The depiction of night in paintings is common in Western art. Paintings that feature a night scene as the theme may be religious or history paintings, genre scenes, portraits, landscapes, or other subject types. Some artworks involve religious or fantasy topics using the quality of dim night light to create mysterious atmospheres. The source of illumination in a night scene—whether it is the moon or an artificial light source—may be depicted directly, or it may be implied by the character and coloration of the light that reflects from the subjects depicted. They are sometimes called nocturnes,Lawton, Denis. (1992). Education And Politics For The 1990s: Conflict Or Consensus? (edition reprint). Psychology Press. p. 150. . or night-pieces, such as Rembrandt's The Night Watch, or the German Romantic Caspar David Friedrich's Two Men Contemplating the Moon of 1819.

In America, James Abbott McNeill Whistler titled works as nocturnes to identify those paintings with a "dreamy, pensive mood" by applying the musical term, and likewise also titled (and retitled) works using other music expressions, such as a "symphony", "harmony", "study" or "arrangement", to emphasize the tonal qualities and the composition and to de-emphasize the narrative content.Anderson, Ronald and Anne Koval. (2002). James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth. Da Capo Press. p. 186. . (Note: need to verify this was the edition used.) The use of the term "nocturne" can be associated with the Tonalist movement of the American of the late 19th century and early 20th century which is "characterized by soft, diffused light, muted tones and hazy outlined objects, all of which imbue the works with a strong sense of mood."Marter, Joan. (2011). The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, Volume 1 Oxford University Press. p. 54. . Along with winter scenes, nocturnes were a common Tonalist theme.Conrads, Margaret C. (1990). American Paintings and Sculpture at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Contributor: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Hudson Hills. p. 148. . Frederic Remington used the term as well for his nocturne scenes of the American Old West.

History

14th century

Gaddi, The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds One of the first attempts in depicting night in paintings was by Taddeo Gaddi, an Italian painter and architect.Farquhar, 1855. Gaddi, fascinated by nocturnal lighting, depicted the effect of the light in The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds night scene. The fresco at Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy features an incandescent angel as it hovers over a shepherd. Against the night sky the brilliance of the angel's bright glow, likely intended as "verification of the presence of God and as a metaphor for spiritual enlightenment", appears to startle the shepherd. Gaddi's use of monochromatic colors in and around the shepherd reveals how the colors are made pale due to the remarkable illumination.Norman, 1995.

Giotto, Crucifixion Giotto di Bondone (1266/7–1337), Taddeo Gaddi's teacher and godfather, created the fresco of Crucifixion, one of the multiple frescoes that told the story of Christ's life, for the Arena Chapel. He depicts Christ on a cross, while the Virgin Mary is comforted by John. Kneeling at his feet is Mary Magdalene, and swirling in the sky above Jesus and the watching crowd's heads are a number of angels. Giotto depicts night and heaven through the use of a deep blue background in the fresco panel and use of stars in the otherwise blue ceiling. He was able to create depth and dimension through the use of incremental degrees of light and dark shades, the precursor to chiaroscuro. He also used light in a way to represent the divinity of people and angels from the Bible, as he did in other frescoes at Arena Chapel.

15th century

The Western tradition began properly in the 15th century, especially with depictions in illuminated manuscripts of the biblical night-time scenes of the Annunciation to the Shepherds in the Nativity story, and the Arrest of Christ and Agony in the Garden in the Passion of Christ.

Très Riches Heures, Christ in Gethsemane In the book of miniatures, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, the scene of Christ in Gethsemane is an apcolyptic one which foretells the death of Christ, through the presence of three comets in the evening sky.Scheckner, p. 238.

Uccello, Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano

Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano is one of a three painting series that captures the Battle of San Romano.The Battle of San Romano. National Gallery, London. Retrieved 28 August 2012. The passage of time, from dawn to evening, is illustrated in the three paintings with the initial use of pale, pastel shades and increasingly darker tones as the battle progresses.Duffy, 1998.

Geertgen, Nativity at Night Influenced by a vision of Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303–1373), Geertgen tot Sint Jans's Nativity at Night depicts the infant Jesus who "radiated such an ineffable light and splendour, that the sun was not comparable to it, nor did the candle that St. Joseph had put there, give any light at all, the divine light totally annihilating the material light of the candle."Schiller, including quotation. Strengthening the message about the baby Jesus being the light source, Geertgen depicts the child as the only source of illumination for the main scene inside the stable. Aglow are the faces of the angels, St Joseph and Virgin Mary. Although the shepherds' fire on the hill behind and the angel outside the window create a light source, it's dim in comparison to that provided by the infant child. The sharp contrast of the divine light against dark is a tool used to make the scene appear more profound for its viewers.Campbell, 1998.The Nativity at Night. The National Gallery, London. Retrieved 27 August 2012. London's National Gallery describes Geertgen's work as: "one of the most engaging and convincing early treatments of the Nativity as a night scene.

Annunciation to the Shepherds In the still of the night, the only source of light radiates in Annunciation to the Shepherds comes from an angel who has come to tell the shepherds of the birth of the infant Christ. The light is so brilliant that the Bethlehem shepherds must shield their eyes. Aside from the startling angel, the nocturnal painting is a pleasant, still pastoral scene with a group of angels in the distance.The Annunciation to the Shepherds. J. Paul Getty Museum. Retrieved 28 August 2012.

16th century

Dosso Dossi Dosso Dossi ( – 1542), was an Italian Renaissance painter who belonged to the Ferrara School of Painting.

Albrecht Altdorfer Albrecht Altdorfer ( – 12 February 1538) was a German painter, engraver and architect of the Renaissance of the so-called Danube School setting biblical and historical subjects against landscape backgrounds of expressive colours.

Giuseppe Cesari Giuseppe Cesari ( – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter and instructor to Caravaggio.

17th century

Adam Elsheimer Early Baroque artist Adam Elsheimer created night scenes that were highly original. His works departed slightly from other works of the Baroque period were dramatic and abundantly detailed.Claude V. Palisca, "Baroque". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001). Baroque paintings featured "exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism".Hunt, Martin, Rosenwein, and Smith (2010). The Making of the West (third ed.). Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's. pp. 469 Elsheimer's lighting effects in general were very subtle, and very different from those of Caravaggio. He often uses as many as five different sources of light, and graduates the light relatively gently, with the less well-lit parts of the composition often containing important parts of it.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque school of painting. Caravaggio's novelty was a radical naturalism that combined close physical observation with a dramatic, even theatrical, use of chiaroscuro. This came to be known as Tenebrism, the shift from light to dark with little intermediate value.Quoted in Gilles Lambert, "Caravaggio", p.8.

Georges de La Tour Georges de La Tour was a French Baroque painter who painted mostly religious chiaroscuro scenes lit by candlelight, which were more developed than his artistic predecessors, yet lacked dramatic effects of Caravaggio. He created some of the most arresting works in this genre, portraying a wide range of scenes by candlelight from card games to New Testament narratives.Blunt.

Aert van der Neer The Dutch Golden Age painter Aert van der Neer was a landscape painter, specializing in small night scenes lit only by moonlight and fires, and snowy winter landscapes, both often looking down a canal or river.

Anthony van Dyck Anthony van Dyck (22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist and leading court painter in England.

Rembrandt In northern Europe, Dutch Golden Age painting produced some nocturnes, though Rembrandt's (1606–1669) only real work in the genre is his Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1647, National Gallery of Ireland), which is set within a nocturnal landscape.Loughman, John (April 2006). Book Reviews: "Northern Nocturnes: Nightscapes in the Age of Rembrandt. Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews. Retrieved April 30, 2023. His large group portrait, The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (1642), is popularly known as The Night Watch, although it is not a night scene.

18th century

Joseph Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775 – 19 December 1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter,Lacayo, Richard, The Sunshine Boy, TIME Magazine, 11 October 2007. who is commonly known as "the painter of light".Turner, Joseph Mallord William National Gallery, London

Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 1714 – 3 December 1789) was a French painter whose landscapes, including those of moonlights were popular with English aristocrats. His The Port of Rochefort (1763, Musée national de la Marine) is particularly notable; in the piece Vernet is able to achieve, according to art historian Michael Levey, one of his most 'crystalline and atmospherically sensitive skies'.Levey.

Joseph Wright Joseph Wright of Derby (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797) was an English landscape and portrait painter who is notable for his use of Chiaroscuro effect, which emphasises the contrast of light and dark, and for his paintings of candle-lit subjects. Wright is seen at his best in his candlelit subjects. The Three Gentlemen observing the 'Gladiator' (1765). A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery shows an early mechanism for demonstrating the movement of the planets around the sun. An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768) shows people gathered round observing an early experiment into the nature of air and its ability to support life.

These factual paintings are considered to have metaphorical meaning too, the bursting into light of the phosphorus in front of a praying figure signifying the problematic transition from faith to scientific understanding and enlightenment, and the various expressions on the figures around the bird in the air pump indicating concern over the possible inhumanity of the coming age of science.

19th century

Théodore Géricault Théodore Géricault (26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was an influential French artist and one of the pioneers of the Romantic movement.

Atkinson Grimshaw