Shadows: The Depiction of Cast Shadows in Western Art

by E.H. Gombrich

Cast shadows have been exploited in art to enhance the impression of the surrounding light as well as that of the solidity of the casting objects. They can contribute to the mood of the scene, and can reveal the presence of features outside the space represented, but as Professor Gombrich points out, they appear only sporadicaly and have been more frequently ignored or suppressed in Western art.
Gombrich touches on the ambiguous nature of shadows in myth, legend, and philosophy, and briefly analyses the factors governing their the location and form of the light source, the shape of the illuminated object and that of the surface on which the shadow falls, and the position of the viewer.
Early Renaissance painters such as Masaccio and Campin, intent on a faithful rendering of visual reality, did incorporate shadows in their art, but artists of Leonardo's time largely avoided painting them, and it was not until early in the seventeenth century that painters - particualrly Caravaggio and Rembrandt - were again interested in the effects of shadows. In subsequent centuries artists of the Romantic, Impressionist and Surrealist movements exploited the device of the cast shadow to enhance the realism or drama of their images.

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction, History

64 pages, Hardcover

First published September 10, 1995

About the author

Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, OM, CBE (30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian, who spent most of his working life in the United Kingdom.

Reviews

[Sofia Fresia]

Breve saggio che si prefigge di rendere i fruitori di musei e pinacoteche più sensibili alla resa pittorica delle ombre. Il testo analizza i vari tipi di ombra e come la loro rappresentazione sia cambiata nel corso dei secoli col susseguirsi delle diverse correnti artistiche. Per fare questo si avvale delle foto di opere classiche che rendono la lettura molto stimolante perché si ha un immediato riscontro pratico. Per contro però, essendo il testo nato come compendio al catalogo di una mostra sulla ombre curata dall’autore alla National Gallery di Londra negli anni ‘90, è davvero troppo breve per valere il prezzo che costa - nonostante l’edizione molto curata.