Moonrise

Harpignies painted moonlit landscapes throughout his career, and Moonrise is one of the darkest. A full moon glows warm through bare branches at center, its light catching a still pond in the foreground. The rest of the composition is near-black — dense trees, a dark hillside, heavy foliage along the water's edge. The only warm tones are the moon itself and its reflection. Harpignies exhibited at the Salon for over fifty years and painted decorative panels for the Paris Opera. His work is in the Musée d'Orsay, the National Gallery in London, and the Art Institute of Chicago.