The depiction of night in paintings is common in

Western art The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleol ...

. Paintings that feature a night scene as the

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

may be

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

scenes,

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

s, or other subject types. Some artworks involve religious or

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

topics using the quality of dim night light to create mysterious atmospheres. The source of illumination in a night scene—whether it is the moon or an

artificial light Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing dayligh ...

source—may be depicted directly, or it may be implied by the character and coloration of the light that reflects from the subjects depicted.

Historical overview

Beginning in the early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

, artists such as

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/Proto-Renaissance period. Giot ...

, Bosch,

Uccello Uccello () is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Antonina Uccello (born 1922), American politician * Julian Uccello (born 1986), Canadian soccer player * Luca Uccello (born 1997), Canadian soccer player *Paolo Uccello ...

and others told stories with their painted works, sometimes evoking religious themes and sometimes depicting battles, myths, stories and scenes from history, using night-time as the setting. By the 16th and 17th centuries, painters of the late Renaissance,

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

s, and painters from the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

era including

El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

Giorgione Giorgione (, , ; born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco; 1477–78 or 1473–74 – 17 September 1510) was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic qualit ...

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

, Velázquez,

Jusepe de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...

often portrayed people and scenes in night-time settings, illustrating stories and depictions of real life. Eighteenth-century

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

painters

Antoine Watteau Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, a ...

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific ar ...

, and others used the night-time theme to illustrate scenes of the imagination, often with dramatic literary connotations, including scenes of secret liaisons and romantic relationships reminiscent of the popular 1782 book ''

Les Liaisons dangereuses ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (; English: ''Dangerous Liaisons'') is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu from March 23, 1782. It is the story of the Marquise de Merteuil and ...

'' by

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (; 18 October 1741 – 5 September 1803) was a French novelist, official, Freemason and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (''Dangerous Liaisons'') ...

. Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin,

Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting. Biography Early life Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed h ...

, used the themes of nighttime to depict illustrations of ordinary life. Poet and painter

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

and painter

Henry Fuseli Henry Fuseli ( ; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his works, such as ''The Nightmare'', deal with supernatura ...

used the night-time in their work as the setting for many of their most imaginative visions. The most dramatic use of the night-time can be seen in the 1793 painting by

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

, called ''

The Death of Marat ''The Death of Marat'' (french: La Mort de Marat or ''Marat Assassiné'') is a 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting the artist's friend and murdered French revolutionary leader, Jean-Paul Marat. One of the most famous images from the e ...

'', portraying the French revolutionary leader

Jean-Paul Marat Jean-Paul Marat (; born Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes'', a radical ...

after his murder by

Charlotte Corday Marie-Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont (27 July 1768 – 17 July 1793), known as Charlotte Corday (), was a figure of the French Revolution. In 1793, she was executed by guillotine for the assassination of Jacobin leader Jean-Paul Marat, who w ...

. The night in paintings of the 19th century was used to convey a complex of diverse meanings. A mystical, religious, and sublime reverence for nature is seen in

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history paintin ...

, Frederick Church,

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was no ...

Albert Pinkham Ryder Albert Pinkham Ryder (March 19, 1847 – March 28, 1917) was an American painter best known for his poetic and moody allegorical works and seascapes, as well as his eccentric personality. While his art shared an emphasis on subtle variations of ...

and others, while the powerful and dramatic

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

Théodore Géricault Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (; 26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French painter and lithographer, whose best-known painting is ''The Raft of the Medusa''. Although he died young, he was one of the pioneers of the Romantic ...

, and

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

served as visual reportage of current events, and in the case of Géricault revealed a scandal.

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

, who with

Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808February 10, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the second N ...

Jules Breton Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton (1 May 1827 – 5 July 1906) was a 19th-century French naturalist painter. His paintings are heavily influenced by the French countryside and his absorption of traditional methods of painting helped make Jules ...

Jean-François Millet Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realism ...

, and others created the Realist school, portrayed ordinary people hard at work, traveling, or engrossed in their everyday lives, at night and during the day. The

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

s and

Post-Impressionists Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction aga ...

of the late 19th century used the night-time theme to express a multitude of emotional and aesthetic insights seen most dramatically in the paintings of

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

and others.

Symbolism

Black and grey shades often symbolize

gloom Gloom is a low level of light which is so dim that there are physiological and psychological effects. Human vision at this level becomes monochrome and has lessened clarity. Optical and psychological effects Light conditions may be considered g ...

fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

, mystery,

superstitions A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...

evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

, death,

secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

, sorrow. The light source in most religious paintings symbolize

hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

, guidance or

divinity Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

. In fantasy paintings light could symbolize magic, like the following lines of a poem entitled ''The Magic'': "There's magic in this night, enshrouded in this night, hidden, like a lamp in an old man's robe, there's MAGIC."Favorite, 1991.

History

14th century

File:Pietro Lorenzetti - Stigmata of St Francis - WGA13527.jpg,

Pietro Lorenzetti Pietro Lorenzetti (; – 1348) or Pietro Laurati was an Italian painter, active between c. 1306 and 1345. Together with his younger brother Ambrogio, he introduced naturalism into Sienese art. In their artistry and experiments with three-dimens ...

, c. 1320, ''Stigmata of St Francis'',

Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi; la, Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in ce ...

File:Taddeo Gaddi - Nativity - WGA08390.jpg,

Taddeo Gaddi Taddeo Gaddi (c. 1290, in Florence – 1366, in Florence) was a medieval Italian painter and architect. He was the son of Gaddo di Zanobi, called Gaddo Gaddi. He was a member of Giotto's workshop from 1313 until the master's death in 1337. A ...

, ''Nativity'', circa 1325, Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Pedralbes File:Gaddi Taddeo Announcement.jpg,

, ''The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds,''

Fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

in the

Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence The (Italian for 'Basilica of the Holy Cross') is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 meters south-east of the Duomo. The ...

, 1332–1338.Paoletti and Radke, 2005.

Gaddi, ''The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds''

One of the first attempts in depicting night in paintings was by

, an Italian painter and architect.Farquhar, 1855. Gaddi, fascinated by nocturnal lighting, depicted the effect of the light in ''The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds'' night scene. The

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

Basilica of Santa Croce The (Italian for 'Basilica of the Holy Cross') is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 meters south-east of the Duomo. The ...

in Florence, Italy features an incandescent

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

as it hovers over a

shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

. Against the night sky the brilliance of the angel's bright glow, likely intended as "verification of the presence of God and as a metaphor for

spiritual enlightenment Used in a religious sense, enlightenment translates several Glossary of Buddhism, Buddhist terms and concepts, most notably ''bodhi'', ''kensho,'' and ''satori''. Related terms from Asian religions are ''kaivalya'' and ''moksha'' (liberation) in ...

", appears to startle the shepherd. Gaddi's use of

monochromatic A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or color scheme, palette is composed of one color (or lightness, values of one color). Images using only Tint, shade and tone, shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or Black and wh ...

colors in and around the shepherd reveals how the colors are made pale due to the remarkable illumination.Norman, 1995.

Giotto, ''Crucifixion''

Giotto di Bondone Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/Proto-Renaissance period. Giot ...

(1266/7–1337), Taddeo Gaddi's teacher and godfather, created the fresco of ''Crucifixion'', one of the multiple frescoes that told the story of Christ's life, for the Arena Chapel. He depicts Christ on a cross, while the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

is comforted by

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

. Kneeling at his feet is

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

, and swirling in the sky above Jesus and the watching crowd's heads are a number of angels. Giotto depicts night and heaven through the use of a deep blue background in the fresco panel and use of stars in the otherwise blue ceiling. He was able to create depth and dimension through the use of incremental degrees of light and dark shades, the precursor to

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

. He also used light in a way to represent the divinity of people and angels from the Bible, as he did in other frescoes at Arena Chapel.

15th century

File:Folio 142v - Christ in Gethsemane.jpg,

Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (; en, The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry) or Très Riches Heures, is the most famous and possibly the best surviving example of manuscript illumination in the late phase of the International Goth ...

, ''Christ in Gethsemane'', c. 1411–1416 File:Geertgen tot Sint Jans, The Nativity at Night, c 1490.jpg,

Geertgen tot Sint Jans Geertgen tot Sint Jans (c. 1465 – c. 1495), also known as Geertgen van Haarlem, Gerrit van Haarlem, Gerrit Gerritsz, Gheertgen, Geerrit, Gheerrit, or any other diminutive form of Gerald, was an Early Netherlandish painter from the northern Low ...

, ''

Nativity at Night The ''Nativity at Night'' or ''Night Nativity'' is an Early Netherlandish painting of about 1490 by Geertgen tot Sint Jans in the National Gallery, London (NG 4081). It is a panel painting in oil on oak, measuring 34 × 25.3 cm., though i ...

'' c. 1490 File:Annunciation to the Shepherds miniature.jpg, Master of the Houghton Miniatures, ''

Annunciation to the Shepherds The annunciation to the shepherds is an episode in the Nativity of Jesus described in the Bible in Luke 2, in which angels tell a group of shepherds about the birth of Jesus. It is a common subject of Christian art and of Christmas carols. Bibli ...

,'' (

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

miniature A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to: * Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting * Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture * Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or problem ...

) c. late 15th century, J. Paul Getty Museum The Western tradition began properly in the 15th century, especially with depictions in

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

s of the biblical night-time scenes of the

in the Nativity story, and the

Arrest of Christ The arrest of Jesus was a pivotal event in Christianity recorded in the canonical gospels. It occurred shortly after the Last Supper (during which Jesus gave his final sermon), and immediately after the kiss of Judas, which is traditionally sai ...

and

Agony in the Garden The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is an episode in the life of Jesus. After the Last Supper, Jesus enters a garden where he experiences great anguish and prays to be delivered from his impending death on the cross ("Take this cup from me") ...

in the

Passion of Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

Très Riches Heures, ''Christ in Gethsemane''

In the book of miniatures, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, the scene of ''Christ in Gethsemane'' is an apcolyptic one which foretells the death of Christ, through the presence of three comets in the evening sky.

Uccello, ''Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano''

File:San Romano Battle (Paolo Uccello, London) 01.jpg,

Paolo Uccello Paolo Uccello ( , ; 1397 – 10 December 1475), born Paolo di Dono, was an Italians, Italian (Florentine) Florentine painting, painter and mathematician who was notable for his pioneering work on visual Perspective (graphical), perspective in art. ...

, ''Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the

Battle of San Romano The Battle of San Romano was fought on 1 June 1432, in San Romano, some 30 miles outside Florence,Private Life of a Masterpiece, BBC TV between the troops of Florence, commanded by Niccolò da Tolentino, and Siena, under Francesco Piccinino. T ...

'', left panel. National Gallery, London File:La batalla de San Romano, por Paolo Uccello.jpg, Paolo Uccello, ''Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino unseats Bernardino della Ciarda at the Battle of San Romano'', center panel. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence File:Paolo Uccello 016.jpg, Paolo Uccello, ''The Counterattack of Michelotto da Cotignola at the Battle of San Romano'', right panel. Musée du Louvre, Paris ''Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano'' is one of a three painting series that captures the Battle of San Romano. The passage of time, from dawn to evening, is illustrated in the three paintings with the initial use of pale, pastel shades and increasingly darker tones as the battle progresses.

Geertgen, ''Nativity at Night''

Influenced by a vision of

Saint Bridget of Sweden Bridget of Sweden (c. 1303 – 23 July 1373) born as Birgitta Birgersdotter, also Birgitta of Vadstena, or Saint Birgitta ( sv, heliga Birgitta), was a mystic and a saint, and she was also the founder of the Bridgettines nuns and monks after t ...

(1303–1373),

's ''

'' depicts the infant Jesus who "radiated such an ineffable light and splendour, that the sun was not comparable to it, nor did the candle that St. Joseph had put there, give any light at all, the divine light totally annihilating the material light of the candle." Strengthening the message about the baby Jesus being the light source, Geertgen depicts the child as the only source of illumination for the main scene inside the stable. Aglow are the faces of the angels, St Joseph and Virgin Mary. Although the shepherds' fire on the hill behind and the angel outside the window create a light source, it's dim in comparison to that provided by the infant child. The sharp contrast of the divine light against dark is a tool used to make the scene appear more profound for its viewers.Campbell, 1998.''The Nativity at Night''.
The National Gallery, London. Retrieved 27 August 2012. London's National Gallery describes Geertgen's work as: "one of the most engaging and convincing early treatments of the Nativity as a night scene.

''Annunciation to the Shepherds''

In the still of the night, the only source of light radiates in ''Annunciation to the Shepherds'' comes from an angel who has come to tell the shepherds of the birth of the infant Christ. The light is so brilliant that the Bethlehem shepherds must shield their eyes. Aside from the startling angel, the nocturnal painting is a pleasant, still pastoral scene with a group of angels in the distance.

16th century

File:Hieronymus Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Delights - Hell.jpg,

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...

, ''

The Garden of Earthly Delights ''The Garden of Earthly Delights'' is the modern title given to a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. It has bee ...

'', third panel, ''Hell'', c. 1490–1510 File:Albrecht Dürer - Way to Calvary - WGA07030.jpg,

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

, ''Way to Calvary'', 1527 File:Dosso Dossi - The Holy Family - WGA06621.jpg,

Dosso Dossi Giovanni di Niccolò de Luteri, better known as Dosso Dossi ( 1489–1542), was an Italian Renaissance painter who belonged to the School of Ferrara, painting in a style mainly influenced by Venetian painting, in particular Giorgione and early T ...

, ''The Holy Family'', 1527–1528,

Capitoline Museums The Capitoline Museums (Italian: ''Musei Capitolini'') are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Pala ...

, Rome File:Albrecht Altdorfer - The Adoration of the Magi - Städel.jpg,

Albrecht Altdorfer Albrecht Altdorfer (12 February 1538) was a German painter, engraver and architect of the Renaissance working in Regensburg, Bavaria. Along with Lucas Cranach the Elder and Wolf Huber he is regarded to be the main representative of the Danube Sc ...

, ''The Adoration of the Magi'', c. 1530–1535, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt File:Judit con la cabeza de Holofernes, por Cristofano Allori.jpg,

Cristofano Allori Cristofano Allori (17 October 1577 – 1 April 1621) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Mannerist school, painting mostly portraits and religious subjects. Allori was born at Florence and received his first lessons in painting from his ...

, ''Judith with the Head of Holophernes'', c. 1580, Palazzo Pitti, Florence File:Cavalier d'Arpino - Christ Taken Prisoner - WGA04690.jpg,

Giuseppe Cesari Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronize ...

, ''Christ Taken Prisoner'', c. 1597 File:Judith Beheading Holofernes - Caravaggio.jpg,

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

, ''

Judith Beheading Holofernes The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonical ''Book of Judith'', and is the subject of many paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is ab ...

'', c. 1598–1599,

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica The Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica or National Gallery of Ancient Art is an art museum in Rome, Italy. It is the principal national collection of older paintings in Rome – mostly from before 1800; it does not hold any antiquities. It has two ...

, Rome

Dosso Dossi

( – 1542), was an

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

painter who belonged to the Ferrara School of Painting.

Albrecht Altdorfer

( – 12 February 1538) was a German painter, engraver and architect of the Renaissance of the so-called Danube School setting biblical and historical subjects against landscape backgrounds of expressive colours.

Giuseppe Cesari

( – 3 July 1640) was an Italian

painter and instructor to

17th century

File:1602-3 Caravaggio,Supper at Emmaus National Gallery, London.jpg, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, ''

Supper at Emmaus According to the Gospel of Luke, the road to Emmaus appearance is one of the early post-resurrection appearances of Jesus after his crucifixion and the discovery of the empty tomb. Both the meeting on the road to Emmaus and the subsequent supper ...

'', 1601,

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

, London File:The Taking of Christ-Caravaggio (c.1602).jpg, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, ''

The Taking of Christ ''The Taking of Christ'' ( it, Presa di Cristo nell'orto or Cattura di Cristo) is a painting, of the arrest of Jesus, by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Originally commissioned by the Roman nobleman Ciriaco Mattei ...

'', c. 1602,

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...

, Dublin Image:Adam Elsheimer - Die Flucht nach Ägypten (Alte Pinakothek) 2.jpg,

Adam Elsheimer __NOTOC__ Adam Elsheimer (18 March 1578 – 11 December 1610) was a German artist working in Rome, who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century in the field of Baroque paintings. His relatively few paintin ...

, ''

The Flight into Egypt The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the i ...

'' c. 1609 File:The Denial of Saint Peter.jpg,

Hendrick ter Brugghen Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen) (1588 – 1 November 1629) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and religious subjects. He was one of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio – the so-called ''Utrecht Caravaggisti''. Along with Gerrit va ...

, ''The Denial of Saint Peter'', c. 1607–1613 File:Judit decapitando a Holofernes, por Artemisia Gentileschi.jpg,

Artemisia Gentileschi Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi (, ; 8 July 1593) was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing profess ...

, ''

,'' 1614–1620, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence File:Anthony van Dyck - Abraham and Isaac - WGA07427.jpg,

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

, ''Abraham and Isaac'', c. 1617, National Gallery, Prague File:Rembrandt Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee.jpg,

, ''

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee ''The Storm on the Sea of Galilee'' is a 1633 oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It was previously in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston but was stolen in 1990 and remains missing. The paintin ...

'', 1633. The painting is still missing after robbery from the

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...

in 1990. File:Magdalen with the Smoking Flame c1640 Georges de La Tour.jpg,

Georges de La Tour Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652) was a French Baroque painter, who spent most of his working life in the Duchy of Lorraine, which was temporarily absorbed into France between 1641 and 1648. He painted mostly religious chia ...

, ''

Magdalene with the Smoking Flame ''Magdalene with the Smoking Flame'' (also titled in French ''La Madeleine à la veilleuse'', and ''La Madeleine à la flamme filante'') is a c. 1640 oil-on-canvas depiction of Mary Magdalene by French Baroque painter Georges de La Tour. Two v ...

'', c. 1640,

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

Image:La Tour.jpg,

, ''

Joseph the Carpenter ''Joseph the Carpenter'' is an oil painting by Georges de La Tour created circa 1642. Horst Woldemar Janson & Anthony F. Janson. ''History of Art: The Western Tradition''. Prentice Hall (2003)p. 608 . The painting depicts a young Jesus with Sain ...

'', 1642,

the Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

Image:Van der Neer - Moonlit Landscape with Bridge.jpg,

Aert van der Neer Aert van der Neer, or Aernout or Artus (c. 16039 November 1677), was a landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, specializing in small night scenes lit only by moonlight and fires, and snowy winter landscapes, both often looking down a canal ...

, ''Moonlit Landscape with Bridge'', 1648–1650,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, Washington D.C. File:Bigot, Trophime - Der Hl. Sebastian wird von Irene geheilt.jpg,

Trophime Bigot Trophime Bigot (1579–1650), also known as Théophile Bigot, Teofili Trufemondi, the Candlelight Master (''Maître à la Chandelle''), was a French painter of the Baroque era, active in Rome and his native Provence. Bigot was born in Arles in 1 ...

, ''St. Sebastian Aided by St. Irene'', before 1650 File:A Witches' Sabbath by Cornelis Saftleven.jpg,

Cornelis Saftleven Cornelis Saftleven (c. 1607 in Gorinchem – 1 June 1681 in Rotterdam) was a Dutch painter who worked in a great variety of genres. Known in particular for his rural genre scenes, his range of subjects was very wide and included portraits, farmho ...

, ''A Witches' Sabbath,'' c. 1650,

Chicago Art Institute The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and list of largest art museums, largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visit ...

File:Joachim von Sandrart 006.jpg,

Joachim von Sandrart Joachim von Sandrart (12 May 1606 – 14 October 1688) was a German Baroque art-historian and painter, active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. He is most significant for his collection of biographies of Dutch and German artists the ''Te ...

, ''Allegory of Night,'' 1654–1656 File:File-Schalcken, Godfried - A Candlelight Scene- A Man Offering a Gold Chain and Coins to a Girl Seated on a Bed - c. 1665 - 70.png,

Godfried Schalcken Godfried Schalcken (1643 – 16 November 1706) was a Dutch genre and portrait painter. He was noted for his mastery in reproducing the effect of candlelight, and painted in the exquisite and highly polished manner of the Leiden fijnschilders. L ...

, ''A Man Offering a Gold Chain and Coins to a Girl Seated on a Bed'', c. 1665–1670

Adam Elsheimer

Early

artist

created night scenes that were highly original. His works departed slightly from other works of the Baroque period were dramatic and abundantly detailed. Baroque paintings featured "exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism". Elsheimer's lighting effects in general were very subtle, and very different from those of

. He often uses as many as five different sources of light, and graduates the light relatively gently, with the less well-lit parts of the composition often containing important parts of it.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

was an Italian artist active between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the

school of painting. Caravaggio's novelty was a radical naturalism that combined close physical observation with a dramatic, even theatrical, use of

. This came to be known as

Tenebrism Tenebrism, from Italian ' ("dark, gloomy, mysterious"), also occasionally called dramatic illumination, is a style of painting using especially pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes ...

, the shift from light to dark with little intermediate value.

Georges de La Tour

was a French Baroque painter who painted mostly religious

scenes lit by candlelight, which were more developed than his artistic predecessors, yet lacked dramatic effects of Caravaggio. He created some of the most arresting works in this genre, portraying a wide range of scenes by candlelight from card games to New Testament narratives.Blunt.

Aert van der Neer

The

Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Repub ...

was a

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compos ...

, specializing in small night scenes lit only by moonlight and fires, and snowy winter landscapes, both often looking down a canal or river.

Anthony van Dyck

(22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist and leading

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

in England.

18th century

File:William Hogarth - Marriage A-la-Mode 5 The Bagnio.jpg,

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like s ...

, ''Marriage A-la-Mode: 5, The Bagnio'', c. 1743 File:Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight.jpg,

Joseph Wright of Derby Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution". Wr ...

, ''

Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight ''Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight'' is a 1765 painting by Joseph Wright of Derby and now resides in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool nited Kingdom It depicts three men examining a reproduction of the Borghese Gladiator, a ...

'' 1765 Image:Wright of Derby, The Orrery.jpg,

, ''

A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery ''A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery'', or the full title, ''A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun'', is a 1766 painting by Joseph Wright of Derby depicting a lecturer giving a demonstrati ...

'' 1766 File:An_Experiment_on_a_Bird_in_an_Air_Pump_by_Joseph_Wright_of_Derby,_1768.jpg,

, ''

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump ''An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'' is a 1768 oil-on-canvas painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, one of a number of candlelit scenes that Wright painted during the 1760s. The painting departed from convention of the time by depicting a ...

'' 1768 Image:Vernet, Claude Joseph - The Shipwreck - 1772.jpg,

Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet ...

, ''The Shipwreck'', 1772,

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

File:Joseph Vernet - Night - Seaport by Moonlight - WGA24731.jpg,

, ''Night: Seaport by Moonlight'', 1771, Louvre File:Jean-Honoré Fragonard 009.jpg,

, '' The Lock'', 1776–1779, Louvre Loutherbourg, Clair de lune (2).jpg,

Philip James de Loutherbourg Philip James de Loutherbourg RA (31 October 174011 March 1812), whose name is sometimes given in the French form of Philippe-Jacques, the German form of Philipp Jakob, or with the English-language epithet of the Younger, was a French-born Brit ...

, ''

Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...

'', 1777,

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg (Museum of Fine Arts of Strasbourg) is the old masters paintings collection of the city of Strasbourg, located in the Alsace region of France. The museum is housed in the first and second floors of the ...

File:Henry Fuseli (1741–1825), The Nightmare, 1781.jpg,

, 1781, ''

The Nightmare ''The Nightmare'' is a 1781 oil painting by Swiss artist Henry Fuseli. It shows a woman in deep sleep with her arms thrown below her, and with a demonic and apelike incubus crouched on her chest. The painting's dreamlike and haunting erotic ...

'', a classical artist whose themes often anticipate the Romantic File:Death of Marat by David.jpg,

, ''

'', 1793,

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België) are a group of art museums in Brussels, Belgium. They include six museums: the Oldmasters Muse ...

, Brussels File:Joseph Mallord William Turner - Fishermen at Sea - Google Art Project.jpg,

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...

, '' Fishermen at Sea'', 1796

Joseph Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbule ...

(23 April 1775 – 19 December 1851) was an English Romantic

, who is commonly known as "the painter of light".

Joseph Vernet

Claude-Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet ...

(14 August 1714 – 3 December 1789) was a French painter whose landscapes, including those of moonlights were popular with English aristocrats. His ''The Port of Rochefort'' (1763, Musée national de la Marine) is particularly notable; in the piece Vernet is able to achieve, according to art historian

Michael Levey Sir Michael Vincent Levey, LVO, FBA, FRSL (8 June 1927 – 28 December 2008) was a British art historian and was the director of the National Gallery from 1973 to 1986. Biography Levey was born in Wimbledon, London, and grew up in Leigh-on-Sea ...

, one of his most 'crystalline and atmospherically sensitive skies'.Levey.

Joseph Wright

(3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797) was an English landscape and portrait painter who is notable for his use of

Chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

effect, which emphasises the contrast of light and dark, and for his paintings of candle-lit subjects. Wright is seen at his best in his candlelit subjects. The '' Three Gentlemen observing the 'Gladiator''' (1765). ''

'' shows an early mechanism for demonstrating the movement of the planets around the sun. ''

'' (1768) shows people gathered round observing an early experiment into the nature of air and its ability to support life. These factual paintings are considered to have metaphorical meaning too, the bursting into light of the phosphorus in front of a praying figure signifying the problematic transition from faith to scientific understanding and enlightenment, and the various expressions on the figures around the bird in the air pump indicating concern over the possible inhumanity of the coming age of science.

19th century

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG,

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (, 4 April 1758 – 16 February 16, 1823) was a French Romantic Painting, painter and drawing, draughtsman best known for his allegorical paintings and portraits such as ''Madame Georges Anthony and Her Two Sons'' (1796). He ...

, ''Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime'', 1808,

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood, Los Angeles, Brentwood neighborhood ...

Getty Center The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, is a campus of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion center opened to the public on December 16, 1997 and is well known for its architecture, gardens, and views over ...

, Los Angeles File:La romería de San Isidro.jpg,

, ''The Festival of San Isidro'', 1819–1823,

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

, Madrid File:Henry pether a view of the bacino di san marco with the doges palace a110133).jpg, Henry Pether, ''Bacino di San Marco and Palazzo Ducale, Venice'' File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg,

, ''Study for

Raft of the Medusa ''The Raft of the Medusa'' (french: Le Radeau de la Méduse ) – originally titled ''Scène de Naufrage'' (''Shipwreck Scene'') – is an oil painting of 1818–19 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791� ...

,'' c. 1818–1819, Louvre File:Gericault-deluge.jpg,

, ''After the Deluge'', 1819 File:The Barque of Dante.jpg,

, ''The Barque of Dante'', 1822, Louvre File:Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton - The Close of Day - Walters 3757 (2).jpg,

, ''The Close of Day'', 1865 File:Starry Night by Jean-François Millet.jpeg,

, Starry Night (Millet), c. 1850-1865 File:Edgar Degas - The Rape.JPG,

, ''Interior'' (nicknamed ''The Rape'') 1868–1869,

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

File:Petrus van Schendel Der Liebesbrief.jpg,

Petrus van Schendel Petrus van Schendel (1806-1870) was a Dutch-Belgian genre painter in the Romantic style who specialized in nighttime scenes, lit by lamps or candles. This led to him being known as "Monsieur Chandelle". Biography On the advice of a family frie ...

, ''Der Liebesbrief'', by 1870 File:Millet, Jean-François II - Hunting Birds at Night.jpg,

, ''Hunting Birds at Night'', 1874 Image:Whistler-Nocturne in black and gold.jpg,

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

, '' Nocturne in Black and Gold, The Falling Rocket,'' 1875 File:Pleuer Dampf auslassende Lokomotive bei Nacht.jpg, ''Evaporating locomotive at night'', 1896 by Hermann Pleuer (1863–1911) File:Henri-Julien-Félix Rousseau, French - Carnival Evening - Google Art Project.jpg,

Henri Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

File:Henri Rousseau 010.jpg,

Henri Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the The Sleeping Gypsy ''The Sleeping Gypsy'' (French: ''La Bohémienne endormie'') is an 1897 oil painting by French Naïve artist Henri Rousseau (1844–1910). It is a fantastical depiction of a lion musing over a sleeping woman on a moonlit night. Rousseau first ...

– Zingara che dorme''), 1897,

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

File:Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) Caféterras bij nacht (place du Forum) Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo 23-8-2016 13-35-40.JPG,

, ''

Café Terrace at Night ''Café Terrace at Night'' is an 1888 oil painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. It is also known as ''The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum'', and, when first exhibited in 1891, was entitled ''Coffeehouse, in the evening'' (''Café, le ...

'', September 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands File:Starry Night Over the Rhone.jpg,

, ''

Starry Night Over the Rhone Starry may refer to: * ''Starry'' (The Killjoys album), 1994 * Starry (Purr Machine album) *Donn A. Starry (1925–2011), United States Army general *Starry Lee Starry Lee Wai-king, SBS, JP (, born 13 March 1974 in British Hong Kong) is a ...

'', 1888 File:Ralph Albert Blakelock - Moonlight Sonata - 45.201 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg,

Ralph Albert Blakelock Ralph Albert Blakelock (October 15, 1847 – August 9, 1919) was a romanticist American painter known primarily for his landscape paintings related to the Tonalism movement. Biography Ralph Blakelock was born in New York City on October 15, 18 ...

, ''Moonlight Sonata'', 1889–1892,

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

File:Albert Pinkham Ryder - Moonlit Cove - Google Art Project.jpg,

, ''Seacoast in Moonlight,'' 1890, the

Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughlin, ...

, Washington, D.C.

Théodore Géricault

(26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was an influential French artist and one of the pioneers of the

Romantic movement Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

Atkinson Grimshaw

Atkinson Grimshaw John Atkinson Grimshaw (6 September 1836 – 13 October 1893) was an English Victorian-era artist best known for his nocturnal scenes of urban landscapes.Alexander Robertson, ''Atkinson Grimshaw'', London, Phaidon Press, 1996 H. J. Dyos and ...

(6 September 1836 – 13 October 1893) was a Victorian-era artistWood, 1999. known for his city night-scenes and landscapes.Robertson, 1996.

H. J. Dyos Harold James Dyos (1921–1978) was a British historian, known for his contributions to urban history. He wrote many essays addressing the issue of urbanization. Career He graduated B.A. from the London School of Economics in 1949, and gained ...

, 1973. His careful painting and skill in lighting effects meant that he captured both the appearance and the mood of a scene in minute detail. His "paintings of dampened gas-lit streets and misty waterfronts conveyed an eerie warmth as well as alienation in the urban scene." ''On Hampstead Hill'' is considered one of Grimshaw's finest works, exemplifying his skill with a variety of light sources, in capturing the mood of the passing of twilight into night. In his later career his urban scenes under twilight or yellow streetlighting were popular with his middle-class patrons. In the 1880s, Grimshaw maintained a London studio in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, not far from the studio of

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

. After visiting Grimshaw, Whistler remarked that "I considered myself the inventor of Nocturnes until I saw Grimmy's moonlit pictures."Lambourne, 1999. Unlike Whistler's

Impressionistic Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

night scenes Grimshaw worked in a realistic vein: "sharply focused, almost photographic," his pictures innovated in applying the tradition of rural moonlight images to the Victorian city, recording "the rain and mist, the puddles and smoky fog of late Victorian industrial England with great poetry."

Petrus van Schendel

(1806–1870) was a Dutch Romantic painter, etcher and draughtsman. Van Schendel specialised in nocturnal Dutch market scenes, exploring the effects the soft light had upon his subjects, as a result he was named Monsieur Chandelle by the French. Van Schendel was inspired by these famous forebears, but brought a unique nineteenth century mood to his night scenes. He eloquently captured the mysterious world of city markets illuminated by lamps and moonlight before the dawn.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

(11 July 1834 – 17 July 1903) was an American-born, British-based artist.Anderson and Koval, 2002. Whistler's ill-advised journey in 1866 to Valparaíso, Chile, resulted in Whistler's first three nocturnal paintings—which he termed "moonlights" and later re-titled as "nocturnes"—night scenes of the harbor painted with a blue or light green palette. Later in London, he painted several more nocturnes over the next ten years, many of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

and of Cremorne Gardens, a pleasure park famous for its frequent

fireworks Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...

displays, which presented a novel challenge to paint. In his maritime nocturnes, Whistler used highly thinned paint as a ground with lightly flicked color to suggest ships, lights, and shore line.Peters, 1998. Some of the Thames paintings also show compositional and thematic similarities with the Japanese prints of

Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...

. In 1877 Whistler sued the

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

for libel after the critic condemned his painting '' Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket''. Ruskin accused Whistler of "asking two hundred

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from t ...

for throwing a pot of paint in the public's face." Whistler won the suit, but was awarded one

farthing Farthing or farthings may refer to: Coinage *Farthing (British coin), an old British coin valued one quarter of a penny ** Half farthing (British coin) ** Third farthing (British coin) ** Quarter farthing (British coin) *Farthing (English coi ...

for damages. The cost of the case bankrupted him. It has been suggested

had had

CADASIL CADASIL or CADASIL syndrome, involving cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy, is the most common form of hereditary stroke disorder, and is thought to be caused by mutations of the ''Notch 3'' ge ...

and the visual disturbances this condition caused him might have been a factor in his irritation at this particular painting.Kempster PA, Alty JE. (2008)
John Ruskin's relapsing encephalopathy
Brain. Sep;131(Pt 9):2520-5. Whistler published his account of the trial in the pamphlet Whistler v. Ruskin: Art and Art Critics, included in his later ''

The Gentle Art of Making Enemies ''The Gentle Art of Making Enemies'' is a book by the painter James McNeill Whistler, published in London in 1890 by William Heinemann, who also published a second, enlarged edition in 1892. The book was in part a response to, in part a trans ...

'' (1890).

20th century

File:Vilhelm Hammershøi, Fem-portrætt-1901.jpg,

Vilhelm Hammershøi Vilhelm Hammershøi (), often anglicised as Vilhelm Hammershoi (15 May 186413 February 1916), was a Danish painter. He is known for his poetic, subdued portraits and interiors.Souren Melikian,Hammershoi's decade of brilliance, before banality set ...

, ''Five Portraits'', 1901–02 File:William Orpen Night No 2.jpg,

William Orpen Major Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, (27 November 1878 – 29 September 1931) was an Irish artist who worked mainly in London. Orpen was a fine draughtsman and a popular, commercially successful painter of portraits for the well-to-do in ...

, ''Night No. 2'', 1907 Image:The Hunters' Supper.jpg,

Frederic Remington Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in the genre of Western American Art. His works are known for depicting the Western United State ...

, ''The Hunters' Supper,'' c. 1909,

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 American West, Western and Native Americans in the United States, American Indian art works and Artifact (archaeology), ar ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, Oklahoma Image:Shotgun hospitality.jpg,

, ''Shotgun Hospitality'' 1908,

Hood Museum of Art The Hood Museum of Art is owned and operated by Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. The first reference to the development of an art collection at Dartmouth dates to 1772, making the collection among the o ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Eng ...

File:George Wesley Bellows - Summer Night, Riverside Drive (1909).jpg,

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realism, American realist painting, painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art ...

, ''Summer Night, Riverside Drive,'' 1909 File:Both Members of This Club George Bellows.jpeg,

, ''Both Members of This Club'' 1909,

File:Lovis Corinth Walchensee aufgehender Mond 1922.jpg,

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Se ...

, ''Rising Moon'', 1922 File:Lesser Ury 1922 Hochbahnhof Bülowstraße.JPG,

Lesser Ury Leo Lesser Ury (November 7, 1861 – October 18, 1931) was a German Impressionist painter and printmaker, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Life and career Ury was born in Birnbaum in what was then Prussia (now Międzych� ...

, ''Hochbahnhof Bülowstraße'', 1922

Famous examples

La ronda de noche, por Rembrandt van Rijn

''The Night Watch'', Rembrandt van Rijn

The Night Watch ''Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'', also known as ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'', but commonly referred to as ''The Night Watch'' ( nl, De Nachtwacht), i ...

'' or ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq'' by Dutch painter

Rembrandt van Rijn Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

is one of the most famous paintings in the world. One of its key elements is the effective use of light and shadow (

).Boka and Courteau, 1994. Made in 1642, it depicts the eponymous

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

moving out, led by Captain

Frans Banning Cocq Frans Banninck Cocq (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Banning), ''lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam'' (1605–1655) was a burgemeester (mayor), knight and military person of Amsterdam in the mid-17th century. He belonged to the wealthy and powerful ...

(dressed in black, with a red sash) and his lieutenant,

Willem van Ruytenburch Willem van Ruytenburch, ''lord of Vlaardingen and Vlaardingen-Ambacht'' (1600–1652) was a member of the Dutch gentry and Amsterdam patriciate of the Dutch Golden Age. He became an alderman of Amsterdam and joined the Schutterij (city guard) o ...

(dressed in yellow, with a white sash). With effective use of sunlight and shade, Rembrandt leads the eye to the three most important characters among the crowd, the two gentlemen in the centre (from whom the painting gets its original title), and the small girl in the centre left background. For much of its existence, the painting was coated with a dark varnish which gave the incorrect impression that it depicted a night scene, leading to the name by which it is now commonly known. The heavy varnish was only discovered in the 1940s and restoration began after 1975.Hagen and Hagen, 2003.

''The Third of May 1808'', Francisco Goya

The Third of May 1808 ''The Third of May 1808'' (also known as or , or )The Museo del Prado entitles the work El 3 de mayo de 1808 en Madrid: los fusilamientos en la montaña del Príncipe Pío'' is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, ...

'' by Spanish painter

commemorates Spanish resistance to

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's armies during the occupation of 1808 in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

. The painting's content, presentation, and emotional force secure its status as a groundbreaking, archetypal image of the horrors of war. Although it draws on many sources from both high and popular art, ''The Third of May 1808'' marks a clear break from convention. Diverging from the traditions of Christian art and traditional depictions of war, it has no distinct precedent, and is acknowledged as one of the first paintings of the modern era.Licht, 1979. According to the art historian

Kenneth Clark Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television ...

, ''The Third of May 1808'' is "the first great picture which can be called revolutionary in every sense of the word, in style, in subject, and in intention".Clark, 1968. It is set in the early hours of the morning following the uprising and centers on two masses of men: one a rigidly poised

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

, the other a disorganized group of captives held at gun point. Executioners and victims face each other abruptly across a narrow space; according to Kenneth Clark, "by a stroke of genius oyahas contrasted the fierce repetition of the soldiers' attitudes and the steely line of their rifles, with the crumbling irregularity of their target." A square lantern situated on the ground between the two groups throws a dramatic light on the scene. The brightest illumination falls on the huddled victims to the left, whose numbers include a monk or friar in prayer. The central figure is the brilliantly lit man kneeling amid the bloodied corpses of those already executed, his arms flung wide in either appeal or defiance. The painting is structurally and thematically tied to traditions of

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

in Christian art, as exemplified in the dramatic use of

, and the appeal to life juxtaposed with the inevitability of imminent execution. However, Goya's painting departs from this tradition. Works that depicted violence, such as those by

, feature an artful technique and harmonious composition which anticipate the "crown of martyrdom" for the victim. The lantern as a source of illumination in art was widely used by

artists, and perfected by

. Traditionally a dramatic light source and the resultant chiaroscuro were used as metaphors for the presence of God. Illumination by torch or candlelight took on religious connotations; but in ''The Third of May'' the lantern manifests no such miracle. Rather, it affords light only so that the firing squad may complete its grim work, and provides a stark illumination so that the viewer may bear witness to wanton violence. The traditional role of light in art as a

conduit Conduit may refer to: Engineering systems * Conduit (fluid conveyance), a pipe suitable for carrying either open-channel or pressurized liquids * Electrical conduit, a protective cover, tube or piping system for electric cables * Conduit curre ...

for the spiritual has been subverted.

''The Starry Night'', Vincent van Gogh

The Starry Night ''The Starry Night'' ( nl, De sterrennacht) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. Painted in June 1889, it depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Proven ...

'', made by Dutch artist

, depicts his memory of the view outside his sanitorium room window at

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (; Provençal Occitan: ''Sant Romieg de Provença'' in classical and ''Sant Roumié de Prouvènço'' in Mistralian norms) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. Loc ...

(located in southern France) at night.Zara, 2012. Although Van Gogh was not very happy with the painting,Van Gogh, Vincent. (author). Harrison, Robert. (ed.) (19 September 1889
''Letter to Theo van Gogh. Written in Saint-Rémy. Translated by Mrs. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, number 607.''
Webexhibits.org Retrieved 24 August 2012. art historian Joachim Pissarro cites ''The Starry Night'' as an exemplar of the artist's fascination with the

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

. One of Van Gogh's most popular pieces, the painting is widely hailed as his ''

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

''.

''Nighthawks'', Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

had a lifelong interest in capturing the effect of light on the objects it touched, including the nighttime effect of artificial, man-made light spilling out of windows, doorways and porches. '' Nighthawks'' was probably Hopper's most ambitious essay in capturing the night-time effects of man-made light. For one thing, the diner's plate-glass windows cause significant light to spill out onto the sidewalk and the brownstones on the far side of the street. As well, interior light comes from more than a single lightbulb, with the result that multiple shadows are cast, and some spots are brighter than others as a consequence of being lit from more than one angle. Across the street, the line of shadow caused by the upper edge of the diner window is clearly visible towards the top of the painting. These windows, and the ones below them as well, are partly lit by an unseen streetlight, which projects its own mix of light and shadow. As a final note, the bright interior light causes some of the surfaces within the diner to be reflective. This is clearest in the case of the right-hand edge of the rear window, which reflects a vertical yellow band of interior wall, but fainter reflections can also be made out, in the counter-top, of three of the diner's occupants. None of these reflections would be visible in daylight.

''The Empire of Light'', René Magritte

In his 1950 painting ''

The Empire of Light ''The Empire of Light'' (French: ''L'Empire des lumières'') is the title of a succession of paintings by René Magritte.Kantrowitz, Jonathan (25 November 2017), René Magritte: The Fifth Season'. Art History News. (accessed 19 December 2020) T ...

,''

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...

(1898–1967), explores the illusion of night and day, and the

paradox A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...

of time and light. On the top half of his canvas Magritte paints a clear blue sky and white clouds that radiate bright daytime; while on the bottom half of his canvas below the sky, he paints a street, sidewalk, trees and houses all steeped in the darkness of night. The darkened trees and darkened houses appear to be in nighttime shadows, in the middle of the night; and the sidewalk streetlight is on to guide the way. Some of the questions implied by these pictures include is it night-time? is it daytime? or is it just a painting? ''The Empire of Light'' is one of a series of paintings that René Magritte painted between 1950 and 1954 that explores his surrealist insight into illusion and reality, using night and day as his subject.

Gallery

Image:Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Mondaufgang_am_Meer_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg,

Moonrise over the Sea ''Moonrise by the Sea'' or ''Moonrise over the Sea'' (German: ''Mondaufgang am Meer'') is an 1822 oil-on-canvas painting by German painter Caspar David Friedrich. The work depicts a romantic seascape. Three young people, two women side by ...

'', c.1822 File:The Vesper Hymn by Thomas Cole.jpeg,

, ''The Vesper Hymn'', 1838 Image:Thomas Cole - The Voyage of Life Old Age, 1842 (National Gallery of Art).jpg,

, ''

The Voyage of Life ''The Voyage of Life'' is a series of four paintings created by the American artist Thomas Cole in 1840 and reproduced with minor alterations in 1842, representing an allegory of the four stages of human life. The paintings, ''Childhood'', ''Yout ...

'', ''Old Age,'' 1842,

File:Stormy_sea_at_night.jpg,

Ivan Aivazovsky Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (russian: link=no, Иван Константинович Айвазовский; 29 July 18172 May 1900) was a Russian Romantic painter who is considered one of the greatest masters of marine art. Baptized a ...

, ''Stormy Sea in Night'', 1849 File:Dupré Landscape by moonlight.jpg,

Jules Dupré Jules Louis Dupré (April 5, 1811 – October 6, 1889) was a French painter, one of the chief members of the Barbizon school of landscape painters. If Corot stands for the lyric and Rousseau for the epic aspect of the poetry of nature, Dupré i ...

, ''Landscape by moonlight'', 1852 File:Frederic Church Meteor of 1860.jpg,

Frederic Edwin Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for painting large landscapes, ...

, '' Meteor of 1860'', 1860 File:Albert Bierstadt - Evening on the Prairie.jpg,

, ''Evening on the Prairie'', c. 1870 File:Petrus van Schendel - Nachtelijke marine.jpg,

, ''Nachtelijke marine'', Unknown date, Collectie Rademakers File:Petrus van Schendel Market.jpg,

, ''Market'', Unknown date File:Brooklyn Museum - Moonlight - Ralph Albert Blakelock - overall.jpg,

, ''Moonlight'', 1885,

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

File:Pedro Américo - A Noite e os Gênios do Estudo e do Amor.jpg,

Pedro Américo Pedro Américo de Figueiredo e Melo (29 April 1843 – 7 October 1905) was a Brazilian novelist, poet, scientist, art theorist, essayist, philosopher, politician and professor, but is best remembered as one of the most important academic painters ...

, ''The Night Escorted by the Geniuses of Love and Study,'' 1886 File:Ferdinand Hodler 005.jpg,

Ferdinand Hodler Ferdinand Hodler (March 14, 1853 – May 19, 1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of ...

, ''The Night,'' 1889–1890

Notes

References

Sources

* Anderson, Ronald and Anne Koval. (2002). ''James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth.'' Da Capo Press. . (''Note: need to verify this was the edition used.'') * Boime, Albert. (1990). ''Art in an Age of Bonapartism, 1800–1815''. The University of Chicago Press. . * Blunt, Anthony. (1999)

953 Year 953 ( CMLIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Battle of Marash: Emir Sayf al-Dawla marches north into the Byzantine Empire an ...

''Art and Architecture in France, 1500–1700.'' Yale University Press. . * Boka, Georges and Bernard Courteau. (1994). ''Rembrandt's Nightwatch : The Mystery Revealed.'' Georges Boka Editeur. . * Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues (new series). (1998). ''The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings''. National Gallery Publications. . * Clark, Kenneth. (1968). ''Looking at Pictures''. Beacon Press. . (found o
Artchive
* Duffy, Jean H. (1998). ''Reading Between the Lines: Claude Simon and the Visual Arts.'' Volume 2 of Modern French Writers. Liverpool University Press. . * Dyos, H. J. and Michael Wolff (eds.) (1999)

973 Year 973 ( CMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – The Byzantine army, led by General Melias (Domestic of the Sc ...

''The Victorian City: Images and Realities, 2 Volumes.'' Psychology Press. . * Farquhar, Maria. (1855). ''Biographical catalog of the principal Italian painters: with a table of the contemporary schools of Italy. Designed as a hand-book to the picture gallery.'' J. Murray. * Favorite, Malaika. (1991). ''Illuminated Manuscript: Poems and Prints.'' New Orleans Poetry Journal. Journal Press Books: Louisiana Legacy. . * Freedberg, Sydney J. (1971). ''Painting in Italy, 1500–1600'', first edition. The Pelican History of Art. Harmondsworth and Baltimore: Penguin Books. . * Gardner, Helen and Fred S. Kleiner. (2009). ''Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Concise Global History.'' (2nd edition). Cengage Learning. . * Hagen, Rose-Marie and Hagen, Rainer. (28 February 2003.) ''What Great Paintings Say''. Taschen. * Henderson, Andrea and Vincent Katz. (2008). ''Picturing New York: The Art of Yvonne Jacquette and Rudy Burckhardt.'' Museum of the City of New York, Contributor. Bunker Hill Publishing. . * Licht, Fred. (1979). ''Goya: The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art''. Universe Books. * Lambourne, Lionel. (1999). ''Victorian Painting''. London: Phaidon Press. * Norman, Diana. (1995). ''Siena, Florence and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280–1400, Volume II.'' Yale University Press. . * Paoletti, John T. and Gary M. Radke. (2005).
Art in Renaissance Italy
', 3rd edition. Laurence King Publishing. . * Peters, Lisa N. (1998). ''James McNeil Whistler.'' Todtri. . * Robertson, Alexander. (1996). ''Atkinson Grimshaw.'' London: Phaidon Press. . * Schechner, Sara. (1999). ''Comets, Popular Culture, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology.'' Princeton University Press. . * Schiller, Gertrud. (1971). ''Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I''. (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London. . * Steer, Isabella. (2002). ''The History of British Art.'' Bath: Parragon. * Waller, Philip J. (1983). ''Town, City, and Nation.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. * Wood, Christopher. (1999). ''Victorian Painting.'' Boston: Little, Brown & Co. * Zara, Christopher. (2012). ''Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds.'' Adams Media. . ;Possible sources * Jethani, S (2009). ''The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity.'' Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan (eBook). . * Selz, Peter. (1974). ''German Expressionist Painting.'' University of California Press. . * Suckale, Robert and Manfred Wundram, Andreas Prater, Hermann Bauer, Eva-Gesine Baur. (2002). ''Masterpieces of Western Art: A History of Art in 900 Individual Studies from the Gothic to the Present Day.'' Taschen. . * Taylor, William Edward and Harriet Garcia Warkel, Margaret Taylor Burroughs. (authors) Indianapolis Museum of Art. (ed.) (1996). ''A Shared Heritage: Art by Four African Americans.'' Undiana University Press. . * Van de Wetering, Ernst. (2002). ''Rembrandt: The Painter at Work.'' Rembrandt Series. Amsterdam University Press. . * Van Gogh, Vincent and Sjraar van Heugten, Joachim Pissarro, Chris Stolwijk. (2008). ''Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night'' The Museum of Modern Art. .

External links

{{Westernart Painting Night in culture Artistic techniques Moon in art

Historical overview

Symbolism

History

14th century

Gaddi, ''The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds''

Giotto, ''Crucifixion''

15th century

Très Riches Heures, ''Christ in Gethsemane''

Uccello, ''Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano''

Geertgen, ''Nativity at Night''

''Annunciation to the Shepherds''

16th century

Dosso Dossi

Albrecht Altdorfer

Giuseppe Cesari

17th century

Adam Elsheimer

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Georges de La Tour

Aert van der Neer

Anthony van Dyck

18th century

Joseph Turner

Joseph Vernet

Joseph Wright

19th century

Théodore Géricault

Atkinson Grimshaw

Petrus van Schendel

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

20th century

Famous examples

''The Night Watch'', Rembrandt van Rijn

''The Third of May 1808'', Francisco Goya

''The Starry Night'', Vincent van Gogh

''Nighthawks'', Edward Hopper

''The Empire of Light'', René Magritte

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

External links