The Story Behind the Print:
"The Shadow" by Edmund Blair Leighton

The Shadow is based upon the Greek myth of Debutades, a Corinthian girl who drew the portrait of her 
beloved on the wall of her bed-chamber by tracing the outline of his shadowcast by the lamp-light on 
the night before he departed for war. Leighton changed the setting for the drama to the battlements 
of a medieval castle, below which the young crusader's ships are waiting.

        We are pleased to present, through an unprecedented collaboration with Berman Museum of 
World History in Anniston, Alabama, the previously unpublished Edmund Blair Leighton work entitled 
"The Shadow."  This single most significant acquisition in lllusions Gallery's collection of fine art images 
is a milestone in two ways:  it marks the first time this image has ever been available to the public in 
any print form anywhere in the world, and it marks the first time an Old Master reproduction has 
been created by Illusions Gallery utilizing the original work of art and the source material (in this case, 
the state-of-the-art scanning of the painting) simultaneously, so that the first proofs of the prints 
could be compared directly to the original. In a whirlwind trip that took place in April of this year 
the painting was carefully packed in a special crate, heavily insured, and transported to be scanned,
proofed, and returned to the museum the same day. All involved were excited, elated, and exhausted.
 
The Berman Museum of World History was created via bequeathal of the private art and artifacts 
collection of Farley and Germaine Berman to their chosen hometown of Anniston; for complete
(and fascinating) information about the Bermans, their collection, and their legacy, please go to:
Berman Museum of World History

Edmund Blair Leighton  (1853-1922) 
Edmund Blair Leighton, ROI (Royal Institute of Oil Painters) was one of the more prominent 
members of the group of painters known as the Pre-Raphaelites active in Britain in the late 19th 
and early 20th centuries. Leighton displayed a promising talent at a young age and, despite the 
protests and concerns of his family, was certain he wished to live life as an artist - as had his 
famous father, the painter Charles Blair Leighton, who died when Edmund was only two.  He was 
apprenticed to be a tea merchant at fifteen but continued his drawing and painting lessons in 
the evenings; he then applied and was accepted to the prestigious Royal Academy Schools, 
(London) and after attending only eighteen months he submitted his first work to the 
Royal Academy Exhibition.  His early successes and an encouraging, if unexpected, first sale 
affirmed his choice of profession, and he devoted several months of each year to paintings for 
the R.A. Exhibitions throughout his career. Leighton emphasized absolute attention to smallest 
detail, for the correctness of each detail was of vital importance to the overall realism and feeling of 
the whole painting.  Importantly, his paintings are evocative of emotion and of a story in the 
mind of the viewer, while at the same time they stand on their own merits as works of art, 
beauty and technique.  He was rarely ever satisfied that a work was finished - a common trait he 
shared with his peers - and was known to scrape down and rework portions of canvases moments 
before they were to be delivered to an Exhibition or to a client.  
 
Leighton was - and is -  known for his romantic, noble subject matter in period pieces that often 
display couples in a significant moment in their lives:  the knighting ceremony of "The Accolade," 
the well-wishes and hopes for safe return in "Godspeed," the wedding ceremony in "Signing the 
Register," and the capture of remembrance in "The Shadow."  
 
Though his works were popular in his lifetime and several of his paintings are among the most 
recognizable in the world today, very little written material can be found concerning E. Blair Leighton 
himself.  One excellent and insightful article, with interviews, by his contemporary 
Rudolph de Cordova appeared in a British magazine in 1904-1905.
 
"The Shadow" (Circa 1909)
The poignancy of the moment captured in EB Leighton's painting, "The Shadow"  is immediately 
apparent:  a knight, in full chain mail, stands in profile before a castle wall, absolutely still and 
unhurried, while his beloved traces the shadow he casts with a piece of charcoal vine.  The presence 
of a ship in the harbor, though distant, creates the sense of his impending departure - likely to 
battle - and gives significance to her drawing as possibly the only remembrance she may have of 
him for some time to come.
 
It was not uncommon for prolific painters such as Leighton to create two or more versions of 
the same painting or scene; often they would experiment with different lighting or perspective, or 
perhaps a client would see a work and commission a similar one.  Because of this practice, two known 
original versions of "The Shadow" exist, with slight differences in the details: one hangs in the grand 
City Hall in Cardiff, Wales, UK, and the other in the Berman Museum in Anniston, Alabama, 
donated from the private art and artifacts collection of Farley and Germaine Berman. The 
Sotheby's London auction catalogue, viewable here, documents the purchase of 
the painting in 1972 for the Berman's collection.  
 
It is this version that we are pleased to present to you now.

article by Kathleen McGloin, Illusions Gallery, copyright 2008