The Alchymist Discovering Phosphorus - exhibited 1771

Oil on canvas, 1270 x 1016mm

Before modern science developed, alchemists combined knowledge, magic and religion in a search for the philosopher's stone that could turn ordinary metal into gold. This particular alchemist begins hoping to produce the elusive philosophers stone and ends, to his amazement, in discovering phosphorus. Phosphorus had been discovered just under a 100 years before the picture was painted.

There are obvious religious connotations to the painting; the setting, for example, resembles church architecture with its pointed windows and gothic arches. Wright has also incorporated imagery taken from the repertoire of religious art into the figure of the alchemist. The alchemist kneels with outreached hands in a similar pose to that used to St Francis receiving the stigmata or St Jerome in prayer.

Wright often used this technique of dramatic light effects created by an internal light source that reveals a tremendous amount of detail in the surroundings.

The placing of the two boys is another popular device, like that seen in the Blacksmiths Shop, which Wright uses to add interest to the composition and which draws us into the detail of the dark background.

Currently in the Joseph Wright Gallery at Derby Museum and Art Gallery. 

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