The Alchemist Discovering Phosphorus

Joseph Wright of Derby painted The Alchemist Discovering Phosphorus around 1771, depicting the seventeenth-century discovery of phosphorus by the Hamburg alchemist Hennig Brand, who distilled the element from urine. The subject was a perfect vehicle for Wright's sustained interest in the relationship between the older tradition of alchemical experiment and the new scientific rationalism of the Enlightenment: Brand kneels in awe before the glow of his discovered element, his posture the religious supplication of the alchemist confronting the divine, while the subject is the empirical discovery of a new chemical element. The tension between medieval and modern frameworks of understanding the natural world is precisely Wright's deepest concern.

The phosphorescent glow illuminates the alchemist's astonished face and the surrounding laboratory in a dramatic burst of light. Wright's virtuosic handling of multiple light sources—the glowing flask, moonlight through the window—creates an atmosphere of supernatural wonder.