Joseph Wright 1734-97

Joseph Wright, generally known as Wright of Derby, was the first major English painter whose career was based outside London. He started painting candlelit scenes in the 1760s and continued to do so throughout his career, although landscape became more important towards the end of his life. The largest collection of his work is in Derby Art Gallery.

When people see this picture in its current travelling exhibition, it seems to draw them like a magnet from every corner of the room.

At almost two metres high and two and a half wide “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” by Joseph Wright shows a scene where a travelling scientist demonstrates the formation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask containing a white cockatoo.

The bird will die if the demonstrator continues to deprive it of oxygen, but the artist leaves us unsure about the final outcome, making it more intriguing. Is the boy on the right lowering the birdcage to receive the revived bird, or is he raising it out of sight because it is no longer needed? Will the scientist’s hand turn the stopcock at the top of the glass container in time to save the bird? The surrounding group shows a wide range of reactions and the scientist’s penetrating gaze also invites us to think about what is going on. The figures are dramatically lit by a single candle, just visible through the glass in front of it, which contains a skull. A weaker light comes from the moon seen through the window at the back of the room.

The scene has a basis in reality. Although the air pump in the experiment was not new in the 1760s, there was widespread public enthusiasm for science and technology, and travelling scientists visited private homes to demonstrate equipment. They would not, however, have used expensive caged birds such as cockatoos for experiments, when more common birds such as sparrows would have been easily available.

Wright himself was part of a scientific group later known as the Lunar Society (because it met monthly on the nearest Monday to the night of the full moon). They conducted experiments and discussed developments in areas such as chemistry and electricity. Wright was also deeply interested in the observation and recording of natural phenomena. For example, during his travels in Italy he witnessed an eruption of the volcano Vesuvius and made at least 30 paintings of it.

In this picture Wright is concerned with science, but his subject is also the drama of human emotions responding to science. The artist’s contrast of rational science with emotion makes this picture a rich classroom resource at all key stages and in many different curriculum areas.

Even very young children are capable of serious discussion when offered stimulating material. A conversation about this image could touch on animal testing, gender and age. The men are interested in the experiment, whereas the women and girls react to it emotionally, or not at all. The woman on the left seems more concerned with her male companion, the children are anxious, the old man reflective. And, of course, it has a place in science, dealing as it does with breathing and respiration, as well as the creation of a vacuum. It could also be used to enrich key stage 3 history unit 2: from Aristotle to the atom - scientific discoveries that changed the world.

In art, this picture has a place in work on portraiture. The couple on the left are probably Mr and Mrs Coltman, friends of the artist, whose double portrait he later painted (the portrait, like the “Experiment” is in the National Gallery and on its website at www.nationalgallery.org.uk).

Older students could explore the idea of including portraits of real people in narrative or imaginary scenes. The image could also play a useful part in any work on light and shade. Candlelight seems to heighten expression. Wright’s use of it suggests the excitement of learning in the boy on the left, as well as dramatising the fear in the small girl in the centre, and the scientist is lit from below so that every furrow of his brow and silver curl is emphasised. The scene has been precisely posed and students could copy this in modern dress with others photographing, filming or painting it.

In the primary class, the picture could be used as part of an exploration of colour. The scientist is dressed in red and green, complementaries which appear more intense when placed close to each other (this is why painters and photographers often include figures wearing red in green landscapes).

His clothes provide a dramatic contrast to the pastel mauves of the two girls and the man behind them. The scene could also be recreated in 3-D in a large box. Make KS2 science on batteries and circuits more lively by replacing the candle with a small light bulb, and model the figures from clay or Modroc-covered (fabric-reinforced plaster) wire.

A teacher visiting the National Gallery recently with his Year 6 class told me he thought there was too little colour and light in education at the moment, and that using paintings such as this was a way of sneaking it in (his words). Whether you sneak it in or flaunt it on the wall in a big display it will be sure to generate the kind of interest and enthusiasm shown by the watchers in the picture itself.

Ghislaine Kenyon is deputy head of education head of schools at the National Gallery

Reproduction Wrights

* There are many images of paintings by Wright of Derby on the internet. Try the National Gallery website: www.nationalgallery.org.uk and www.artcyclopedia.com Also look at the work of other artists who painted “candlelight” pictures such as Caravaggio and El Greco.

* The National Gallery touring exhibition, Light, is at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle (tel: 0191 232 7734) until July 7, then at the National Gallery, London from July 18 to October 6. Free admission.

* “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” is available as a poster, postcard or slide from the National Gallery shops or by mail order (tel: 020 7281 9080).

* This picture is in the National Gallery’s permanent collection. Free gallery talks for school groups on the theme of light, which could include the Experiment, can be booked by telephoning the education department on 020 7747 2424.