Teachers’ notes

The Superpower of Looking:
an experiment by candlelight

How to use this resource

In class, open a full-screen version of the zoomable image in a new window.

Use the prompts in these notes to guide your students through the lesson.

Contextual background for teachers

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768)

Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797)

Oil on canvas

H 183 x W 244 cm

The National Gallery, London

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/an-experiment-on-a-bird-in-the-air-pump-114302

The 'Derby' in Joseph Wright of Derby was probably a sign of the artist's pride in his hometown. Derby was famous for scientific advancement in the service of industry – a bit like Silicon Valley is now for technology.

The eighteenth century was an age of discovery in Britain – entrepreneurs emerged and like-minded people formed societies. One of these was The Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group of inspirational men (and it was just men) who debated science, philosophy, the arts and commerce before travelling back home by moonlit carriages. This artwork is Wright's way of sharing scientific ideas with everyone, not just a select few, and showing the reactions of ordinary people.

Wright of Derby specialised in candlelit pictures, and this is the largest that he painted. The bird is placed in a glass container and the air is then pumped out. Drama is created by the suspense of not knowing whether the bird will die or whether the experimenter will let the air back in and allow the bird to live.

Tip: if you'd like more insight into the painting before teaching the lesson, an audio description is available. It is accompanied by a full written transcript which can also be used to describe the painting.

Look, describe and discuss

You can start by showing the whole image, and then use the zoom feature to explore details of the painting. Or you might like to start by using the zoom feature to show a detail from the image, and then zoom out to see more.

Encourage your students to look carefully – this is their superpower! It’s best to not give too much background information about the artwork at this stage, so students can develop their own ideas and opinions.

Nudge questions

Now when looking at the painting, ask more specific ('nudge') questions:

What do you think is going on here? Who or what does the artist want us to look at first?

What do you notice about the people in the painting? Can we learn anything about their different characters?

What time of day is it? How can you tell? Does the lighting create a certain mood or feeling?

Is it an interesting or frightening experience for the people gathered at the table?

What do you think you would be able to smell if you were transported into the painting?

Watch this video

In this video, taxi driver and tour guide Rachel Martin-Peer uses her own 'Superpower of Looking' to explore An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump

Ask your students these questions before watching the video to support close looking and listening:

Did Rachel see anything you hadn't spotted yet?

What else did you notice about the painting when watching the film?

Rachel said that looking at the facial expressions in the painting reminds her of assessing how her customers feel when they enter her taxi. How do you think each figure in the painting feels? How can you tell?

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

Questions from The Superpower of Looking Kit

Now we can start to explore the 'elements' of the painting. For this artwork, you will focus on composition, colour and light.

Ask your students to evidence their points:

Where exactly are they looking when they make a statement?

Can everybody see what they see?

Slow down, take time to really look closely

You can introduce knowledge from the contextual background for teachers while asking these bespoke questions with helpful responses below.

Composition

How many groups of people are in this scene?

What makes you group them together?

What shapes do the figures form?

The figures form a pyramid shape with the experimenter (his hand) at the apex.

Is there a circle shape anywhere?

The whole scene creates a circle.

Are we a part of this scene? Where are we?

There is a gap at the front of the table where we might stand. This might suggest we're included in the science lesson too.

Where are the figures looking?
The young couple on the left only have eyes for each other. Two small girls are comforted by their father, the eldest turns away in horror, the youngest faces the fate of the bird but has a worried expression. The men around the table look on with varying degrees of interest. Don't forget the young boy with tattered clothes near the moon-lit window: what's he doing with the birdcage and why?

What do the figures do to direct our gaze to the experiment? Do any of their gestures or gazes tell us anything about what may happen?
The father on the right gestures to the experiment despite the fact his eldest child is frightened – he wants to educate her.

Why do you think the older girl covers her eyes? Is anyone looking at us?
The experimenter is right in the middle (central vertical axis) and looks out to us – this technique pulls us into the scene. This is a science lesson to be shared.

Colour

How is the colour red used in the painting?
The red of the experimenter's dressing gown compositionally advances ('pops') which catches our attention, as does the red of his face. What do the different flesh colours of the other figures tell us about their excitement or fear?

What elements of the picture are white?
The moon, the bird and the murky liquid in the glass jar on the table are all white. The white of the moon may indicate the secrecy of this experiment which centres around science and the fate of the bird. The glass jar on the table has a mysterious object in it which may be anatomical and indicative of the mystery of scientific discovery.

What story do you think these objects are telling?
Science is precise and this is educational: all of the colouring is descriptive; it describes what it is and feels like we're watching TV. We do not feel we're looking at a painting, but rather a moment that has been captured.

Light

Can you identify the light sources? Are they real (natural) or artificial?

There is natural light from the moon and artificial light from the candle behind the glass vessel on the table.

How does this light affect the mood?

A single candle creates dramatic light and shade: strong shadows make the scene feel dramatic as though something is about to happen – will the bird be starved of oxygen? The moonlight creates a night-time, slightly secretive scene and adds to the mystery of the experiment.

How does light tell the story? Who does it spotlight? What does it tell us to look at?

There's a candle behind the murky-looking jar; what does it make us notice? There are some obvious things such as their expressions and the hand of the father who gestures toward the bird as he explains what's going on, but also some more acute detail such as the hand of the man seated on the left holding a pocket watch, presumably to time the experiment.

What does the bright light in the centre of the table illuminate?

Why do you think the light focuses us on the face of the little girl so much? Do you think she identifies with the bird?

Both the girl and the bird are in white. Perhaps this experience is going to change the way she looks at the world?

What is the most light-reflective surface in the scene?
The highly polished table is the most light-reflective surface in the scene. Light and shade create texture. It helps us recognise expensive fabrics and distinguish between the bird's feathers and the satin dresses of the girls and the hard surfaces of the equipment, e.g. light is absorbed (lost) in the heavy weave of the gentlemen's jackets and is reflected from the jewellery worn by the young woman on the left.

What is in shadow?
There is a cloud's shadow over the moon and a mysterious bird-shaped shadow on the bottom of the cage. Light helps us to understand what people are feeling and doing, and even how wealthy they are from the clothes that they wear and the objects in their homes.

Everyone learning

You can find out more about The Superpower of Looking SEND/ASD/ALN approach on the Superpower homepage.

Now it's time to explore the artwork in different ways. This list of sensory activities encourages students to apply their learning and can suit a variety of learning needs.

Make

Design and sketch a science experiment. What would students like to find out more about?

Encourage students to reflect on how they might feel if they were in the scene, watching the bird in the air pump. Students could identify the character they feel most closely expresses their feelings and sketch them in their sketchbook.

Listen

Listen to an excerpt of these sonatas for harpsichord and violin. They were composed by Johann Christian Bach (son of the much more famous J. S. Bach) who moved to London in the 1760s. This music was popular at the time Joseph Wright of Derby was painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. Do students think this music suits the mood of the painting? Why? Or why not?

Listen to the audio description of the painting.

Touch

Challenge students to identify from the painting things which are soft, hard, shiny, matte, rough and smooth.

Move

Recreate the scene in your classroom by making the room as dark as possible. Gather ten students around a table and illuminate them with torches. The rest of the class can help position the characters into their poses.

Unfreeze the scene. Students can then move in character. What might they do and say next?

Communicate

In pairs, ask students to think of adjectives to describe the feelings of the characters in this painting. How many different emotions are shown here?

A student secretly chooses a character from the portrait. They make a noise or say something in character, and the class tries to identify who they are from the painting. Students could also answer questions in character to help their peers identify them.

Final stage: review

Ask your students to:

share their sketchbooks in groups and discuss the 'elements' they have identified

choose an element/aspect they find most interesting about the artwork and record it in their sketchbooks

choose their own name/s for the title of the artwork

think of a question they would like to ask the artist

Congratulations!

You have now completed The Superpower of Looking lesson resource.

There are more resources in this theme to try – have a look in the ‘next lessons’ section below.

Next lessons

Now try these other lesson resources as part of the everyday theme:

A girl scrubbing pots and pans by Chardin

Hogarth pokes fun at corrupt Georgian MPs

Children in a busy hospital ward

William Gillies paints his family at home

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Shore Family

2023-09-04T09:58:00Z

Jennie Thornber