Moonlit Landscape 1900 - 1910

Henri-Joseph Harpignies made this charcoal drawing called ‘Moonlit Landscape’ sometime in the late nineteenth century. It depicts a tranquil rural scene under the glow of the moon. This intimate portrayal of nature can be connected to broader social and cultural shifts in France. The mid-1800s saw the rise of Realism in French art, and artists turned to depicting everyday life and the natural world. At the same time, rapid industrialization and urbanization led to a growing sense of nostalgia for the countryside. Harpignies’s drawing is a product of these conditions, as it idealizes nature as a refuge from modern life. The image creates meaning through visual codes associated with rural life, cultural references to the Barbizon school of landscape painting, and historical associations with the French countryside. To fully understand this artwork, historians might turn to studies of French art institutions, the history of landscape painting, and social histories of the French countryside. We can better appreciate this artwork as a reflection of its social and institutional context.