Creative Lighting Essay

Creative Lighting Essay

  Chiaroscuro means the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting. In Italian Chiaro means clear and light and Scuro means dark and obscure so even the word Chiaroscuro contradicts with itself just like in the paintings which have a dramatic contrast between light and the dark, which is why this works well with the still life paintings such as “Basket of Fruit”.  Vanitas is a 17th-century Dutch genre of painting, containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of human inevitability. Another artist, Rembrandt, used still life to symbolise death by using objects such as dead flowers or skulls to represent death. These would be placed next to quite vibrant or lively objects that would signify life, this was significant as it would show how life gradually becomes death and this would be highlighted to the viewer.  

   Caravaggio also called Michelangelo Mersi, was born in Lombardy Italy. In 1592 at the age of 21 he moved to Rome which was Italy’s artistic centre and a magnet for young artists who were keen to study its classical building and famous works of art. The first few years were a struggle. He specialised in still life painting of fruits and flowers and then later went to paint half-length figures which he sold on the street. Though in 1595 an experimental artist named Francesco del Monte recognized him and took Caravaggio into his household. From 1595 onwards, Caravaggio's career was boosted when the influential Francesco del Monte welcomed him into his court. Caravaggio’s work was mainly focused of men and religious scenes. But also his paintings became darker during this time. In 1606, Caravaggio had to flee Rome with a price on his head after committing a murder. From 1606-10, he was constantly on the run, from Naples, to Malta, to Sicily, painting all the way. During this time of intense fear and personal trauma, Caravaggio's paintings reached the ultimate in darkness and despair. Focusing on religious subjects and portraits his works were more brutal, bloody and unsettling. This meant that his paintings became more detailed, by showing everything like how it would do in a photograph, this shows that Caravaggio’s paintings are realistic, even though they are quite dark. [pic 1]

This painting is called “David with the head of goliath” which was painted around 1610, this was when he started painting religious scenes and also that start of his more brutal and bloody paintings. In this painting you can see David in the center of the canvas holding a sword in his right hand while hold the head of Goliath in the other. The right arm, the arm that was used to kill Goliath, is in the shadows, this could signify the darkness consuming David after the kill or the darkness that was already there inside of him. Also, the blood that is dripping from Goliath’s severed head, is leading the viewer’s eyes towards the head as it looks unusual and interesting so the viewer would be curios to what it is. The Lighting in this image is very effective as David’s Chest and left arm is exposed where as his right arm is in the shadows and half of his face is as well, this could signify the battles between good and bad morally and internally.

 Rembrandt is a Dutch painter, born 15th July 1606, was considered one of the greatest visual artists. He spent the majority of his youth painting portraits which he was successful at. He is known for his use of lights and shadows in his paintings, which helped Chiaroscuro become more popular. In his still life paintings, Rembrandt often used a human skull to present the idea of how death is always present and is often the focal point of the paintings as the use of lighting is very effective. In this painting “Still Life with a skull and a writing Quill” the lighting is effective because it uses quite a harsh exposure on the skull, this also creates the shadows around the skull which frames the skull as the focal point of the picture. The light in this picture could symbolise life and everything in the living world, which would mean that death is looking on life through a window which could be where the scull is looking. As well Caravaggio, Rembrandt uses a lot of detail in his paintings which almost look as if they are a photograph, which shows the realism in his paintings.  [pic 2]

 Throughout the 19th century, photography was based on paintings and portraits which would be an eye level view point and seem quite boring until the early 20th century when photographers started to look at the world around them and look at different objects from viewpoints other than eye level which included birds eye view and worms eye view. These photographers changed how everyone looked at objects, such as in this image the photographer has taken a photo of the shadow of a bridge which looks strange and makes you think about what the image is and it makes it more interesting. Fernand Fonssagrives was a French fashion photographer during the 20th century who influenced the modernist photography movement. Fonssagrives used the human form to develop the shadows as the shadows in these images are straight lines but because of the models bodies it distorts the shadow and the lines. This was part of the modernist photography movement as this provided a new form of photography. At the time Fonssagrives took these images, many people would have been interested and curious about the images as it provides a different view of the human body and form. Some of these images seem as though there isn’t a human model so you would have to look closely at the images. [pic 3]