Brightness in a Regency home

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Broadwayboy1994

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Hello! I'm writing a romance novel (one of many) in which a character is transported back to Regency-era England. He gets to the home of his love interest, an English lord living in the English countryside, and I was wondering how bright would a Regency-era home be at night? The main light source would be candles, right? And so even a large amount of them wouldn't completley brighten up a home like electric lights? Or would they be using gas powered lights at this point in history? I only ask because the big revelation for the character to realize that he's in 1814 England is that he recognizes the lord from a painting he had seen in his home time of 2019 and so would it be bright enough to recognize his face fully or would it be more squinting?

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angeliz2k

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It would be fairly dark, yes, because the sources of light would be daylight, candles, and oil lamps. Natural daylight, of course, is fickle. Candles don't offer much light, really, nowhere near as much as electric light. This lord would probably be wealthy enough to afford all the wax candles he wanted, but wax candles could be expensive for people of lesser means. Many resorted to cheaper tallow candles, or just the glow of a fire in the grate. That is something else to note: often, the fire in the grate was the only (low) source of light in a room. And keep in mind that candles are a fire hazard, so you wouldn't just have a bank of them burning at all times and they have to be carefully tended.

Essentially, a pre-electricity house would be very dim by modern standards. Your character might have difficulty making out the lord's features, especially keeping in mind that portraiture was not photography. There was a fair amount of idealization in portraits. Yes, portraits were meant to look like the sitter, but it's like a carefully-curated Instagram picture: you might not recognize the person when you meet them, depending on just how many filters the person used (or how many liberties the portraitist took). If I were transported back in time, I might not recognize George Washington or Thomas Jefferson from their portraits. I would have zero difficulty recognizing Abraham Lincoln because we have photographs of him. Even so, it's plausible enough to be getting on with that the time-traveller would recognize the lord.
 

WeaselFire

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Read any Jane Austen novel for reference. :)

It was a fairly prosperous time, so lots of light could be available to anyone in the class a Lord would be, candles or oil lamps. But if you're worried, set the painting in the alcove directly across from the large window that the morning sun pours through. Might aid your story if your character gets up early and strolls past it, stops and gets the revelation.

Remember, the author controls the world as needed for the story.

Jeff
 

stephenf

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Your too early for gas. Oil lamps were smoky and smelly , but brighter than candles , and did not go out so easily. But the rich had a preference for wax candles . Used in chandlers and wall lighting , with mirrors behind . It was about the same a 40 watt bulb . To read ,or somthing like that , you would need be right next to the light . The candles did not last that long , it was the job of a servant to replace the candles during the evening .
 
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Bolero

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You also need to check the time of year. My understanding of the period is that aristocratic society was not in the countryside all year round - there were seasons to be in London, alternatively you might go to a watering place like Bath or Cheltenham or other spa towns. Also bear in mind aristocratic and titles does not guarantee wealth - poor land management, buying the wrong shares, gambling, too many daughters and having to find dowries for them...... However having watched a documentary on Chippendale the furniture maker, just because someone was wealthy didn't guarantee they paid their bills - he had some bad debts he was chasing for years. So equally aristocrats could be living in luxury and have a lot of debtors.
Jane Austin was not top rank and top income - though she has observations on those who were. You will need to do a bit of economic research.
One other comment on when people were in the country - if they were really short on money they might retreat to their country estate because they couldn't afford to be in London, plus it was harder for the bailiffs to get at them.
There is as ever no one size fits all - but if your period character is doing something a little unusual for the period you need to know that and have some sort of comment on it.

In terms of lighting there are scenes in Jane Austen where a mother is calling across a candlelit room, asking what her daughters are up to - which anyone of the period would know was about lighting levels.
 
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BLAlley

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For street lighting in the more developed areas whale-oil lights began to be replaced by gas lights in the Regency era. In homes, that depended on the class. Candles were used most commonly and typically only where the people gathered. Again class determines the type of candles. Tallow for working class and below, beeswax if they are more affluent, but even then often only for special occasions. If they were even more affluent they might not always gather, so more of the house will be illuminated by individuals with their own candles.
If you want to describe the appearance accurately, obtain appropriate candles and see how they illuminate rooms most closely resembling rooms of the era.
 
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