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Lighting Professional Notes

The Lighting of ‘Outdoor’ Sculpture in Museums

Appreciation of any work of art is largely dependent upon the manner of its lighting. Watercolour paintings, for example, present special problems because the intensity of the light needs to be restricted for their preservation, but that lighting has to be so restricted that their appreciation is thereby limited. This is not often the case with sculpture. The sculptor (or for that matter the architect requiring sculpture or decora- tive carving) will have had in mind precisely where his work was intended to be placed and from what angles it will be seen, and, in particular, how it would be lit. I f a sculpture is intended to be placed in a specific position within a building the sculptor’s approach will be

influenced by those circumstances, but if it is to be seen out-of-doors in direct sunlight, he will again need to take this carefully into consideration. In the latter case there will be skiographic conse- quences because the shadows will both express the form and change from morn- ing to evening and according to the seasons. This will give ‘life’ and excite- ment as the light slowly changes and provide enhanced pleasure to the beholder.

All but a few museum interiors lack this quality, one which, I believe, can easily be contrived with the assistance of modern technology: Many sculptures in museums are beautifully lit, but they nevertheless lack the life-giving quality

General view of the Nereid Monument, British Museum, London, under conventional museum lighting (reproduced by courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum).

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of the moving sun from which the artefact originally benefitted. Artificial lighting could b e made to simulate the passage of the sun, either by mechanism means or more sophisticated electronic methods designed to achieve the same purpose. It could be programmed to coincide with the sun outside, or be speeded up to simulate the whole cycle in hours in even minutes. It could even be contrived to simulate the sun’s dif- ferent angle in winter or summer. This would give new visual excitement to a display and stimulate both artistic and scholarly appreciation-it would in no way be just a theatrical gimmick for which the unthinking might be tempted to dismiss the idea.

However, it does need to be emphas- ised that such a lighting experiment requires careful thought and selection of the sculpture to be so lit. For example, the shadows must not be so deep as to obliterate the detail in the adjacent penumbra, and sculptures which were never intended to be exposed to harsh direct sunlight are better lit in a manner

closer to that originally intended. An obvious example of the latter is the Parthenon frieze which should be lit by bounced light from below, whereas the pedimental sculptures lend themselves to the full brilliance of Apollo’s Chariot as it is driven across the sky. The Nereid Monument, from a known site in Lycia and now in the British Museum, would be an excellent recipient of this treatment. Gothic sculpture from known positions on the exteriors of buildings, for example, either originals or casts, would benefit greatly from similar treatment where appropriate, though it must always be remembered that in the Northern Hemi- sphere the northern elevations of build- ings see little sun and then obliquely at a low angle.

I have, by implication, suggested that two of the greatest national museums in the United Kingdom might undertake these experiments harnessing the very considerable talents of the many lighting engineers available.

PETER FOSTER

Picture Framing

The Exhibition of ‘The Art of the Picture Frame’

Subtitled Artists, Patrons and the Fram- ing of Portraits m Britain, the innovative exhibition The Art of the Picture Frame has been organised by Jacob Simon at the National Portrait Gallery, London, November 1966-February 1997, and constitutes something of a milestone in picture framing studies in the United Kingdom.‘It was originally planned as a

small-scale educational exhibition, but with changed institutional schedules, generous sponsorship from Paul Mitch- ell Limited, the London framemakers, and the assistance of a team of dedicated volunteers, most of the 2500 frames in the National Portrait Gallery collection, excluding those displayed at Bening- brough Hall and Bodelwyddan Castle,