“Autumn Evening”
It’s like walking into golden hour…
“Autumn Evening” is a glowing oil on canvas painting by the Victorian English artist, John Atkinson Grimshaw. It was painted in 1883, during the height of his career.
This atmospheric painting depicts a walled street in the city of Leeds, England. Trees flank both sides of the road. Most of the leaves have already dropped from their limbs, with some visible in the puddled street. A house with lighted windows stands grandly in the far back. On the sidewalk to the right, a woman stands alone with her back to the viewer. The street is illuminated with an evening amber glow from the setting sunlight. The color of the sky is reflected in the numerous puddles on the road.
Grimshaw’s patrons, particularly his middle-class customers, were fond of his twilight paintings, such as this one here. As such, they always sold, and he was quite successful. His work was lauded by other artists in addition to the public.
Grimshaw painted this setting several times from the early 1870s on. Sometimes, he would use a camera obscura to outline a scene onto a canvas. Using this tool, he could easily recreate compositions several times over. The camera obscura was used by such art masters as Johannes Vermeer and Caravaggio.
“Autumn Evening” is currently in a private collection. It last sold in 2016 for $134,500 through a Christie’s art auction.
For more on John Atkinson Grimshaw, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
