18th Century art

In the 18^th century the ‘Enlightenment’ era was bursting with new ideas and ways of life. Men like John Locke, Isaac Newton, and Bernard de Fontenelle discovered the scientific method. This is to see the world through empirical means and make an educated hypothesis on how it functions based on the evidence collected. Rational thought declared that all men should have equal rights and that everyone deserves to live. An artist that embodied this desire for knowledge was Joseph Wright of Derby. The artwork that I will be discussing is The Alchymist.

            Joseph Wright of Derby was a man who was fascinated by machinery and science. Living during the Industrial Revolution he had many opportunities to meet many intellectuals, artists, and philosophers. His love for science eventually reached his love for painting. In the painting The Alchymist, it shows a scientist doing an experiment in what seems like a gothic like church. He is in awe of what he has discovered. It is believed that the man is Henning Brandt and his discovery of Phosphorus. Like the Gothic Church, there seems to be other religious connotations in the painting, such as the scientist bending on his knee in a religious fashion. The Derby Museum describes his kneeling position as the referencing of St Francis receiving the stigmata or St Jerome in prayer.

            Joseph Wright of Derby also uses the effect of chiaroscuro in his paintings. This is apparent in The Alchymist. The glass orb that the scientist is experimenting on has a very bright glow to it giving the surrounding room a calm glow. Wright was fascinated with the effects of light on objects and people so in many of his painting one can see a large source of light illuminating a room full of objects and people. Although the painting seems very magical, 18^th century critiques at the time of its creation were seen very uncomfortably. The religious and scientific subject matter puzzled many viewers and it toke almost four years for Wright to sell his work. Some historians believe that the painting was to celebrate the wonders of scientific discovery, some thought it was the message of science explaining religious questions, or that the painting helps vindicate chemistry from the past associations it had with alchemy. Whatever its real purpose it is a very compelling piece. Wright’s painting plays with such concepts as knowledge and enlightenment, theory and practice, spectatorship and discovery, temporality and historicity, and the local and national to suggest a type of enlightenment.

            The Alchymist did not gain as much recognition as An Experiment on a bird in the air-pump or The Orrery, but it seems to have a more puzzling characteristic about it that makes some art historians question the purpose of the painting. One historian concludes that the painting is to turn the roles of demonstrator, discoverer, and spectator around from any rational point of view. The scientist is as much the discoverer as the demonstrator, he is watching the phosphorus created with his assistants and he is also a spectator, as he accidentally discovered the element. His expression gives off the impression that he has no rational explanation for the phenomenon. In the Enlightenment age this would be seen as troublesome because rationality was the only way to make way for reason. In science usually the scientist is fully aware of his workings and his surrounding, so to see this on a painting confused many. I believe that Wright was trying to promote science in a different way, so as to make the viewer have a scientific and analytical view of his painting.

References:

http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/0706/byko-0706.html

http://www.derby.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums-and-galleries/treasures-of-derby/museums-art/alchymist/

http://www.oberlin.edu/amam/Wright.htm

http://www.reocities.com/jvertesi/wright/#_ftn11