Where Does Lighting Come From? John Atkinson Grimshaw

 John Atkinson Grimshaw, “The Gossips, Bonchurch, Isle of Wight” (1880)

"... The lighting comes from different sources: from the moon, through a hole in the clouds, from the glow of a gas lamp and, in the distance, from a window without curtains. Furthermore, the light of the moon reflects both on the water to the left of the painting and on the muddy puddles in the foreground. These different sources of light, together with the leafless trees, help to create a mysterious and romantic play of shadows in the painting..."

"John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836- 1893) is considered, today, one of the great painters of the Victorian era and one of the best and most skilled nocturnal and landscape artists of all time. His love for realism was born from a passion for photography. Influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite style, he created landscapes with accurate light and color, vivid detail and realism. His works often represent, in various seasons and with different climatic situations, city streets, suburban streets and the docks of London, Hull, Liverpool and Glasgow.

In his paintings with a poetic moonlight, with vague atmospheres, from the misty, humid and dark streets, lonely houses, luminous shop windows, gas lights, puddles, solitary figures, still or moving, emerge in contemplation of the landscape."