The Shy Museumgoer has a new article about painting the night. In this case she comments on the difficulties of portraying the night time without new (1500’s) oil paint and techniques.
I love to go look for other artwork that shares the theme or artist that the Shy Museumgoer is writing about. The National Gallery of Art has a wonderful medieval collection but, when confronted with the keyword ‘moon,’ produced all the photos of the moon taken by astronauts or unmanned missions. Not quite what I had in mind… So I tried ‘moonlight.’ One problem with moonlit art is that black and white media don’t really convey the mystery. Compare these.
Moonlight on the Androscoggin,
1866. John Henry Hill, American,
Stag in the Moonlight, 1857. William Morris Hunt, American
I do like this stag, and the shadows in the snow help to create the nighttime ambiance. Some engravings and etchings of moon light could just as well be a foggy day.
Going Westward, 1888.
Stephen Alonzo Schoff, American.
I would not want to swear this was moonlight…
Moonlight on the Yare, c. 1816/1817. John Crome,
British.
Almost unmistakeable moonlight. I think.
I found a few other gorgeous paintings — but then I also found an article about the painters called the Moonlight Pethers. (Do not confuse these guys with William Pether who shows up constantly when I searched for Abraham.)
https://mydailyartdisplay.uk/tag/moonlight-paintings/
Abraham Pether, and his sons Sebastian and Henry, from the early 1800’s, painted amazing moonlight scenes; the artwork has opaque sharing information so I haven’t reproduced anything here. I seriously encourage clicking on the link above and reading about the Moonlight family of painters. Or the link below!
Janey's blog 