John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893)

Still recognisable today, this view depicts Bonchurch Village Road, next to Bonchurch Pond, on the Isle of Wight. Light comes from various sources: appearing through a break in the cloud, the moon stands directly above the gossips of the title. They approach the glow of the gas lamp, while in the distance light also shines from an uncurtained window. The moonlight is reflected not only in the water to the left, but also in the muddy puddles in the foreground. Bare trees promote a dramatic interplay of shadows from these different light sources, while the colouring is distinctively Grimshaw's own.

Grimshaw may have been drawn to the Isle of Wight, as his hero, the poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, lived at Freshwater. He tried to resonate the mood evoked in Tennyson's poetry in his moonlit scenes, and such was his admiration for the poet that he named each of his children after characters in Idylls of the King.