The Shadow (1909)

The Shadow, painted by Edmund Blair Leighton around 1909, shows the last quiet minute before a crusader sails. The ships wait below the battlements, his helmet is under his arm, and he stares away toward the sea. Beside him his lady raises her hand, not to his face, but to the wall: with a small blade she traces the outline of his shadow on the sunlit stone, saving the only part of him the light will let her keep.Leighton took the gesture from Pliny the Elder. In the oldest Greek story about art, a potter's daughter in Corinth traced her lover's shadow before he left for war, and that outline became the first painting ever made. Leighton retold the legend on a castle rampart, showed it at the Royal Academy in 1909, and painted it at least three times. Versions hang today in Cardiff City Hall and the Berman Museum in Alabama.Museum grade giclee on 380gsm cotton canvas, hand stretched over kiln dried pine, ready to hang. 100 day returns, free tracked shipping, lifetime color warranty.