Valentine Green (English, 1739-1813)
after Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
printed by John Boydell (English, 1719-1804)
A Philosopher Shewing an Experiment on the Air Pump
INV-2204
Valentine Green (English, 1739-1813)
after Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
printed by John Boydell (English, 1719-1804)1769
A Philosopher Shewing an Experiment on the Air Pump
Valentine Green (English, 1739-1813) after Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797) printed by John Boydell (English, 1719-1804) →mezzotintprint
Date
1769
Medium
Mezzotint with traces of engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 44.8 × 58.5 cm (17 11/16 × 23 1/16 in.); Sheet: 45.7 × 59 cm (18 × 23 1/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
The Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Fund
The consummate mezzotint engraver Valentine Green created this iconic image a year after the Enlightenment-era painter Joseph Wright of Derby completed the original painting (National Gallery, London). Green’s limpid moonlit effects and riveting velvet-black ink aptly render this nocturnal scientific demonstration as a matter of life or death: the bird in the glass sphere begins to suffocate as air is pumped out of the chamber, leaving the breathless viewers uncertain of its ultimate fate.