Print of <I>Experiment on a Bird in the Airpump</I>
date: label: date made
content: 1769
name: label: original artist
content: Wright, Joseph
notes: label: Description
content: In 1768, a young English artist named Joseph Wright displayed a large oil painting showing what happens to a bird (in this case a cockatoo) when deprived of air. Demonstrations of this sort were somewhat popular scientific entertainments during the second half of the 18th century. And, as Wright showed in this picture, they could evoke horror as well as fascination. Mezzotint copies of Wright’s painting were soon available. This is one of those copies. The text at the bottom reads: “From the Original Picture Painted by Mr. Joseph Wright” and “Published June 24th 1708” and “Joseph Wright Pinxit” and “J. Boydell excudit 1769” and “Valentine Green del & fecit.”
label: Description
content: Ref: Marguerite Helmers, “Painting as Rhetorical Performance: Joseph Wright’s “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump,” <i>JAC</i> 71 (2001): 71-95.
label: Description
content: David Fraser, “Joseph Wright of Derby and the Lunar Society,” in Judy Edgerton, ed., <i>Wright of Derby</i> (London: Tate Gallery, 1990).
label: Description
content: T. Clayton, <i>The English Print</i> (New Haven and London, 1997).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Prints from the Physical Sciences Collection
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content: Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.321747
label: catalog number
content: 321747
label: accession number
content: 244964
objectType: label: Object Name
content: mezzotint
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 71.1 cm x 80.8 cm x 2.7 cm; 28 in x 31 13/16 in x 1 1/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 28 in x 31 1/2 in x 1 in; 71.12 cm x 80.01 cm x 2.54 cm