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拍品专文
The present drawing depicts a lecture on astronomy. The lecturer is pointing to an astronomical device which is demonstrating the principle of elliptical orbits of the planets. The larger orb that he is pointing to represents the sun and the two smaller, the earth and the moon. The usual device used to discuss the orbit of the planets, the orrery, was first designed in the early 18th Century, circa 1704 by the clockmakers George Graham and Thomas Tompion. They usually represent circular orbits but the present device is more elliptical, so it is difficult to judge whether the device is meant to be an orrery or whether it is some other device.
The 18th Century saw am increased general interest in the sciences, with public lectures becoming more and more popular and scientists travelling around the country demonstrating scientific instruments, experiments and principles. This burgeoning interest is demonstrated by paintings such as Joseph Wright of Derby’s A Philosopher lecturing on the Orrery, painted circa 1766 (Derby Museum and Art Gallery) and An Experiment on a bird in an Air Pump, 1768 (National Gallery, London). George Romney's Newton with the Prism, which was widely disseminated through engravings in the early 19th Century.
We are grateful to Rosemary Harden of the Fashion Museum, Bath for her help in dating the costumes of the sitters to late 1720s or 1730s. The seated figures wearing the fashionable undress of period, of banyan or dressing gown and soft cap or nightcap. There are a number of portraits of artists and scientists wearing such costumes, including Sir Isac Newton (1643-1727).
The 18th Century saw am increased general interest in the sciences, with public lectures becoming more and more popular and scientists travelling around the country demonstrating scientific instruments, experiments and principles. This burgeoning interest is demonstrated by paintings such as Joseph Wright of Derby’s A Philosopher lecturing on the Orrery, painted circa 1766 (Derby Museum and Art Gallery) and An Experiment on a bird in an Air Pump, 1768 (National Gallery, London). George Romney's Newton with the Prism, which was widely disseminated through engravings in the early 19th Century.
We are grateful to Rosemary Harden of the Fashion Museum, Bath for her help in dating the costumes of the sitters to late 1720s or 1730s. The seated figures wearing the fashionable undress of period, of banyan or dressing gown and soft cap or nightcap. There are a number of portraits of artists and scientists wearing such costumes, including Sir Isac Newton (1643-1727).