“Patterns of Baroque Shadow” represents the culmination of my digital efforts, in that all the major areas of my image research were used in its creation: curvilinear three-dimensional images (see the Sight Program), Chromatized Patterns, Fibonacci Spirals, Clines, and Cosine-Proportional Transitions.

The conceit of the project is that all the elements used in the composition are in some sense Baroque: the paintings on the walls, the trompe l’oeil design of the ceiling, the carpet, and the tiled patterns. I had to fudge the carpet, because the central motif was borrowed from a Persian carpet, rather than a European Baroque one, but the rest of the patterns are Baroque.

This is the final result:

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The first step in the project required testing different views of the three-dimensional architectural skeleton of the room. After a suitable viewpoint was chosen, I tested the placement of a small image at various locations on the floor, walls, and ceiling, to make sure that the paintings and the patterns could be embedded where required without distortion or defects:

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Next came a series of “studies”. If this had been a traditional oil on canvas image, the studies would consist of sketches or perhaps smaller, less polished versions of the final painting. For the digital image, however, the studies consisted of pages of mathematical diagrams and notes.

The most difficult and complex calculations were those required to place the shadows of the pillars on the floor and ceiling. Below are two samples of the mathematical studies used to write the VB code for the shadows.

Study #3 shows the calculations for the exact structure of the windows. The thickness of the walls and the distance of the windowsills from the floor control the shape and distribution of the shadowed areas:

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Study #4 provides a plan for the layout of the shadows thrown by the pillars. The spread of the light from a single window creates an umbra (the darker central area of shadow) and a penumbra (the outer, lighter parts of the shadow that grade into the fully lit floor surface):

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This is a more formal digital diagram of the umbra and penumbra:

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The image below is a test of the algorithm for the formation of a set of shadows thrown by the three pillars lit by a single window. The assumption is that the outside light is diffuse, resulting in an even illumination through the window opening. The width of the windows and the thickness of the walls control the gradient from light to shadow:

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The above test only models the light/shadow distribution from one window, but there are four windows altogether. The two on the right wall are not visible, but are assumed to be exactly the same as the two on the left wall. The shadows thrown by the pillars on the floor (and the ceiling) are therefore a result of the combination of the four individual shadows.

In addition to the shadows of the pillars, the end walls themselves throw their own (much deeper) shadows on the floor and ceiling adjacent to the windows.

A standard inverse square law is used to control the reduction in the level of illumination as the light radiates from the windows towards the rest of the room:

Combining the algorithms for all these processes produces the following schematic for the gradients of illumination on various parts of the floor. The final version includes the faint illumination thrown by the ceiling lights:

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A similar and somewhat simpler process is used to model the light patterns on the opposite and adjacent walls. An additional layer of complexity is provided by the numerous lights embedded in the ceiling next to the wall, each of which adds a cone of faint illumination to the wall below it. Those cones overlap, creating the scalloped effect you see near the top of the wall.

This is the schematic for the illumination of the wall:

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With the templates for the shadows complete, the next step is to gather the components to be placed within the three-dimensional framework.

The carpet is composed of three identical squares:

The central element is derived from a Persian carpet, with red, tan, and umber tones shifted to various shades of green. The two outer floral borders are adapted from Baroque tapestries, once again with the colors shifted.

The three identical square components of the ceiling design consist of a Fibonacci spiral contrived to have a faux-3D appearance, surrounded by a border constructed using a Baroque tile pattern:

Of the eight paintings visible on the near and opposite walls, seven are from the Baroque period, with five of those by the French artist Claude Lorrain. The eighth painting is one of my own, “Autumn Wildflowers Near Centenary #7”. A detail from the same painting is visible through the two windows at the far end.

The painting below is a detail from “Landscape With Aeneas At Delos” by Claude Lorrain. It is visible as the second component from the right on the opposite wall:

Landscape With Aeneas At Delos

Now the components can be added in layers to the three-dimensional framework. First the outside landscape, then the left and right end walls, with the two windows in the left wall open to show a little bit of the landscape.

After that the three components of the carpet can be laid in place:

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Part of the conceit of the room is that the left windows open on the west side of the building, while the (non-visible) right windows open on the east. The time is morning, and although it is not sunny, there is a slight golden radiance to the east, hinting at the hidden sun. Hence the light on the carpet is slightly brighter and more golden on the right side. The illumination on the left side is more muted, since it comes from a duller section of the sky.

After the ceiling and the wall panels are laid in, the lights have to be embedded in the tile strips on the ceiling.

Each of the lights is made using the halo model you see to the right. The color variations in the halo represent chromatic aberration, both in the lens covering each light fixture and the aberration of the lens in the eye of the viewer. The chromatic halo subliminally enhances the perception of the lights as bright pinpoints in against a darker background.

Finally, the pillars have to be added. These are simple cylindrical structures, with patterns created using the “swirl” tile below:

The shadows of the pillars have already been laid on the carpet and ceiling components, so that the pillars themselves are simply placed on top of them.

Once again, the final result:

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Just for fun, here’s a bare version of the same room, stripped of all decorations and patterning:

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And for even more fun, this is a merge of the two versions of the room, both bare and Baroque:

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