John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836–1893) — Victorian English painter, famous for his highly atmospheric night landscapes of mid-19th-century Britain. He had a marvelous ability to work with light, and in almost every painting he depicted the moon or gas lanterns, and so realistically that the moon seemed to be really glowing, and looking at his lanterns, some viewers looked under the canvas, hoping to find a candle or gas horn.
Twilight on the Thames. 1880
Grimshaw admired the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, as well as they tried to use the maximum number of colors and depict nature as realistically as possible. Not just an abstract tree in muted colors, as in the paintings of academists, but a real existing tree, which he saw in reality, which has its own botanical name and unmistakable in the picture. His landscapes were characterized by meticulous drawing and perfected technique, thanks to which the strokes were almost imperceptible, which also played on the great realism and gave his paintings a resemblance to photographs.
Liverpool Embankment in the Moonlight
But the most surprising thing is that with that impeccable technique Grimshaw did not have any academic education. He learned the basics of painting on his own, and in his youth worked as an ordinary clerk on the railroad. At 20 he married his cousin Frances Hubbard, and at 24, tired of the dull paperwork, decided, much to the displeasure of his parents, to leave the place of a clerk and professionally engaged in painting.
October Gold
A year later, he presented his paintings at his first exhibition. True, their themes were more than usual for English painting: images of birds and boring still lifes, and therefore his works aroused very restrained interest. Well, another unknown self-taught artist paints unremarkable paintings, of which there are a million, what is there to be surprised and interested in?
Grimshaw realized that he needed to find his own thing, and he focused on lunar cityscapes depicting various views of London, Glasgow and Liverpool. Respectable Englishmen, and especially girls, were not supposed to walk around the city at night, so many could only see these views in paintings.
Hampstead
Grimshaw made extensive use of a camera obscura to capture the contours of the surrounding landscape on canvas, and then in his studio he would refine it by hand-painting and adding light effects. The artist often experimented with different paints to achieve a glowing effect, adding phosphorus and other ingredients.
Saturday Night in Glasgow
In the 1870s, Grimshaw looked to James Tissot for inspiration and fully embraced his idea of "art for art's sake." Grimshaw's landscapes became even more realistic and refined, reminiscent of high-quality modern photography, with impeccably rendered gaslights and moonlight reflecting off wet asphalt or cobblestones, and a somewhat tense atmosphere of gathering twilight.
Street in the moonlight
His paintings were eagerly bought by members of the middle class, who were happy to hang a good landscape in their homes. Eventually, Grimshaw saved up money for a 17th-century mansion in Scarborough.
Full moon over Leeds
He called it "Castle by the Sea", moved there with his family and set up his art studio. However, the marriage to his cousin led to some of the artist's children being born weak and dying at an early age. Grimshaw sought solace in his work, fortunately his paintings were immediately sold out.
Spirit of the Night
Gradually, he began to paint historical scenes from ancient Greek and Roman life, and also depicted his vision of iconic heroes of English ballads and poems by the poet Tennyson. Grimshaw's four surviving children inherited his talent and became good artists. In this way, he left his contribution to art, and his paintings were forged during his lifetime, which in itself testifies to their undeniable artistic merits.
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