Spirit of the Night Victorian Fairy Art Postcard

"Spirit of the Night" is a painting by John Atkinson Grimshaw created in 1879. He was a victorian-era artist known as a remarkable and imaginative painter who painted city scenes and landscapes. Grimshaw's primary influence was the Pre-Raphaelites. True to the Pre-Raphaelite style, he put forth landscapes of accurate color and lighting, and vivid detail. He often painted landscapes that typified seasons or a type of weather; city and suburban street scenes and moonlit views of the docks in London, Leeds, Liverpool, and Glasgow also figured largely in his art. By applying his skill in lighting effects, and unusually careful attention to detail, he was often capable of intricately describing a scene, while strongly conveying its mood. His "paintings of dampened gas-lit streets and misty waterfronts conveyed an eerie warmth as well as alienation in the urban scene."[**] **Philip J. Waller, Town, City, and Nation, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1983; p. 99.