It’s always a pleasure to learn about lesser-known artists, writes Gill Crooks. The Art Appreciation group held a fascinating session on Joseph Wright of Derby, a prolific 18th‑century painter of contemporary scientific discoveries, sympathetic portraits and landscapes exploring the representation of light.
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, 1768 (photo © the National Gallery, London)
Rosemary Hobbs gave an excellent presentation on Wright to complement the video we watched. I was pleased to learn more about this man whose painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, 1768 dominates one of the rooms in the National Gallery. This powerful painting has dramatic and emotional force, fusing scientific experimentation and portraiture with meditation on the fragility of life and inevitability of death.