you can download my presentations at http://www.authorstream.com/MyUploaded-Presentations/All http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/guimera-4783327-cast-shadows-western-paintings/

2. an ancient legend mentioned by Pliny the Elder ,d. 79 AD.C., places its origin in Corinth
a young girl, the daughter of the potter Butades of Sicyon, is said to have drawn the outline of her beloved’s
shadow on a wall by the light of a candle …
this legend it emphasizes the importance of shadows in visual art

5. Cast Shadows
in Western paintings

7. Although the first shadows date from the 4th century BC, the cast shadow made its true appearance during
the Renaissance.
The result of placing a solid, opaque body between a source of light and a surface for projection,
the shadow became the subject of experimentation by artists like Masaccio, Crivelli, da Messina ...
The cast shadow never left the painting, becoming even at the dawn of the 20th century a subject in its own right,
symbolizing the unconscious, the dark side, inaccessible to the human soul.

8. Emidius balances a model of Ascoli,
Mary kneeling in a splendid Renaissance palace, about to be struck by a heavenly
bolt of light,
a young man gazing up at the sky have noticed the flash which carries the dove
of the Holy Ghost down from heaven …
objects and people cast shadows:
the peacock, the fluttering carpets, the candle and vase, even Emidius himself
Carlo Crivelli
The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius
Annonciation d'Ascoli, ou Annonciation avec Saint Emidius d'Ascoli
1486
National Gallery, London

13. Antonello da Messina’s magnificent Saint Jerome in his Study
from about 1475 shows how rapidly the depiction of shadows progressed.
The two birds at the foot of the trompe l’oeil framing doorway
are consistent with slightly diffuse light cast from behind
the left of the viewer, which also illuminates the saint at his desk.
Antonello da Messina
Saint Jerome in his Study
Saint Jérôme dans son étude
1475
The National Gallery, London

17. the saint is walking through a street in Jerusalem ...
In his shadow is a line of the sick:
closest to the viewer, and only now in the saint’s shadow,
a man is low down on the ground, crippled
(The figure at the back of that line, wearing a red hat, has been identified as Masolino.)
Masaccio
St. Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow
Saint Pierre guérit les malades avec son ombre
1425
Basilica di Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

20. the figures and objects are duplicated by their shadow on the wall and floor ...
ruined church, sky gold,
the unevenly lit corner of the stable
ox and ass peering out from stable
Balthasar is wearing a Turban,
oldest one Melchior kneeling presenting gold,
young king Casper (first time we’ve seen African-looking),
saint Joseph is way in the back of the church
...
the shadows of Madonna and child ...
Konrad Witz
Adoration of the Magi
Adoration des Mages
1444
Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève, Geneva

23. shadows of Mary and the Child's on the wall of the niche ...
the Virgin is shown seated with the Christ Child
in front of what could be the porch of a church or a Gothic chapel
Rogier van der Weyden
Virgin and Child Enthroned
La Sainte Vierge avec l'Enfant Jésus
1430-1432
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

26. Mary is reading a Bible, Jesus holds a white lily, symbolizing
her virginity and purity,
St. John the Baptist and St. Lawrence,
St. Onuphrius and St. Herculanus, the patrons of Perugia,
a sitting angel playing a lute
Death, the obligatory passage of Christ's Passion
and the inevitable destiny of humanity,
is invoked in the transparent vases containing cut flowers,
the one in the foreground casts a shadow ...
Luca Signorelli
Sant'Onofrio Altarpiece, Madonna and Child with Saints
Retable de Sant'Onofrio, Madonne avec enfant et saints
1484
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Perugia

28. a group of shadows ...
the figures mounting the curving stairs cast shadows
on the round wall behind them
the Old Testament story of Joseph:
Joseph introducing his father Jacob to the Pharaoh of Egypt;
Joseph on a chariot, hearing a petition from the victims of famine;
Joseph with his sons climbing the staircase to visit the dying Jacob;
and Jacob blessing Joseph’s sons
Pontormo
Joseph in Egypt
Joseph en Egypte
1518
National Gallery, London

32. a ruler and a woodcutting knife,
an auger, scissors, a divider, and a hammer
and
an astronomer from Munich into the service of Henry VIII, King of England,
in his right hand he holds dividers, with which he is working
on a ten-sided sundial
and
a subtlety of lighting
Hans Holbein the Younger, Hans Holbein le Jeune
Portrait of Nikolaus Kratzer
Portrait de Nicolas Kratzer, astronome du roi d'Angleterre Henri VIII
1528
Musée du Louvre, Paris

35. a odd and unusual Annunciation scene …
a small window with sealed glasses,
a shelf with a small still life,
a hatstand, a stool with an hourglass,
a prie-dieu,
Gabriel bearing a huge lily
Mary opens her hands in wonder
and
a scared cat which is fleeing, casting a shadow on the floor
Lorenzo Lotto
Annunciation
L'Annonciation
1528
Pinacoteca Civica, Recanati

38. the artist uses contrasts of light and shade to heighten the drama,
the moment at which seeing becomes recognizing
'... on the third day after the Crucifixion two of Jesus’s disciples
were walking to Emmaus when they met the resurrected Christ.
They failed to recognize him, but that evening at supper he ..
took bread, and blessed it, and brake and gave to them’
(Luke 24: 30–31)
a strong light from the left falls on Christ's face and it casts a shadow
on the blank wall behind Christ, almost like a reverse halo
The same light illuminates the astonishingly detailed and realistic
still life laid out on the white tablecloth
Caravaggio, Le Caravage
Supper at Emmaus
Le Souper à Emmaüs
1601
National Gallery, London

42. the shadow of death …
'Et in Arcadia ego' ...
Even in Arcadia I (i.e. Death) am to be found ...
even in the blissful utopia of Arcadia, death still exists
discovering their own mortality …
the mythical realm of Arcadia,
three shepherds and a monumental, statue-like woman
and
a tomb with the phrase Et in Arcadia Ego inscribed in the center
Nicolas Poussin
Les bergers d'Arcadie, Et in Arcadia ego
Et in Arcadia ego II
1638-1640
Musée du Louvre, Paris

45. story of a maiden from Corinth, who "invented" painting ...
Kora of Sicyon, daughter of the potter Butades of Sicyon, smitten with love
for a youth at Corinth,
drew upon the wall the outline of his shadow on a wall, when he was sleeping.
Her father filled in this silhouette with clay and fired it in his kiln.
It became the first relief sculpture.
Joseph Wright of Derby
The Corinthian Maid
La Jeune Corinthienne
1784
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

48. the shadow on the wall is here a symbol of death...
the posthumous portrait of the Duchess commissioned by her brother,
King Louis XVI, to pay tribute to his sister, who had died 29 years earlier
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard
Portrait de Louise Elisabeth de France, Duchesse de Parme
Portrait of Elisabeth of France, Duchess of Parma
1788
Château de Versailles, Versailles

51. a large expanse of snow,
houses hidden by a row of bare trees,
a frail magpie perched on a gate,
very unusual pale, luminous colours
the bluish shadows cast transcribe the ephemeral, the fugitive ...
Claude Monet
La Pie
The Magpie
1868-1869
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

54. The immobility of the figures and the shadows they cast makes
them forever silent and enigmatic ...
Seurat also entered the fray in one of the great artistic debates
of the late nineteenth century: what colour are shadows? ...
and he shows cast shadows with reduced lightness and
chromatic shift towards blue, resulting in a deeper, bluer green
Georges Seurat
Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
1884-1886
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

57. the shadow cast on the wall announces and depicts the death of Christ
on the cross ...
The young Jesus Christ is seen in his father’s carpentry workshop,
holding his arms up to savour the bright sunlight.
His cast shadow on wall behind shows him crucified on the cross.
Mary on her knees, as shown in so many paintings of the crucifixion.
William Holman Hunt
The Shadow of Death
L'ombre de la mort
1870-73
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester

60. three shadows cast by a brilliant light ...
the ground of Golgotha with the shadows of three crucified men:
Jesus and the two thieves;
a crowd of people moving away from the scene,
in the background is the city of Jerusalem under a cloudy sky
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Consummatum est, dit aussi Golgotha ou Jérusalem
Consummatum Est, or Golgotha or Jerusalem
1867
Musée d’Orsay, Paris

63. an unobstructed view where silence reigns,
only shadows that stretch disproportionately seem to be capable
of mobility in time suspended ...
not a single bird, not a single living presence
in this unreal landscape: Dream or nightmare scenery?
Giorgio de Chirico
The Red Tower
La tour rouge
1913
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Peggy Guggenheim Collection,
Venice

66. a shadow across a reclining nude woman ...
Picasso depicts himself in black silhouette,
mourning the departure of Françoise
Pablo Picasso
L’ombre
The Shadow
1953
Musée National Picasso, Paris

69. a deeply personal work ...
a graphic account of the final moments of the suicide of Bacon's lover,
George Dyer
…
in the central panel a giant shadow, in the opaque darkness,
death itself assumes the form of a giant bat, a demon, a revenging angel
Francis Bacon
Triptyque Mai-Juin 1973
Triptych May-June 1973
1973
Collection of Esther Grether

72. an eminently autobiographical painting ...
a distorted human face in profile looking downwards,
a female figure, resembling Dalí's then new muse, Gala,
a nude male figure,
a grasshopper, a swarm of ants,
an egg commonly used as a symbol of fertility,
and
three figures:
two of the characters, Dalí, Gala, cast a long single shadow,
the other character, the poet Paul Éluard, is seen hurriedly
walking into the distance on the peripheries of the canvas
(Paul Éluard and his wife Gala; the couple was invited to Figueras
where Gala was immediately conquered by Dali, ten years younger.)
Salvador Dalí
Visage du Grand Masturbateur
Face of the Great Masturbator
1929
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid

76. Dali’s cryptic painting is based on a picture executed by Millet ...
the famous surrealist transformed the idyllic landscape
into a scene of horror, filling it with macabre eroticism
Salvador Dalí
Les atavismes du crépuscule (Phénomène obsessif). D'après «L'angélus» de Millet
Atavisms of Twilight (Compulsive Idea). After Millet's «Angelus»
1933
Kunstmuseum, Berna

79. olga_oes
Cast Shadows in Western paintings
Ombres portées dans la peinture occidental
images and text credit www.
Music The Piano Guys A Thousand Years
created olga.e.
thanks for watching