We’ve known for a long time that the planets travel around the sun, but there was a period where this was still new, exciting, and worthy of public demonstrations. Eighteenth century artist Joseph Wright of Derby captured this type of demonstration in a painting with the very catchy title “A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun.”
Philosopher, in this context, essentially means “scientist”, but that word wasn’t used for another century. Instead, people who studied the natural world were called “natural philosophers”, and it wasn’t uncommon to just abbreviate that to “philosopher”. There wasn’t that strict distinction between the sciences and humanities as we have today.
Science demonstrations for the public
The unnamed philosopher in Wright of Derby’s painting is using an orrery to demonstrate how the solar system is essentially a system of planets travelling in circular trajectories around the sun. The sun was represented by a candle, and the planets by moveable metal rings. These types of demonstrations were increasingly common in the 18th century, when people shared their scientific knowledge at public talks.
At this point in the Enlightenment period, knowledge of all sorts was becoming more accessible. Still often only to the middle classes, but at least it was opening up beyond closed societies. This wasn’t just limited to science demonstrations either. Artists who previously mainly worked on commissions for rich patrons of the arts were now painting works for competitions that were attended by anyone who wanted to see art and could afford the entry price.
Wright of Derby exhibited his own works at these public exhibitions as well. His style was very unique, at least in England. Most of Wright’s work shows scenes lit by a single light source, like the candle in the middle of the orrery. The technique he used for this was tenebrism, popularised by Caravaggio. It’s a way of painting that makes these single light-lit scenes particularly realistic.
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This style of images had another advantage. They were relatively easy to reproduce in prints, because it’s easier to carve out where the light areas are when the painting only has a few light subjects surrounded by dark shadows. These print reproductions made Wright’s paintings even more accessible.
Wright and the Enlightenment
This whole time period in 18th century Europe was very exciting. Within a matter of decades, people went from having barely any access to the arts and sciences, to being able to go to public science talks and see paintings about science demonstrations!
Wright was right in the thick of it all. Of course he was involved in the arts world and took part in public art competitions, but he also knew people involved in the sciences. He was friends with clockmaker and scientist John Whitehurst and with physician-scientist Erasmus Darwin (Charles’s grandfather). Both were members of the Lunar Society in Birmingham, a local learned society where people got together to talk about science and other academic topics. This was likely how Wright got interested in painting scientific demonstrations.
The orrery painting is currently on exhibit at the National Gallery in London, on loan from Derby Museums. The “From the shadows” exhibit showcases Wright’s excellent skills in capturing light, but it also puts his work in context. Next to the orrery painting is a case with a real orrery, and a vacuum pump is shown next to Wright’s “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump”, which also shows a public science demonstration.
Both paintings show people of all ages, but in reality, there likely weren’t many children at these demonstrations. These days, public science talks are often aimed at kids, but back then they were aimed at adults. Wright likely included children in the paintings to give a general sense of “the people”. In the case of the bird painting, the different ages also emphasize mortality, like the mortality of the bird trapped in the vacuum chamber without oxygen.
Other parts of the exhibit show reproduction prints inspired by Wright’s work, and some of his other paintings. Even though he created more classic scenes and portraits (all with a central light source), it’s the sheer scale and detail of the two paintings of scientific demonstrations that catch the eye. Wright is inextricably linked with the Enlightenment period, and his paintings show a glimpse of a world that was rapidly becoming more scientific.
“From the shadows” is at the National Gallery in London from 7 November 2025 to 10 May 2026.
