Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, 1740–1812, French, active in Britain (from 1771)
Title:
A Philosopher in a Moonlit Churchyard
Date:
1790
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
34 x 27 inches (86.4 x 68.6 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1974.3.4
Gallery Label:
This remarkable romantic painting may illustrate part of a poem by Edward Young, The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death & Immortality (1742–45). It represents a young man standing beside an open grave among the ruins of Tintern Abbey, with its north transept identifiable in the background. He pauses to meditate on death and resurrection—the latter emphasized by a painting of the risen Christ that survives in an arched recess on the left. A sundial above the sculpture casts a moonlight shadow, showing that the time depicted is one o’clock in the morning.\n\n Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016