L'ombre en peinture : A Cross-cultural view from Renaissance Techniques to the Epistemomogy of Image

This research proposes an examination of shadow in the Renaissance painting, extracting shadow from art history and philosophy, employing it as a necessary lens through which to penetrate the artistic creation and psychological world of Renaissance artists, such as Raphael, Michelangelo, Piero della Francesca, etc. I analyze the shadow in painting through these artistic examples, to undertake the necessary interpretation in the individuality of the work and of the artist, and the theoretical potential of art history. For example, in his self-portrait, how does Raphael employ shadow to create a double portrait? The execution of individuality implies a confrontation with the shadow. When we attempt such translation between sensibility and intelligibility – when we strive to understand the shadow – what transformation occurs within the image/painting itself, and what happens to us? Supposedly, this could be a question that can be further pursued through philosophy, especially through the epistemology of image. Philosophy inquires the formation of knowledge, and art history likewise produces knowledge. When the course of knowledge encounters obstacles, what philosophical conclusions can be drawn - from the examination of the concepts and problématiques of shadow proposed by art history – about the artwork, the artist, history, space, time, and philosophy?

My study also engages a cross-cultural perspective. In Chinese thought, there is no particular distinction between the sensible and the intelligible; all things come into being through non-differentiation and without interval. By incorporating Chinese artistic and philosophical resources, I will explore the relationship between shadow and “One-Stroke” (l’Unique Trait de Pinceau) of Chinese painting method, as well as its connection to the origins of hieroglyphic thought.

The scope of my reading includes themes directly related to shadow - such as shadows in painting, shadows of image, and a history of shadow – but also literature that addresses the historical and philosophical dimensions of shadow: perception, metaphor, symbolism, poetics, religion, and philosophy. At last, it encompasses scattered fragments concerning shadows in Renaissance and Chinese art, for example, issues of portraiture, drawing, and the margins of the night. What I am trying to realize is to carefully give my critical categories a basis in forms of understanding that we could assume to have been current in the renaissance paintings inhabited by the artists, and render it both a technical tool for visual analysis and a foundational form for historical-philosophical argumentation. It is worth noting that, at times, the shadow displays such a tough stance that it recomposes the fragments and manifests a history of its totality.