The Philosophical Reading a Lecture on the Orrery

Date1768

After work by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797)

Engraver William Pether

Publisher John Boydell

After work by Joseph Wright

OriginEngland, London

MediumMezzotint with line engraving on laid paper

DimensionsPlate: 17 1/2" x 22 1/2". Framed: ca. 21" x 26"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1941-220

DescriptionLower margin reads: "Joseph Wright Pinxit./ W.m Pether delin.t et fecit./ THE PHILOSOPHER READING A LECTURE ON THE ORRERY./ From the Original Picture painted M.r Joseph Wright/ In the Collection of the Right Honourable the Earl of Ferrers/ Published May 20.th 1768"
Label TextThis mezzotint print was engraved in 1768 by William Pether after an original painting by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1799). Wright’s painting was first exhibited in 1766 at the Society of Artists in London under the title “A philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery, in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun.” The painting is currently in the collection of the Derby Art Gallery. The scene depicted in the print shows a lecturer (the philosopher) demonstrating an orrery to a non-scholarly group made-up of both sexes and different ages. An orrery is a mechanical model of the solar system that can be used to reproduce and predict the positions and motions of the planets and moons. David Fraser explains the orrery and the action depicted in Derby’s painting/print:

“The instrument was operated by turning a handle on the side of the base, setting the planets in motion by clockwork: they rotated on overlapping concentric discs around the centre, where a brass ball on a stem usually represented the sun at the centre of the solar system. In Wright’s painting, this sun-ball has been replaced by a lamp-wick burning in a jar of oil. Contemporary accounts describe lectures where the sphere is replaced by a lamp in this way, for the purpose of demonstrating an eclipse, and it is logical to assume that this is what Wright’s lecturer is doing.”1

The device was named for Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery, who around 1712 commissioned the clockmaker John Rowley to create a model of the solar system that could be used to demonstrate the movements of the planets around the sun over the course of a year. Orreries are typically operated using a clockwork mechanism with the sun at the center and the planets at the end of each arm. It is not a scientific instrument in the strictest sense as it was not designed to make new discoveries, rather it was invented to demonstrate the workings of the solar system.

Joseph Wright of Derby made a name for himself by exhibiting works called “candle lights” wherein the artist used the effect of chiaroscuro to create dramatic scenes illuminated by a single light source. This print after his work was done in mezzotint, a tonal intaglio printmaking technique that was to represent the highlights and depths of Wright’s work. Wright was a member of a group of individuals curious about science and philosophy later known as the Lunar Society. Wright listed this painting in is account book under the category "Candle Light pictures" and made an entry stating "The Orrery to L.d Ferrers £210.0.0." It is unclear what the date of the transaction was, but the painting was bought by Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers sometime between 1766 and 1768. Lord Ferrers was an amateur astronomer who built his own orrery. His paper on the transit of Venus was accepted by the Royal Society in 1762, for which he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society.

1. David Fraser, “Joseph Wright of Derby and the Lunar Society: An essay on the artist’s connections with science and industry,” in Wright of Derby, ed. Judy Egerton (London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1990), p. 16; also see, plate #18, 54-55

MarkingsJ. Boydell excudit