Dr Matthew Morgan is Museum Director of Turner’s House in Twickenham and is an Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London. He has worked in the heritage sector for over 10 years, including at the National Gallery and the Royal Collection. Prior to that, he was a Director at Christie’s. He has lectured widely for a diverse range of audiences as well as making a series of short films that can be seen on YouTube. He holds a BA in history from University of Cambridge, MA in History of Art from Courtauld Institute of Art and a PhD from Birkbeck College in Museum Studies/Art History.
“An Experiment on a Bird in an Airpump”, January 2024.
This lecture focuses on a single painting, perhaps the most complete visual presentation of the ideals, and problems, of the Enlightenment – Joseph Wright of Derby’s An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump. Very often the Enlightenment is understood as the triumph of scientific enquiry over mysticism and tradition. Across Europe philosophers, writers, intellectuals and scientists increasingly wanted to understand the world around them and sought to do so through observation and experimentation. Wright’s painting of a family group clustered around to watch an experiment, first conducted by Robert Boyle in Oxford, reveals and challenges attitudes to scientific discovery in the 18th Century. However, it also challenges us to consider how we consider science today.