Liverpool Quay by Moonlight

Grimshaw painted the moonlit Victorian city better than anyone who ever lived — the damp glisten of the pavement, the moon behind a rack of cloud, the warm windows of the shops, the masts of ships crowding the end of the street. Here a Liverpool quay lies quiet under a full moon: a few late figures, a hoarding of playbills, the whole scene lacquered in silver and amber. He worked almost photographically, sometimes with a camera’s help, but the mood is pure poetry — the particular hush and glamour of a working port after dark. Nocturnes this atmospheric have never gone out of fashion, and never will.

Maker

John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836 to 1893)

Date

1887

Medium of the original

Painting

Original held by

Tate Britain, London

Credit

Tate Britain, London · via Wikimedia Commons

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-00649