Wellcome Collection
Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen.
Ernest Board
Priestley (1733-1804), radical politician, chemist and Nonconformist minister, is portrayed playing backgammon in his house in Birmingham when he received the news that it was about to be attacked by an anti-radical mob. The attacks took place on 14-16 July 1791, and the library, furnishings and equipment represented in the present painting were all destroyed. Priestley himself fled to Hackney.
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