John Atkinson Grimshaw - At the lakeside, moonlight

 

John Atkinson Grimshaw - At the lakeside, moonlight

The 1870s was arguably Grimshaw's most successful decade, where his sublime nocturnes, dubbed 'moonlights' began to seal the reputation that lasts to this day. In this prime example he delineates the outlines of the trees and branches, throwing them into relief by the light of the moonlit sky. The moon, veiled in thin cloud pours a dense silver across the landscape, throwing multiple reflections from the surface of the mirroring lake, and effusing the sky with a phosphorescence: a product of Grimshaw's keen sense of light and atmosphere.

Grimshaw was arguably the most evocative painter of moonlight and evening scenes, managing to perfectly portray the 'gloaming' that captured much of the poetic imagination and English romantic zeitgeist of the age, feeding the enormous appetite the Victorians had for such mood. via