Nightpiece

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A picture painted or drawn to show a scene at night, often lit by candles or the moon ; a short musical or literary work evoking the mood of night
2. An artwork depicting darkness and nocturnal scenery ; a composition, often for piano, that conjures the atmosphere of the night
3. A painting portraying a scene after dark ; a nocturne-like work of music or writing set in the hours of night

Etymology: "Nightpiece" is a compound of "night" and "piece," and the second element is the more revealing one. In English, "piece" has long been used for a work of art, a painting or a composition, so a "nightpiece" is simply a picture whose subject is night: a scene lit by moonlight, candles or firelight against darkness. The compound follows a common pattern in the vocabulary of painting, where a work was named for its subject matter, as with "landscape" and "seascape." Its meaning stays literal and transparent, so there is no hidden story behind it beyond the plain combination of the two English words.

Synonyms: nocturne