Moonlight
1886/1895
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 68.74 × 94.14 cm (27 1/16 × 37 1/16 in.) framed: 105.41 × 130.81 × 15.56 cm (41 1/2 × 51 1/2 × 6 1/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection)
Accession Number
2014.136.20
Art Historical Context
Ralph Albert Blakelock's *Moonlight* (1886/1895), an oil on canvas measuring 27 1/16 × 37 1/16 inches, captures the artist's signature mystical vision of nature under a nocturnal glow. Blakelock, a reclusive American painter influenced by the Hudson River School and Romanticism, specialized in luminous landscapes that evoke dreamlike serenity. This work, now part of the National Gallery Art's Corcoran (William A. Clark), exemplifies his fascination with twilight and moonlight, themes that defined his oeuvre during a period of personal introspection. Blakelock's technique shines in his masterf...
About the Artist
Ralph Albert Blakelock · 1847–1919
Ralph Albert Blakelock was born on October 15, 1847, in New York City to English-born physician Ralph B. Blakelock and Caroline Olinarg Blakelock. Intending to follow in his father's footsteps, he enrolled at the Free Academy of the City of New York (now City College) in 1864 to study medicine but dropped out after two or three terms, rejecting formal education. Entirely self-taught, Blakelock hon...