John Atkinson Grimshaw

Sale: Christie's, London, 29 July 1977, lot 90 as A Street Scene in Scarborough
Sale: Phillips, London, 30 November 1999, lot 32 as Autumn Scene, Leeds

Painted in 1874, A Moonlit Street is one in a series of autumnal works painted by Grimshaw in the 1870s and 1880s. The influence of the Pre-Raphaelites is evident in the masterful depiction of shadow and light and the wet leaf-strewn golden road marked by the carts and carriages of the day. Like many of his paintings from this series, the scene is populated by one, solitary figure, a housemaid dressed in her cap and apron returning home. Knostrop Hall is seen in the background beyond the lane walls, with its recognizable gate posts, twin gables and projecting entrance. Knostrop was rented by Grimshaw from 1870 and was two miles from the centre of Leeds. The artist’s daughter Elaine recalled the ‘Great hall with mullioned deep-silled windows, furnished with rich old cabinets and chests, armour and old Flemish ware, and, beyond the gleaming carved black balusters of a wide oaken stairway’.