> Would chiaroscuro, the blending from light to dark by Caravaggio (himself a
> shady character) be a kind of "switch". Or, rather, a way of presenting the
> idea of it visually? It was made possible by a technological innovation
> (oil painting).
I see this as a bringing data into line with the medium, insofar as
(Caravaggio's in particular) chiaroscuro creates a taught surface, shallow
- closer, then, to the physical flatness of the oil painting. Contrast
this with the transluscence, the limpid perspective of mannerist work in
general which preceded it, and the perspectival purity of early
Renaissance work (although frescos, here) preceding that. What you see as
the advent of a "switch" might be the burgeoning muscularity of a medium;
regarding switches, any representational surface, cubist, Art Brut,
whatever, has them. I agree that to our contemporary eyes the light/dark
changes take on a binary character; this however might be a kind of "data
compression" in the interest of drama, influenced in turn by
stage-space....
Regards,
Ryan