Finding a character in the darkness...

Without sounding too tossy, I am never not writing.  It's a common complaint among people who write, always looking for the next inspiration, for the next story, for the next muse.  I love art for that reason, especially narrative art because it is telling you a story that you can continue in your head, taking the characters off the canvas and into your own story.  This week I was struck by inspiration while looking at this painting...

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768) Joseph Wright of Derby (National Gallery, London)

Maybe it's the chiaroscuro talking but this is such a dramatic painting just begging to be put in a book.  Our cast of characters is thus...

The Scientist!

The Scientist is suffocating the cockatoo in a glass bulb.  His fingers are on the top of the pump and he holds the birds life literally in his hands.  He has a wild and charismatic look about him with his long hair and romantic clothing. Look at him in his fancy dressing gown and floppy white shirt! He is a proper showman and he has the audience gripped.

The audience!

Poor girls, watching the bird being suffocated but the gesturing of the man (possibly their father?) leads me to believe the Scientist is about the fill the glass with air and revive the cockatoo.  The experiment was quite a common one, usually performed on more common birds or mice but the Scientist has used an exotic bird.  Is it the little girls' pet? Is it an exotic bird for an exotic audience?  The little girls are very beautifully dressed and completely involved with the show.

Drawing the curtain...

In the corner, a boy is pulling on a cord to the cockatoo's cage.  Is he looking at us to ask if we think the bird will ever be in his cage again or whether he will die?  The full, silvery moon is slowly being covered in clouds, possibly in response to the birds ebbing life. Goodness me, it's getting a bit tense...

The Lovers!

There are always one, isn't there?  Or in our case, two.  This pair aren't at all involved in the drama in front of them, they are more interested in exchanging glances in the glowing light of the experiment.  Never mind the poor cockatoo or the man with the flashy dressing gown and great hair, this pair are looking at each other longingly and the lady even has a heart in the fur on her collar.  

The Alchemist in Search of the Philosopher's Stone (1771) Joseph Wright of Derby

There is a battle in the painting between the romantic and the scientific world and not a clear cut one either.  The Scientist is very romantic indeed, and the young questing minds of the Enlightenment are actually looking at each other with their minds on anything but science.  Well, maybe biology.  Joseph Wright of Derby was well known for his scenes reflecting the industrial revolution but within his works it's possible to see the mysteries of life, the romance, the magic and the very unscientific drama that undermines the certainty of industry and progress.  The dark and light contrasts in his works (the chiaroscuro) highlights the struggle of man against the mysteries of nature, as man-made light battles against the dark of night as if man can beat nature and become god.  The encroaching darkness at the edges of Wright's work says to me that we are never going to win that battle, just merely made a little, temporary impact.

So, back to characters - I am currently writing a novel and am scouting out characters.  The Scientist with his red gown pulled in with a sash and his grand gestures is marvellous.  I also love the idea of a darkened room on a moonlit night and the life and death struggle of a bird in a glass bulb while the audience look on.  How exciting...