By Ania
http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Shadow-Leighton.html
I have been a huge admirer of this man's work. Obviously his theme attracts me. I have a few of his great works in my place. I wanted to share this because it reflects a time when the Knights would go off to War and how their Maidens would save memories of them ~ Beautiful Painting ~
The Shadow
by
Edmund Blair Leighton
Edmund Blair Leighton
whose beloved is sailing off to war.
She is tracing his silhouette onto
the wall to have something with which
to remember him until he returns.
The poignancy of the moment captured in EB Leighton's painting, "The Shadow" is immediately apparent: a knight, in full chain mail, stands in profile before a castle wall, absolutely still and unhurried, while his beloved traces the shadow he casts with a piece of charcoal vine. The presence of a ship in the harbor, though distant, creates the sense of his impending departure - likely to battle - and gives significance to her drawing as possibly the only remembrance she may have of him for some time to come.
It was not uncommon for prolific painters such as Leighton to create two or more versions of the same painting or scene; often they would experiment with different lighting or perspective, or perhaps a client would see a work and commission a similar one. Because of this practice, two known original versions of "The Shadow" exist, with slight differences in the details: one hangs in the grand City Hall in Cardiff, Wales, UK, and the other in the Berman Museum in Anniston, Alabama, donated from the private art and artifacts collection of Farley and Germaine Berman. The
Sotheby's London auction catalogue, viewable here, documents the purchase of the painting in 1972 for the Berman's collection.
It is this version that we are pleased to present to you now.
article by Kathleen McGloin, Illusions Gallery, copyright 2008
