Season 7, ep 2: An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, Joseph Wright of Derby

This week’s focus in an artist who has been called ‘the British Caravaggio’. This eerie candlelit scene shows a scientific experiment in the ‘Age of Reason’, capturing the drama of the event, the limits of human knowledge and the fragility of life itself. Phil talks about this and more with Christine Riding, Curator and Director of Collections and Research at the National Gallery, London. Support the show