Painting, Science, and the Perception of Coloured Shadows

This multi-disciplinary book synthesises methodologies drawn from art history (close pictorial analysis), psychology and neuroscience (theories of colour constancy), history of science (the changing paradigms used to explain coloured shadows), and philosophy (theories of perception and aesthetic value from Wittgenstein and Merleau-Ponty).

Paul Smith is Professor of History of Art at the University of Warwick.

1. The Science 2. Light and Dark 3. Physics 4. Contrast 5. Constancy 6. The Criterion 7. Aesthetic Value 8. Conclusion