be observ'd in Poultry, when their heads are wrung off: For the Bird threw her self over and over two or three times, and dyed with her Breast upward, her Head downwards, and her Neck awry.[2]

By the time Wright painted his picture in 1768, air pumps were relatively commonplace scientific instruments, and itinerant "lecturers in natural philosophy", more showmen than scientists, performed the "animal in the air pump experiment" as the centrepiece of a public demonstration.[3] James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer and probable acquaintance of Joseph Wright (since they were both friends of John Whitehurst), noted that a "lung-glass" with a small air filled bladder inside was often used in place of the animal, as using a living creature was "too shocking to every spectator who has the least degree of humanity".[4]

Painting

Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight (1765)
The Orrery (1768)
An earlier study showed the demonstrator in a more reassuring pose.

Background

In his apprenticeship and early career, Wright had concentrated on portraiture. By 1762, he had become an accomplished portrait artist, with the 1764 group portrait James Shuttleworth, his Wife and Daughter acknowledged as his first masterpiece. Benedict Nicholson suggests that Wright was influenced by the work of Thomas Frye, particularly the 18 bust-length mezzotints that Frye issued 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, fetching but uncomplicated.[5] Wright's painting forms part of a series of candle-lit nocturnes that he produced in the 1760s.

The first of his masterpieces, Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight, was painted in 1765 and showed three men studying a model of the "Borghese Gladiator". The Gladiator was greatly admired; but his next painting, A Philosopher giving that lecture on the Orrery, in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun (normally known by the shortened form A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery or just The Orrery), caused a greater stir, as it replaced the Classical subject at the centre of the scene with one of a scientific nature. Wright's depiction of the awe produced by scientific "miracles" marked a break with previous traditions in which the artistic depiction of such wonder was reserved for religious events,[6] since to Wright the marvels of the technological age were as awe-inspiring as the subjects of the great religious paintings.[7] An anonymous review from the time called Wright "a very great and uncommon genius in a peculiar way".[8] The Orrery was painted without a commission, probably in the expectation that it would be bought by Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers, an amateur astronomer who had an orrery of his own, and with whom Wright's friend Peter Perez Burdett was staying while in Derbyshire. Figures thought to be Burdett and Ferrers feature in the painting, Burdett taking notes and Ferrers seated with his son next to the orrery.[4] Ferrers purchased the painting for £210, but the 6th Earl auctioned it off, and it is now held by Derby Museum and Art Gallery.[9]

Detail

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump followed in 1768, the chaotic experiment contrasting with the orderly scene from The Orrery. It shows a white cockatoo fluttering in panic as the air is slowly withdrawn from the vessel by the pump. The witnesses display various emotions: one of the girls worriedly watches the fate of the bird, the other is too upset to continue observing and is comforted by her father; two gentlemen and a boy look on with interest, while the young lovers to the left of the painting are absorbed only in each other. The scientist himself looks directly out of the picture, as if challenging the viewer to make the decision on whether the pumping should continue, killing the bird, or whether the air should be replaced and the cockatoo saved.[10] Aside from that of the children, little sympathy is directed toward the bird; the subjects of the painting show the dispassionate detachment of the scientific society. Individuals are concerned for each other: the father for his children, the young man for the girl, but the distress of the cockatoo elicits only careful study.[8] To one side of the boy at the rear, the cockatoo's empty cage can be seen on the wall, and to further heighten the drama it is unclear whether the boy is lowering the cage on the pulley to allow the bird to be replaced after the experiment or hoisting the cage back up certain of its former occupant's death. It has also been suggested that he may be drawing the curtains to block out the light from the full moon. The neutral stance of the central character and the uncertain intentions of the boy with the cage were both later ideas: an early study, discovered on the back of a self-portrait, omits the boy and shows the natural philosopher reassuring the girls. In this sketch it is obvious that the bird will survive, but the composition lacks the power of the final version.[11]

The cockatoo would have been rare at the time, as the species did not become well-known until after it was shown in the illustrations of the voyages of Captain Cook in the 1770s. Wright may have observed cockatoos in the houses of rich industrialists, as Dutch merchants would have imported small numbers before Cook's voyage, or he may have seen them in works by Jacob Bogdány, a Hungarian painter living in London who specialised in depicting household and farmyard birds. In choosing such a rare bird for this scientific sacrifice, Wright is perhaps making a statement about the values of society in the Age of Enlightenment.[4]

On the table are various other pieces of equipment that the natural philosopher would have used during his demonstration; in the bowl in the centre of the table is a human skull, and close to the man seated to the right is a pair of Magdeburg hemispheres, which would have been used with the air pump to demonstrate the difference in pressure exerted by the air and a vacuum: when the air was pumped out from between the two hemispheres they were impossible to pull apart. The air pump itself is rendered in exquisite detail, a faithful record of the designs in use at the time.

Style

The powerful central light source creates a chiaroscuro effect. The light illuminating the scene has been described as "so brilliant it could only be the light of revelation".[12] The single source of light is obscured behind the bowl on the table; some hint of a lamp glass can be seen around the side of the bowl, but David Hockney has suggested that the bowl may contain sulphur, giving a powerful single light source that a candle or oil lamp would not.[13] In the earlier study a candleholder is visible, and the flame reflected in the bowl. Hockney also suggests that Wright may have used lenses to transfer the image to paper rather than painting directly from the scene, as the pattern of shadows thrown by the lighting are too complicated for Wright to have captured so accurately without assistance.[13]

Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman may have been the inspiration for the two lovers.

Wright's Air Pump was unusual, in that it depicted archetypes rather than specific people. The young lovers are thought to be based on Thomas Coltman and Mary Barlow, friends of Wright's, whom he later painted in Mr and Mrs Thomas Coltman after their marriage in 1769. Erasmus Darwin has been suggested as the man timing the experiment and John Warltire, whom Darwin had invited to help with some air pump experiments in real life, as the philosopher;[14] but Wright never identified any of the subjects.[4] In The Orrery, all the subjects have been identified apart from the philosopher, who has physical similarities to Isaac Newton but differs enough to make positive identification impossible. Nicholson detects the strong influence of Frye throughout the picture. Particularly striking is the similarity between Frye's mezzotint Portrait of a Young Man of 1760-1 and the figure of the boy with his head cocked staring intently at the bird. There are other hints of Frye's style in the painting: even the figure of the natural philosopher has touches of Frye's Figure with Candle.[15]

Wright's scientific paintings adopted elements from the tradition of history painting but lacked the heroic central action typical of that genre. While ground-breaking, they are regarded as peculiar to Wright, whose unique style has been explained in many ways. Wright's provincial status and ties to the Lunar Society have been highlighted, as well as his close association with and sympathy for the advances made in the burgeoning Industrial Revolution. Other critics have emphasized a desire to capture a snapshot of the society of the day, in the tradition of William Hogarth but with a more neutral stance that lacks the biting satire of Hogarth's work.[8]

Reception

The scientific subjects of Wright's paintings from this time were meant to appeal to the wealthy scientific circles in which he moved. While never a member himself, he had strong connections with the Lunar Society: he was friends with John Whitehurst and Erasmus Darwin, and Josiah Wedgwood later commissioned paintings from him.[16] Like The Orrery, apparently painted without a commission, the picture was purchased by Dr Benjamin Bates, who already owned the Gladiator. An Aylesbury physician, patron of the arts and hedonist, Bates was a diehard member of the Hellfire Club who despite his excesses lived to be over 90. Wright's account book shows a number of prices for the painting: Pd£200 is shown in one place and £210 in another, but Wright had written to Bates asking for £130, stating that the low price "might much injure me in the future sale of my pictures, and when I send you a receipt for the money I shall acknowledge a greater sum."[17] From Bates the picture passed to Walter Tyrell; a later member of the Tyrell family, Edward, presented it to the National Gallery in 1863.[18]

The striking scene has been used as the cover illustration for many books on topics both artistic and scientific. It has even spawned pastiches: the book cover of The Science of Discworld, by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, is a tribute to the painting by artist Paul Kidby, who substitutes the book's protagonists for Wright's figures. Shelagh Stephenson's play An Experiment with an Air Pump, inspired by the painting, was the joint winner of the 1997 Margaret Ramsay Award and had its premier at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in 1998.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Steven Shapin (1984-11). "Pump and Circumstance: Robert Boyle's Literary Technology" (PDF). Social Studies of Science. 14 (4): 481–520. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Robert Boyle (1660). New Experiments.
  3. ^ Paul Elliott (2000-01-01). "The Birth of Public Science in the English Provinces: Natural Philosophy in Derby, c. 1690-1760". Annals of Science. 57 (1): 61–100.
  4. ^ a b c d Olga Baird (2003). "Joseph Wright of Derby: Art, the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution". Revolutionary Players - Museums, Libraries and Archives - West Midlands. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Nicholson p.39
  6. ^ John Hedley Brooke, ed. (1991). Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (Cambridge Studies in the History of Science). Cambridge University Press. p. 434. ISBN 0521283744.
  7. ^ Nicholson p.40
  8. ^ a b c David Solkin (1994). "ReWrighting Shaftesbury: The Air Pump and the Limits of Commercial Humanism". In John Brewer (ed.). Early Modern Conceptions of Property (Consumption & Culture in 17th & 18th Centuries). Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd. p. 599. ISBN 0415105331.
  9. ^ Jenny Uglow. The Lunar Men. London: Faber and Faber. p. 588. ISBN 0-571-19647-0.
  10. ^ Jonathan Jones (2003-11-01). "Yes, it is art". The Guardian. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Nicholson p.45
  12. ^ Michael Kimmelman (1990-09-07). "Review/Art; In Praise of a Neglected Painter of His Time". New York Times. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ a b David Hockney (2001). Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters. Studio. p. 296. ISBN 0670030260.
  14. ^ Nicholson p.117
  15. ^ Nicholson pp.41-5
  16. ^ Stephen Farthing (Ed.) (2006). 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die. London: Quintet Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-84403-563-8.
  17. ^ Nicholson p.105
  18. ^ "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump". The National Gallery. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

References

  • Farthing, Stephen (ed.) (2006). 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die. London: Quintet Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-84403-563-8.
  • Hockney, David (2001). Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters. New York: Studio Books. ISBN 0670030260.
  • Nicholson, Benedict (1968). Joseph Wright of Derby. The Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art Patheon Books.
  • Uglow, Jenny. The Lunar Men. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-19647-0.
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