Joseph Wright of Derby English, 1734 – 1797
The Alchemist Discovering Phosphorus, 1771, reworked 1795
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In a vaulted, church-like laboratory, an old alchemist kneels in wonder before a flask blazing with white light. Wright's full title says he was seeking the philosopher's stone and found phosphorus instead, a discovery made by Hennig Brand of Hamburg in 1669 by boiling down urine. Chemistry here borrows the look of a religious vision.
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Two assistants at the left are lit by warmer candlelight, and a full moon shows through the Gothic window, possibly a nod to Wright's friends in the Lunar Society.
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