Genre
Dramatic Light
Directional light comes from somewhere, and announces it. A strong raking beam carves form into highlight and deep shadow, picks out the principal figure, and tells the eye where to look first. It is the lighting of theatre, and the Baroque turned it into the engine of pictorial drama.
Key artists
Works
Washerwomen
The Artist's Studio
A Dance in the Country
The Swing
The Rope Dance
The Meeting
The Terrace at Vernonnet
The Cathedrals of Broadway
Calling the Cows Home
The Marquise de Pezay, and the Marquise de Rougé with Her Sons Alexis and Adrien
Untitled
The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus
Untitled
Mount Vesuvius at Midnight
View of the Town of Alkmaar
Untitled
A Hunting Scene
Untitled
Teasing a Sleeping Girl
Menna and Family Hunting in the Marshes, Tomb of Menna
Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler
The Northern Whale Fishery: The "Swan" and "Isabella"
Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome
Madame Marsollier and Her Daughter
The Chariot of Aurora
Young Woman Knitting
Peasants Smoking in an Inn
After the Hunt
A Kitchen
The Choir of the Capuchin Church in Rome
A Mosque
Pes-Ke-Le-Cha-Co
The Hoppner Children
Coriolanus Taking Leave of his Family
View of the Brenta, near Dolo
Halt of Caravans at the Wells of Saba (Beersheba) in the Desert South of Hebron
Vaprio d'Adda
The Golden Age
Hunting Dogs with Dead Hare
The Three Ages of Man
The Banks of the Seine at Conflans
The Interrupted Sleep
The Sack of Jerusalem by the Romans
Uvedale Tomkyns Price (1685–1764) and Members of His Family
Untitled
The Defense of Champigny
The Hunt Breakfast
Capriccio with St. Paul's and Old London Bridge
A Huntsman and a Peasant Woman by the Isar River with a View of Munich
Piazza San Marco
The Natchez
The Call
View of the Gulf of Pozzuoli from Solfatara
Arabs Crossing a Ford
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives
Masquerade Ball at the Ritz Hotel, Paris
An Egyptian in a Doorway
A Masked Ball in Bohemia
Roman Girl at a Fountain
The Missionary's Adventures
Scene in the Jewish Quarter of Constantine
The Dispatch-Bearer
The Billiard Room
北宋/金 傳黃宗道 舊傳李贊華 獵鹿圖 卷|Stag Hunt
Ancient Rome
Sketch for "Reception of Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie by the Kabyle Leaders at Algiers on September 18, 1860"
The Departure of the Gondola
Drawing the Eel
A Woodland Road with Travelers
Street Scene in Paris (Coin de rue à Paris)
Copy after "Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment (1614–1673), and Their Son Frans (1633–1678)"
Hunting from a Chariot, Tomb of Userhat
In the Sun
The Serbian Concubine (Un Envoi de Serbie)
The Return of the Cattle
The Grand Canal above the Rialto
Shepherd's Idyll
Rebecca and the Wounded Ivanhoe
The Dispatch of the Messenger
Artillery
Alexander the Great Rescued from the River Cydnus
Egyptians Raising Water from the Nile
A Spanish Garden
Entrance to the Grotto of Posillipo
Copy after Rubens's "Wolf and Fox Hunt"
The Glorification of the Barbaro Family
Crowd at the Seashore
Rouen Cathedral, West Façade
Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, Sunlight
Beggars by a Door
Lions and Tigers in Peony and Bamboo
The Arab Falconer
White Mules on a Bridge
A Cavalryman
Docks on Sunday
Night Scene on the Volga
The Children's Meal
Hamlet and His Mother
Wedding Procession
First Steps
Angelica and Medoro
An Eruption of Vesuvius
The Ballet from "Robert le Diable"
Harem Scene
Figures on the Beach
Waterfall at Mont-Dore
Street Scene, Place Clichy
The Fable of the Miller, His Son, and the Donkey
Harbor Scene
The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil
Picnic by the Inlet
Snow, Winter in Vitebsk
Odalisque
Soldier Playing the Theorbo
竹取物語|The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
The Portico of a Country Mansion
A Mosque
The French Comedians
Le Pont Neuf
Interior of a Kitchen
The Proposal
Untitled
The African Sentinel
The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog)
Charity
Camille Monet on a Garden Bench
The Outer Harbor of Brest
Venice: The Rialto
Andromache and Astyanax
Landing the Shore End of the Atlantic Cable
Gathering Olives at Tivoli
At Lake Garda
Forging the Shaft
Neptune and the Winds
Mishap at the Ford
Interior of the Pantheon, Rome
The Corinthian Maid
Football Players
The Entrance to the Tautira River, Tahiti. Fisherman Spearing a Fish
The Return of Rip Van Winkle
En jagt af kongelige personer
Low Tide at Pourville, near Dieppe, 1882
Ravana addresses Sita in the garden of Lanka, from Chapters 53 and 54 of the Aranya Kanda (Book of the Forest) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)
Monju Riding Lion with Attendants
The Race Track (Death on a Pale Horse)
Krishna Steals the Clothes of the Milkmaids and Expounds on the Virtue of Trees, from a Braj Bhagavata Purana
The Monastery of San Pedro (Our Lady of the Snows)
Cremation of the Demoness Putana, from a Krishna-Lila
The Bistro
Blessing of a Yacht on the Belon River
Kali and Devi Attack: Leaf from a Devi Mahatmya
Three Tahitian Women
The Hermit
Spring (Fruit Trees in Bloom)
The Quartette (Un quatuor)
Tyrolese Interior
Nocturne
The Japanese Robe
The Island of San Michele, Venice
The Green Car
Arabs on the March
Roundel
The Burning of Sodom
Examining Antique Arms
In the Studio
A Bashi-Bazouk
Ariadne
Snake Charmer at Tangier, Africa
Design for the Washington Centennial Celebration, Souvenir
The Bodmer Oak, Fontainebleau Forest
Wandering Minstrels
Girdle of Ares
The Fable of the Miller, His Son, and the Donkey
A Cairo Bazaar
View of Pantheon
A Pond in Picardy
Untitled
Cottage Children (The Wood Gatherers)
猿を襲う鷲図|Eagle Attacking a Monkey
Ship in New York Harbor
Paris Night
The Bay of Naples
Roundel with Killing of the Ox (December)
The Cascade
Road in the Woods
Geometry
A Circus Boy
The Gardener
Scenes from the Life of King Nebuchadnezzar
The Forest in Winter at Sunset
The Laundress
A House with Flowering Trees along the Amalfi Coast of Italy
Brother Philippe's Geese
Awaiting the Reply
Rue Eugène Moussoir at Moret: Winter
Seated Arab Man with Horse
View of Dinant
The Landing of Columbus
Marina Piccola, Capri
The Trial of Joan of Arc (Joan of Arc series: VI)
Frequently asked questions
What is Dramatic Light?
Dramatic Light is a quality of light in painting. Directional light comes from somewhere, and announces it.
How many Dramatic Light works does Artifact World Gallery have?
Artifact World Gallery holds 17,503 public-domain Dramatic Light works, all free to view and download.
Who are the key Dramatic Light artists?
Key Dramatic Light artists in the collection include Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Edgar Degas.