Cottage Beneath Prison Walls: An Oil Painting

An oil painting on canvas, thick impasto brushwork, depicting a quaint cottage with a thatched roof nestled inside a stark prison courtyard. Behind tall gray stone walls and rusted iron bars, the cottage glows with warm light from its windows. A small garden of lavender and thyme sits beside a cobbled path; the courtyard is rendered in cool grays and blues, contrasting with the cottage's amber and ochre tones. The scene blends pastoral idyll with confinement in a surreal tension. Lighting reminiscent of Rembrandt: dramatic chiaroscuro, deep shadows, and luminous highlights. Composition: three-quarter view of the cottage in the middle ground, bars framing the left foreground, receding prison yard in the distance; soft dawn or dusk sky above. Texture: rich oil texture and visible brushstrokes, with impasto on thatch and windows. Mood: quiet melancholy, hopeful resilience, and dreamlike juxtaposition of home within captivity.