Tony Franklin

Explorer Tom Derby Museum and Art Gallery gives Joseph Wright of Derby the sort of home advantage even Tom would call fair. Wright's candlelit pictures of science and discovery shine here beside collections of archaeology, natural history, ceramics and local lives. The museum makes a strong case that curiosity can belong to a city, not just to a few clever men in one painting. The museum was established in 1879 through the gift of Michael Thomas Bass. It now holds the world's largest collection of Wright's work, including his famous painting of an orrery lecture. Wright, born in Derby in 1734, pictured experiments and industry with dramatic light, turning technical subjects into human scenes. His art belongs to the eighteenth-century world of inquiry, but the museum also asks what later generations made and learned in Derby. Walk beyond the Wright galleries to see how ceramics, natural specimens and other objects connect the place to wider histories. The public museum welcomes visitors, with particular drawings and research material available under separate arrangements. Look closely at the faces gathered around Wright's painted orrery: the light falls on people as well as machinery. The museum is at its best when those two interests meet. I reckon Wright would set Tom beside the lamp as a warning about hot air, then paint the rest of the room properly. He would have the last laugh. Visit the galleries, follow one bright idea into the city's other collections, and let Derby's curiosity catch.