Is there a
tradition for portraying light in triangles?
Artists only employ principles if
they function well in their artworks. I mention this as no matter how
interesting a principle is in theory, the principle is only useful if it works
in practice. In the following discussion I will address two ways that early artists
have portrayed light in triangles for very practical purposes.
The first of these approaches is
the well-worn phrase, “Rembrandt’s triangle of light,” popularised by advice
given to budding portrait photographers. This approach to using light in a
triangle involves physically lighting a sitter so that a triangle of light is
created below the eye on the shadow side of the face. Purportedly, the term evolved
from a comment that Cecil B. DeMille made to Sam Goldwyn concerning Rembrandt’s
lighting of his subjects, but the idea has recently taken on a life of its own. The
evolution of this triangle has now been codified with exact proportions: the
triangle should not be longer than the length of the sitter’s nose and it
should be no wider than the length of an eye. Moreover, the positions of where
the photographer’s key and fill lights should be arranged have also been
formulised (for a summary see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_lighting).
There can be little point in
arguing whether this special angle of lighting creating the triangle of light on
a sitter’s face really functions. One only has to look at Rembrandt’s paintings,
drawings and prints featuring this lighting pattern to see the psychological dimension
that the triangle adds. Of course, Rembrandt was not enslaved to the formulaic “triangle
of light” promulgated with his name. Take for instance the subtle tonalities of
his etching of Jan Cornelius Sylvius, Preacher (shown below). Here a
smaller than usual triangle of light illuminates the shadow side of the
preacher’s face (see details further below) but the size of the triangle is all
that is needed to reveal his right eye attentively engaged with looking at the
viewer.
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Rembrandt Harmensz.
van Rijn
(1606–1669)
Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher [Janus silvius], 1633
Etching (with
burin), 16.6 x 141 cm
Signed and
dated at lower-middle left (in cross hatching): “Rembrandt f 1633”
Printed
from the original plate and published in 1816 by J. McCreery for the 200 Etchings folio
Bartsch
266
Condition:
The print is cut on the plate mark (as published by McCreedy). It is in very good
condition and is not pasted down. The back of the print features a section of a
botanical engraving from the 1784 edition of Stirpes Novae (see image below).
The trimming of prints and the printing on the verso pages from Stirpes Novae for the 200 Etchings folio is discussed by Lino Mannocci (1988) in The Etching of claude Lorrain (p. 28) and by H. Diane Russell (1982) in Claude Lorrain 1600–1692 (p. 300). I am selling this print for $670 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested or click the “Buy Now” button. |
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Verso of Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher |
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| Detail of Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher Red lines delineate "Rembrandt's Triangle of Light" |
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Detail of Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher
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Compare, for example, how the whole
notion of attentive engagement changes if the triangle is increased to the
proportions approximating those advised for photographers (as shown below and I
apologise in advance for the audacity to digitally alter Rembrandt’s image.)
The ability for a viewer to read the contours of the face may have improved with
the increase in size of the “triangle of light” but the effect is "studied."
The preacher now appears frozen in time, caught in an endless moment, rather than
at the specific instant of looking up from his reading to the viewer. Of course, no matter how much rationalising of an image is proposed, ultimately, the reader alone must decide which of the two images is the more expressive.
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(left) Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher [Janus
Silvius], 1633
(right)
the same print but with a digitally enlarged “triangle of light” on the
preacher’s right cheek
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Although the practice of creating
an inverted triangle of light under the shadow eye serves a clear function in
projecting a sitter’s psychological mindset, Rembrandt does not always apply
this visual device. For example, there is no triangle of light in his etchings:
Rembrandt in Soft Hat and embroidered
Cloak (Bartsch 50.7-IV [X]) or in Rembrandt
in Cap and Scarf, Face in Shadow (Bartsch 50.17-III [II]). In short
Rembrandt employs this triangle of light when it suits his purpose and as such
the device is merely a useful principle rather than an obligation. This is also
true for other artists as well.
In Charles-Émile Jacque’s Self Portrait (shown below) for example,
a strong directional light spotlights the artist’s face, but an inverted
triangle of light is not visible on his shadow side. The reason or perhaps the
multi-layers of reasons for his choice to portray himself in this way can only be
conjecture. What is clear, however, is that Jacque wished his portrait to be
seen as theatrically dramatic. Going further, he sought to align his use of
lighting with the convention of chiaroscuro lighting handed down from the
Baroque period.
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Charles-Émile Jacque (1813–94)
Self Portrait [Portrait De L’Auteur], 1846
Etching on
medium weight white wove paper
11.1 x 9.2
cm (plate); 28.5 x 20.8 cm (sheet)
Signed in
the plate centre bottom
Guiffrey
139
Condition:
Very strong impression in excellent condition with the identifying foul-bitten
area at top-right. The etching is presented like a chine colle print but is
actually supported on window-cut cream wove paper. There is an early pencil
inscription listing the print details at the bottom edge of the support sheet.
I am
selling this print for $85 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in
the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you
are interested or click the “Buy Now” button.
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Regarding the second approach to
using triangles of light, I now wish to leap from a triangle of light on the
shadow side of a subject to a triangle of intense light positioned in the most
central area of light falling on a subject. The use of this device may be
termed “Bercham’s triangle of light” because, not only is the visual device to
be found in Bercham’s artworks, but the position of the triangle is also the
complement of “Rembrandt’s triangle of light.”
An example of Bercham’s triangle
may be seen in his etching, Three Hunting
Dogs, addressed in the earlier post focused on the Inverse-Square Law. In
that discussion the standing dog in the print was described to be “rendered
with the strongest contrast.” If I may elaborate on this previous discussion
even more, I wish to draw attention to the triangular shape of light falling on
the dog’s torso (see diagram below) and suggest that this shape gives pictorial
expression to the light’s intensity.
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Nicholaes Berchem, Three Hunting Dogs, c.1650
Red lines delineate "Berchem's
Triangle of Light"
(This print has been sold)
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Cornelis Visscher’s etching of
Berchem’s Mother with a Child on a Donkey (shown below) involves
a more complicated arrangement of this principle. Here, a triangulated visual dialogue is created. First, there is
a link between a triangle of light on the torso of a distant urinating horse
and two abutting triangles forming a diamond shape of light on the back of a
shepherd. There is another and much more intimate link between the diamond
shape on the back of the shepherd and another diamond shape formed by two
abutting triangles of light illuminating the shepherd’s wife cradling her child
on the back of a donkey against which he rests (see diagram further below). This
three-way relationship gives scope for the viewer’s eye to engage in scanning
across the image from one triangle to the next and to negotiate meanings from
reflecting on these connections (i.e. the connection between the shepherd and
the animals under his care and the connection between the shepherd and his
family driven by the shepherd's dog raised on its hindquarters and seeking his
attention).
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(Etcher) Cornelis Visscher (1619–62)
(Image designer) Nicholaes Berchem (1620–83)
Mother with a Child on a Donkey, c. 1657-8
Etching, 26.9 x 20.9 cm (sheet)
Condition: A very fine impression
of the last quarter of the 17th century, in fine condition. Small
margins all around; printed on laid paper; central horizontal crease; scattered
very minor spotting; remains of an old mount in the corner of the reverse; very
light surface soiling.
This print has been sold
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Detail of Visscher
after Berchem, Mother with a Child on a Donkey, c. 1657-8 |
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Visscher
after Berchem, Mother with a Child on a Donkey, c. 1657-8 Red lines delineate "Berchem's Triangles of Light" |
