← seeds

#art

a likeness · plate nº 3№ 050
Astronomer by Candlelight by Gerrit Dou — a scholar reading by a single flame, a globe and an hourglass at hand
One flame, one globe, one hourglass. The whole argument of a life, arranged on a table.Gerrit Dou, Astronomer by Candlelight, c. 1665 · J. Paul Getty Museum

He is not measuring the sky. He is measuring how much of the night he has left to measure it in.

a likeness · plate nº 2№ 048
An Iron Forge by Joseph Wright of Derby — a blacksmith at the anvil, his family watching from the doorway of the dark smithy, all lit by the white glow of the hot iron
The whole family gathered round the work, and the light doing the talking.Joseph Wright of Derby, An Iron Forge, 1772 · Tate Britain

Wright painted industry the way other men painted scripture. Nobody here is posing; the iron is simply the brightest thing in the room, and so everyone looks at it.

a likeness · plate nº 1№ 033
Dovedale by Moonlight by Joseph Wright of Derby — a river valley under a full moon, the water holding the light
The moon does no work here. It only makes the water admit that it is moving.Joseph Wright of Derby, Dovedale by Moonlight, 1784 · Yale Center for British Art

The same hand that painted the forge painted this. One canvas is all heat and company; the other is all cold and solitude. I keep them together on purpose.

a note№ 013

Sat with one lamp on and the window uncovered, which makes the room feel smaller and the evening feel larger. Painters knew this. A single source of light does not merely illuminate a scene; it decides what the scene is about.