In America,
James Abbott McNeill Whistler titled works thus to distinguish those paintings with a "dreamy, pensive mood" by applying the musical term,[4] and likewise also titled (and retitled) works using other music expressions, such as a "symphony", "harmony", "study" or "arrangement", to emphasize the tonal qualities and the composition and to de-emphasize the narrative content.[5] The use of the term "nocturne" can be associated with the
Tonalist movement of the American of the late 19th century and early 20th century which is "characterized by soft, diffused light, muted tones and hazy outlined objects, all of which imbue the works with a strong sense of mood."[6] Along with winter scenes, nocturnes were a common Tonalist theme.[7]Frederic Remington used the term as well for his nocturne scenes of the
American Old West.[8][9]
Rembrandt
In northern Europe,
Dutch Golden Age painting produced some nocturnes, though
Rembrandt's (1606–1669) only real work in the genre is his Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1647, National Gallery of Ireland), which is set within a nocturnal landscape.[10] His large group portrait, The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (1642), is popularly known as The Night Watch, although it is not a night scene.[11]
"Nocturne" was a term that was normally applied to certain types of musical compositions before
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903),
inspired by the language of music, began using the word within the titles of many of his works,[14] such as Nocturne in Blue and Silver (1871), in the collection of the
Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom.[15]
^Anderson, Ronald and Anne Koval. (2002). James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth. Da Capo Press. p. 186.
ISBN0-786-71032-2. (Note: need to verify this was the edition used.)
^Marter, Joan. (2011). The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, Volume 1 Oxford University Press. p. 54.
ISBN0195335791.
^Conrads, Margaret C. (1990). American Paintings and Sculpture at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Contributor: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Hudson Hills. p. 148.
ISBN1555950507.
Holden, Donald. Whistler: Landscapes and Seascapes. Lakewood, New Jersey: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1984.
Anderson, Nancy with Alexander Nemerov and William Sharpe. Frederic Remington: The Color of Night. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2003.
Sharpe, William C. New York Nocturne: The City After Dark In Literature, Painting, and Photography, 1850-1950. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008.
Simpson, Marc and others. Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly. Williamstown, Massachusetts: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2008 (printed by Yale University Press).