Neil MacGregor

"One of the central facts of human existence is that every known society shares a set of beliefs and assumptions--a faith, an ideology, a religion--that goes far beyond the life of the individual. These beliefs are an essential part of a shared identity. They have a unique power to define--and to divide--us and are a driving force in the politics of much of the world today. Throughout history they have most often been, in the widest sense, religious....

Cast shadows have been exploited in art to enhance the impression of the surrounding light as well as that of the solidity of the casting objects. They can contribute to the mood of the scene, and can reveal the presence of features outside the space represented, but as Professor Gombrich points out, they appear only sporadicaly and have been more frequently ignored or suppressed in Western art. Gombrich touches on the ambiguous nature of shadows...