Sclerotic scatter and focusing in eye painting: light through darkness

We aimed at searching in color art paintings through all art periods from Ancient Egyptian Art to Contemporary Art for sclerotic scatter (SS) and peripheral light focusing (PLF), using large-scale internet databases. These phenomena originate from the illuminated side of the eyeshell: limbal sclera for SS or cornea for PLF. They end at the darkness of the opposite limbal scleral side, where they are either scattered (SS) or concentrated (PLF) forming a clear arc or spot of light, respectively ("light through darkness"). We found SS and PLF in 83 and 2 paintings respectively out of 113,962 paintings analyzed. These forms of objective chiaroscuro help to reconstruct a basic sense of eyeball modelling by bringing the limbus out of the shadows. Among the paintings with SS, most were painted during the following periods: Renaissance (44), Baroque (15), Rococo (11). Sixty-one of the paintings with SS have a dark background compatible with the fact that SS is more easily observed under low ambient light illuminance ("light through darkness"). Acknowledgment of SS and PLF as subtle, rare characteristics of paintings should help see them in a new light, contribute to their proper treatment and restoration and is likely to enhance their economic value.

We aimed at searching in color art paintings through all art periods from Ancient Egyptian Art to Contemporary Art for sclerotic scatter (SS) and peripheral light focusing (PLF), using large-scale internet databases. These phenomena originate from the illuminated side of the eyeshell : limbal sclera for SS or cornea for PLF. They end at the darkness of the opposite limbal scleral side, where they are either scattered (SS) or concentrated (PLF) forming a clear arc or spot of light, respectively ("light through darkness"). We found SS and PLF in 83 and 2 paintings respectively out of 113,962 paintings analyzed. These forms of objective chiaroscuro help to reconstruct a basic sense of eyeball modelling by bringing the limbus out of the shadows. Among the paintings with SS, most were painted during the following periods : Renaissance (44), Baroque (15), Rococo (11). Sixty-one of the paintings with SS have a dark background compatible with the fact that SS is more easily observed under low ambient light illuminance ("light through darkness"). Acknowledgment of SS and PLF as subtle, rare characteristics of paintings should help see them in a new light, contribute to their proper treatment and restoration and is likely to enhance their economic value.

Sclerotic scatter peripheral light focusing art painting chiaroscuro Renaissance

Sclerotic scatter peripheral light focusing art painting chiaroscuro Renaissance