Age of Enlightenment

While not an art movement in itself (it is actually a philosophical movement), the birth of science through alchemy and the developments of the Industrial Revolution inspired many artists to express the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment through their works. Joseph Wright of Derby is acclaimed to have been the first professional painter to do this, and William Blake also composed an engraving based on his views of the Enlightenment philosophy.


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Newton as a Divine Geometer
William Blake, 1795

Coloured Engraving with Watercolour and Ink Added
60 x 46 cm, 23.6 x 18.1 in
Tate Gallery, London

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A Philosopher Giving that
Lecture on the Orrery

Joseph Wright of Derby, ca. 1766

Oil on canvas
147 × 203 cm, 58 × 80 in
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, England

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An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
Joseph Wright of Derby, 1768

Oil on canvas
183 × 244 cm, 72 × 94½ in
National Gallery, London, England

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The Alchemist, In Search of the
Philosopher’s Stone

Joseph Wright of Derby, 1771

Oil on canvas
127 × 101.6 cm
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, England
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