RT Journal
A1 Cole TB
T1 LUte-player
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2009
FD September 16
VO 302
IS 11
SP 1148
OP 1148
DO 10.1001/jama.2009.1256
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2009.1256
AB 
Lute-Player (cover), which was painted by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) for his patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, is remarkable not only for its strong contrasts of light and shadow and the expressiveness of the lute player's face and hands, but also for the positioning of the lute, viewed end-on. To make the lute appear to be three-dimensional, Caravaggio has used the technique of foreshortening. Foreshortening alters the proportions of an object to make the part that is nearer the eye appear larger and the part that is further from the eye appear smaller. Shapes with complex curves, such as a lute, are particularly difficult to visualize and paint in such a way that they appear to have a realistic volume.