ARTWORKS

A Village by a River in Moonlight

Aert van der Neer (1603–1677)

The National Gallery, London

A Village by a River in Moonlight

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Nowadays, many of us have little experience of clear moonlight -- it's often washed out by street lights or car headlamps. But in the seventeenth century the many moods and lighting effects of the night sky and the different phases and heights of the moon would have been a familiar part of everyday life. It was only in 1670, about 25 years after this picture was painted, that Amsterdam became the first city in Europe to install a system of street lighting, invented by the painter Jan van der Heyden.Van der Neer, who lived in Amsterdam, specialised in capturing landscapes in moonlight and at dawn and dusk, and this is a typical example of his work. It probably doesn't depict a 'real' place, but one composed by the artist so that he could highlight the reflections of light on the mirror-still water, and the carefully arranged silhouettes of the church, the windmill and the boats lying off the quayside.

The National Gallery, London

London

Read more on The National Gallery, London
Title

A Village by a River in Moonlight

Date

about 1645

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 19.7 x W 28.3 cm

Accession number

NG2536

Acquisition method

Salting Bequest, 1910

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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Artist or maker

Aert van der Neer

1603–1677

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