Chapter 6 | WORKS OF ART
VIRTUOSO
Virtuoso is the way how the famous Dutch artist Rembrandt used hatching to create shadow and light in this lively little self-portrait (21 x 24 cm). For example, along the chin and lower jaw, the lines intersect, hence the name crosshatching. And for the entire portrait, the more lines overlap, the darker it becomes. Notice how the mouth is rendered only with shadow, without outlines, and how the nose is left completely open on the light side. The shoulders are not fleshed out. This “open” drawing style, in which something virtuoso seems to be drawn with a certain nonchalance , is typical of a master’s hand like Rembrandt’s. An Italian word for this kind of mastery (also in areas other than art) has existed for centuries: sprezzatura.
A DONKEY AS A DOCTOR
The Spanish artist Goya often used parallel hatching: the lines do not cross each other and follow the curves of the shapes. Here too, the more lines on top of each other, the darker the shadow. The title of this drawing from 1799 is “Of what evil will he die?” The man in bed will probably die from the doctor’s ignorance because he is depicted as a donkey. The drawing is about social problems that are incurable as long as the authorities govern badly (in Goya’s time the church and the nobility) The bystanders behind the curtain are only visible as silhouettes/shadows (see chapter 2).
CLAIR OBSCUR
Shadow can greatly enhance drama, as in Rembrandt’s The Supper at Emmaus, circa 1629. Most of the painting is composed of shadow! A man sitting at the table eating looks up in astonishment at the sight of Jesus risen from the dead. To make the figure of Jesus appear even more mysterious, he is depicted as a silhouette/shadow shape, cast by a bright light shining behind him. The golden light also acts as a halo, emphasizing his otherworldly holiness. At the back of the room, another shadow shape is busy washing dishes, further emphasizing the contrast between the mundane and the miraculous. This kind of theatrical depiction, in which the painter works with spotlights in the darkness, is called chiaroscuro/clair-obscur.
THE CAVE OF PLATO
The final masterpiece of this lesson is a print by Jan Saenredam about a famous allegory by the Greek philosopher Plato. Imagine yourself living in a cave, separated from the real world by a high wall behind you. All you see are shadows of the real world on a wall in front of you. These shadows then become the real world for you. This can be compared to a situation in which, without the right information (or only with fake news), you can get a limited or false view of the world. In the print, the figures in the shadow world are in the lower right, while the real world is on the left. That light source to the left of the wall, a brazier, creates the shadows of figures high up on the wall on the far right.
ELABORATIONS
QUESTION FROM CHAPTER 2:
The right answer is C
The light source comes from the right. With A, B and D the drop shadow on the ground is on the light side and that is not correct. With D, also the shadow on the inside of the tube is on the wrong side.
STILL LIFE FROM CHAPTER 3:
NIGHT-TIME SCENE FROM CHAPTER 5:
