These illustrations deal with subjects such as folklore, literature, and religion. Between 18, he produced a series of a 100 ukiyo-e, colour woodblock prints called Tsuki hyaku sugata 月百姿 (translated as One Hundred Aspects of the Moon in English). No other Japanese artist went as far in contemplation of the Moon, however, as Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Kitagawa Utamaro contributed by providing five Ukiyo-e (浮世絵) woodblock prints with the recurring motif of the Full Moon. In 1789, Ki no Sadamaru collected 72 Kyōka (or parodic) poems related to the satellite and published them in the anthology Ehon kyogetsubo 絵本狂月坊. Names such as Nishimura Shigenaga, Utagawa Yoshitaki, Suzuki Harunobu and Utagawa Hiroshige are amongst these. In Japan, the Moon has been a source of inspiration to many artists from as early as the 15th century (such as New Moon over the brushwood gate, an ink on paper from 1405). While the moonlight could be said to be protecting her, it also increases the tension of the scene, eliciting apprehension and pathos from the viewer. She has been separated from her brothers and, fearing the debauched Comus, looks at the Moon in order to plead for safety. In The Lady in Milton’s ‘Comus’, Wright presents a young woman, ‘Lady’, alone in the woods and lost in the wilderness. In a similar fashion, The Lady in Milton’s ‘Comus’ (1784-), by Joseph Wright of Derby, ‘conveys the feelings of the subject represented and in turn affect the emotions of the beholder’, writes Vandenbrouck in the catalogue of The Moon exhibition. The composition is yet another example of human communion with nature, inviting the spectator to join the figures in their evening observation. It depicts a couple of friends on a mountain path, seen from behind, gazing at a waxing Moon during nightfall. A well-known painting within German Romanticism, this landscape oil on canvas is the first of a series of three the other two followed in 18-30. The blurry figure in front of a gravestone accentuates the sense of loss, as does the palette dominated by cool blue hues.Ī much warmer range of colours was adopted by Caspar David Friedrich in his Two Men Contemplating the Moon (1819-20). ![]() Netley Abbey by Moonlight is hence a sort of visual elegy. In 1828, aged 41, Bicknell died of tuberculosis, leaving behind seven young children. He made a number of pencil studies at the time, but the watercolour was made much later. Constable and his wife, Maria Bicknell, visited Netley Abbey in 1816. 1833), a graphite and watercolour on paper by Constable, radiates an other-worldly atmosphere that is intensified by moonlight. In his turn, Rubens was an influence on Constable, suggests Vandenbrouck. The oil on panel pastoral was a response to Flight into Egypt (1609-10), an oil on copper cabinet painting by German artist Adam Elsheimer. An idyllic view occupies this nocturne: a starry sky, a vivid Moon reflected on a lake, a horse in the shore and green, placid trees in the waterside. Prior to Turner, in the 17th century Rubens brought Landscape by Moonlight (1635-40) into life. This night-time composition evokes a scenery of transience. 1826), Turner summons the brevity of moonlight by conveying ‘the physical sensation of light coruscating across the sky and glistening in the water below’ according to Royal Museums Greenwich curator of art Melanie Vandenbrouck. Similarly, in the gouache and watercolour on wove paper Moonlight on River (c. ![]() In fact, in a broader sense, it emphasises humankind’s subjugation towards the cosmos and its power. The painting stresses their vulnerability in relation to nature. In spite of carrying a flickering lantern, the fishermen are lit by a bright Full Moon, which safeguards them but also reveals the dangers ahead. In the oil on canvas Fishermen at Sea (1796), Turner depicts a small fishing boat struggling against the waves of an open, violent sea. ![]() Their landscapes attempted to hold its never-ending incarnations within the boundaries of materiality, circumscribed in paintings and watercolours of pale blue, green and grey hues. Turner, Peter Paul Rubens, John Constable, and Caspar David Friedrich were more than intrigued – they were mesmerised by moonlight. Moonlight in art: Turner, Constable, Rubens and Friedrich It is elusive it belongs to the reign of the ephemeral, even if through its cyclical patterns it might deceive you otherwise. It helps to mimic a quality of fleeting romance by turning a transitory moment into almost palpable, tangible. Moonlight fills a canvas with an aura of nostalgia and melancholy. Night-time compositions transform a banal scene into a view of mystery. This atmospheric effect of moonlight has inspired a multitude of artists in media such as illustration, painting, and woodblock printing. It also connects people across borders in its thread of beaming, volatile silver. The Moon is a source of communion between humankind and nature.
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