A November Morning

Title

A November Morning

Artist

Eric Glaser

Medium

Painting - Oil On Canvas

Description

"A November Morning"

Artist: John Atkinson Grimshaw (English, 1836-1893)

Title: A November Morning

Object Type: Painting

Description:

Grimshaw painted at least one other November Morning in 1883 (Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead) which has a similar composition with a lone housemaid making her way to work with her basket of provisions. Both revel in the glory of a chill autumnal morning where the first glow of the waking sun has burnished the sky with its radiance. A symphony of russets, gold and pale moss greens the painting is a celebration of the colours of the dying year. Mist lingers in the damp air where the road sweeps round to the left.

Date: 1883

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Dimensions: Height: 51 cm (20 in); Width: 76 cm (29.9 in)

Painting History: Richard Green, London, where purchased by the father of the present owner

Inscriptions: Signature and date bottom right: Atkinson Grimshaw 1883+

Text Credit: Sotheby's, Google Arts & Culture

Catalogue Note:

John Atkinson Grimshaw painted a series of autumnal street scenes throughout the 1880s, predominantly painted in and around the suburbs of Leeds. In these images of roads and lanes between high stone walls hiding mansions and villas from prying eyes, the scenes are deserted except for a solitary female figure making her way down a leaf and puddle strewn road. These paintings are perhaps the most evocative and typical of the artist, who was unrivalled in his depiction of the evening gloaming and the first light of the morning. The busy traffic of horses and carts bringing goods into the city from the outlying farms have left their impressions in the damp soil of the road the day before. The gateways of the large villas remain closed to the outside world as the households within begin to stir. There is an emotive sense of stillness and calm which pervades these golden images of morning light. The subject is probably not a specific locality, but the effects of light upon a generic suburban street and the houses are probably an amalgam of different buildings. Unlike the pictures of the great cities of Britain and the fishing villages that Grimshaw painted, there are no landmarks in A November Morning to place the exact location and the picture is therefore a more abstract summary of glorious light and autumnal splendour. The sense of mystery evoked by the appearance of the lonely road is further enhanced by the anonymity of the scene with the exact location withheld. The Victorians had a huge appetite for such romantic intrigue and it was a prevalent theme in the novels, plays and poetry of the age. Grimshaw himself was inspired by the writings of Wordsworth, Browning, Shelley and in particular Tennyson.

Grimshaw painted at least one other November Morning in 1883 (Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead) which has a similar composition with a lone housemaid making her way to work with her basket of provisions. Both revel in the glory of a chill autumnal morning where the first glow of the waking sun has burnished the sky with its radiance. A symphony of russets, gold and pale moss greens the painting is a celebration of the colours of the dying year. Mist lingers in the damp air where the road sweeps round to the left.

John Atkinson Grimshaw was an English Victorian-era artist now best known for his nocturnal scenes of urban landscapes.

Today, he is considered one of the great painters of the Victorian era, as well as one of the best and most accomplished nightscape, and townscape, artists of all time. He was called a "remarkable and imaginative painter" by the critic and historian Christopher Wood in Victorian Painting.

Grimshaw's accuracy and attention to realism was criticised by some of his contemporaries, with one critic claiming that his paintings appeared to ‘showed no marks of handling or brushwork’, adding that ‘not a few artists were doubtful whether they could be accepted as paintings at all’. However, other contemporaries recognised his mastery of lighting and technique, and James McNeill Whistler, whom Grimshaw worked with in his Chelsea studios, stated, “I considered myself the inventor of nocturnes until I saw Grimmy’s moonlit pictures”.

His early paintings were signed "JAG", "J. A. Grimshaw", or "John Atkinson Grimshaw", though he finally settled on "Atkinson Grimshaw".

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Additional image editing by Eric Glaser

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August 12th, 2020

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