Moonlight is a 1777 nocturne by Philip James de Loutherbourg. It is now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Strasbourg, France. Its inventory number is 2312.[1]
| Moonlight | |
|---|---|
| French: Clair de lune | |
 | |
| Artist | Philip James de Loutherbourg |
| Year | 1777 |
| Medium | oil painting on canvas |
| Movement | Nocturne Animal painting Landscape painting |
| Subject | cattle drinking from a river by moonlight |
| Dimensions | 56.5 cm × 72 cm (22.2 in × 28 in)[1] |
| Location | Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg |
| Accession | 1967 |
The painting was painted ten years after Landscape with Animals, a much larger canvas that Loutherbourg exhibited to great acclaim in Paris, and six years after the painter's moving to London. Moonlight was shown in the Royal Academy of Arts in 1778, equally to great acclaim. Loutherbourg does not depict a real scenery but two sources of light and shadows (moonlight and fire), as well as two types of reflective surface (animal skin and water). The result is a highly artificial virtuoso piece, in which (as he often did) Loutherbourg attempts to surpass his elder rival Claude Joseph Vernet.[2][1]
References edit
- ^ a b c Jacquot, Dominique (2006). Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg. Cinq siècles de peinture. Strasbourg: Musées de Strasbourg. pp. 166–167. ISBN 2-901833-78-0.
- ^ Coyne, Gilles (10 November 2015). "Paysage au clair de lune, 1777". actualite-des-arts.com. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
External links edit
Media related to Clair de lune (Loutherbourg) at Wikimedia Commons
- Clair de lune[permanent dead link], presentation on the museum's website
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