Bird in the Air Pump

Historian Ben Woolley examines the paintings of Joseph Wright, unique records of the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries which radically transformed man's view of himself, the universal order and God. These scientific paintings offer a dramatic insight into a world teetering on the brink of the modern age of industrial and technological progress. Contributors include Jenny Uglow, Stephen Daniels and Simon Schaffer.