Venice: Saint Mark's Looking toward San Giorgio Maggiore, in Moonlight
1870
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1870
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see a moonlit square in Venice—empty except for a few faint figures and glowing gas lamps. The water shimmers, and the domes of San Giorgio Maggiore rise in the distance. This isn’t a real night scene. In the 1870s, cameras couldn’t capture such detail in the dark. Naya took the photo in daylight, then darkened the negative and painted in the highlights by hand. The result feels magical, even if it’s a trick. If you like how light plays in dark spaces, look up *chiaroscuro*.
