John A Grimshaw (1836-1893)
John Atkinson Grimshaw was an English Victorian-era artist known for his breathtaking city night-scenes and landscapes. He is considered one of the most renowned painters of the Victorian era, as well as one of the best and most accomplished nightscape, and townscape, artists of all time.
Grimshaw’s accuracy and drive for realism was criticised by some contemporaries, with one critic claiming that his paintings showed no marks of handling or brushwork meaning that not a few artists were doubtful whether they could be accepted as paintings at all’.
However, other contemporaries recognised his mastery of lighting and technique, and James McNeill Whistler, whom Grimshaw would go on to work with in his Chelsea studios, stated, “I considered myself the inventor of nocturnes until I saw Grimmy’s moonlit pictures.
Grimshaw’s primary influence was the Pre-Raphaelites. True to the Pre-Raphaelite style, he created landscapes of accurate colour and lighting, vivid detail and realism, often typifying seasons or a type of weather.
Moonlit views of city and suburban streets and of the docks in London, Hull, Liverpool and Glasgow also figured largely in his art. His careful painting and his skill in lighting effects meant that he captured both the appearance and the mood of a scene in minute detail. His “paintings of dampened gas-lit streets and misty waterfronts conveyed an eerie warmth as well as alienation in the urban scene.”
