The Four Times of Day: Evening

The Four Times of Day: Evening by Lancret, painted around 1740, completes the daily cycle with a scene of twilight entertainment, social gathering, or repose appropriate to the day's final social hours. The evening, associated with supper parties, card games, musical evenings, and the intimate sociability of aristocratic life, provided a setting in which the artificial light of candles and torches created atmospheric effects quite different from the daylight of Lancret's garden subjects. As part of a commissioned series, this Evening was designed to coordinate with Morning, Afternoon, and Night, together covering the full daily cycle of aristocratic activity and creating a coherent decorative ensemble for a specific interior.

The fading light creates subtle warm tones that distinguish the evening scene from the brighter daytime compositions. Lancret's atmospheric handling of the transitional light gives the scene a poetic quality appropriate to the hour.