Should chiaroscuro paintings show much in the way of colour, given that in the dark only the rods in our retinas function, giving us monochrome vision?
van Honthorst
What’s the difference between a lute and a mandolin? Was Napoleon responsible for the early loss of popularity of mandolins?
If composers and performers can evoke visual images in music, why can’t painters return the complement? Lavinia Fontana, Vermeer, Menzel, Corot and others try.
A whirlwind trip through the history of compositional chiaroscuro, from the Renaissance, through Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi, to Rembrandt.
He drew up the tables of law for Athens, met and argued with Croesus, a fabulously rich king of Lydia, and did away with draconian punishments.
The world looks very different now, compared with the past. This explores differences in lighting, from candlepower to the excesses seen in modern cities, and their effects on painting.
The Eclectic Light Company 