The Origin of Painting: A Problem in the Iconography of Romantic Classicism

* This article is an amplified version of a paper read at the College Art Association Meeting in Detroit, January 1957., I wish to acknowledge the stimulus of Professor Emeritus Walter Friedlaender, who long ago noticed the Corinthian maid and realized her potentialities. In addition, I should like to express my gratitude to the Spears Fund of the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, for assistance with photographic expenses.

Abstract

IN both Occidental and Oriental cultures, one of the oldest and most pervasive legends of the origin of painting involves the observation of a shadow and the tracing of its outline.¹ Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, mentions just such a legend, claiming that while authorities are not in exact accord about the beginnings of the art of painting, they all at least agree that it began with the outlining of a man's shadow;² and Quintilian, too, tells us how painting in its most primitive phase was restricted to tracing a line round a shadow thrown in the sunlight.³ Thanks to the study of such classical writers, this legend was persistently referred to throughout the Renaissance. Thus, Alberti's Delia pittura cites Quintilian's remarks;⁴ Leonardo's Trattato alludes to the same legendary origin;⁵ and Vasari's Proemio delle Vite refers to Pliny's account of the outlined shadow.⁶