A Philosopher Shewing an Experiment on the Air Pump

Prints and Drawings

1769

Valentine Green (English, 1739-1813)
after Joseph Wright of Derby (English, 1734-1797)
printed by John Boydell (English, 1719-1804)

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.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Valentine Green (Printer)
Title: A Philosopher Shewing an Experiment on the Air Pump
Place: England (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 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.)
Credit Line: The Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Fund
Reference Number: 2013.1271
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/220487/manifest.json

Clayton 153 (P2) II/IV

Chaloner Smith 163 I/II

Whitman 167 I/II

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A Philosopher Shewing an Experiment on the Air Pump

Currently Off View

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Artist:

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Artist

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Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.