Status Updates From Schatten. Ihre Darstellung ...

It is a sad truth, repeatedly brought home to us by Gombrich, that most of us can see only what we have already learnt is likely to be there. <...> To be observant, we need first to be given something to look for. (From foreword by Neil MacGregor)

There is no doubt that Leonardo here followed the tendency of his generation to react strongly against the hard-edged clarity of Quattrocento paintings.

We soon realise that some of the greatest observers of nature appear to have deliberately avoided the cast shadow.

What the art historian has trained himself to notice, in his turn, is the selectivity of the painter's 'eye', or rather the range of features artists of different media, schools and periods have chosen to construct their images of the visible world.

Painters see more in shadows and protrusions than we ever do. - Cicero