This painting, called "Two Views of Dresden by Moonlight" by Johan Christian Clausen Dahl, is centered around the glow of the moon. The lighting casts interesting shadows on the water, and highlights the tree in the top right corner.
In this painting (Georges de la Tour, "Magdalen with the Smoking Flame") features a woman illuminated by a single bare flame. The light given off by this candle frames the lines and details of the woman's body, and lengthens her bare legs.
While looking through Old Masters painting, I've realized my obsession for pictures with candlelight. What interests me is how it can only show a small portion of the scene, so the majority of it is left to interpretation. For this painting, it only shows the woman's body and a skull; it doesn't show where she is or what she could possibly be thinking about.
ReplyDeleteDahl's painting is interesting in that it has multiple light sources (the moonlight in addition to the fires/candles in the houses). Those other sources don't light very much in terms of distance, but the reflection of the moonlight provides additional lighting.
ReplyDeleteI like how the candle in the second painting lights the woman's face, torso, and legs. Everything else is left in the shadow, and it makes you only want to focus on her and what she could possibly be thinking. I do feel like her legs should not be so visible if the only light source was really the candle. But I like that the light brings your focus directly to her.
ReplyDeleteThe first photo is definitely interesting with how the artist decided to do the lighting. With the majority of the scene being lit by the moonlight, there is still a small portion that the eye is then drawn to because of the secondary lighting in the piece. The other nice thing that the moonlight is able to do to the scene is that it creates a unique look to the water, you are just able to tell the movement of the water current.
ReplyDelete