The Aesthetic Value of Caravaggio’s Light and Shadow Technique from a Geometric Perspective

Abstract

Abstract Caravaggio was an influential Italian painter of the 17th century who made important contributions to the development of later European art, both in terms of light and shadow techniques and in terms of ideas. This study first explores the characteristics of Caravaggio’s paintings and briefly explains Caravaggio’s painting style, light and shadow processing techniques, and their significant influence. Secondly, based on the visual perception art understanding method and aesthetic law, the curvelet geometric transformation is utilized to interpret the characteristics of different styles of Caravaggio’s light and shadow techniques in terms of three geometric features: multi-scale amplitude, coefficient distribution curve, and image non-smoothness. Finally, the aesthetic value of Caravaggio’s light and shadow techniques is interpreted from the geometric point of view by using six works from different periods: Caravaggio’s The Doubt of St. Thomas, The Supper at Emmaus, The Basket of Fruits, The Diviner, Narcasus and Judith Cutting down Hierophant as the research materials. The results show that Caravaggio’s light and shadow technique in the early stage of his creative career is characterized by a high low-scale coefficient and a low high-scaled coefficient, which indicates that there are more thick lines and fewer details. The maximum smoothness value of the works is 0.4035 respectively. The light and shadow technique in the later stage of his creative career is characterized by a low scale coefficient and a high scale coefficient, which means that he uses more fine lines to depict the details and less thick lines, reflecting the fact that the light and shadow technique in the later stage of his creative career is characterized by a low scale coefficient and a high high scale coefficient. Caravaggio’s light and shadow technique is characterized by a low scale factor, a high scale factor, and the use of fine lines to depict details and fewer thick lines, reflecting the light and shadow characteristics of Caravaggio’s light and shadow technique, which is depicted by the use of brushes and mineral pigments, and highly demonstrating the aesthetic value of his realist painting.