Der Schlagschatten im Trecento am Beispiel von Taddeo Gaddis Verkündigung an die Hirten

Abstract

Although the technique was familiar to ancient painters, medieval artists used to refuse to depict cast shadows. It was not until the first quarter of the 14th century that artists like Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi or Pietro Lorenzetti made their first attempts to re-integrate this light-effect. One of these examples is the Annunciation to the Shepherds, located in the Florentine church of Santa Croce, in which a bright angel illuminates the scene but does not produce a shadow except for one cast by a canteen strap in the middle ground. After discussing the iconography with regard to the missing reference between canteen and shadow, possible stimuli and sources will be analyzed. These can be found in works of art of the same period, like Pietro Lorenzetti’s Last Supper and the Life of Saint Francis in San Francesco at Assisi, as well as in natural philosophy treatises, like Roger Bacon’s Opus majus, in which the author focuses on a more naturalistic style. However, all of these sources cannot account for the selective depiction of 14th-century cast shadows. Therefore, in a final step, the ambiguity of ›shadow‹ as a term will be discussed considering biblical and medieval-theological works, such as those of Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita.