Public Lecture

Next 16th of March, 2026, Pepe Ballesteros will give a public lecture entitled Unnatural Naturalism: A Computational Study of Caravaggio’s Light at the Prado Museum.

The lecture, open to all, is organized by the Center of Studies of the Prado Museum, and funded by the Professor Martin Wanke Programme of the Goethe Institute in Madrid.

Summary

This thesis investigates how Caravaggio designed light in his studio. Computational algorithms allow us to extract lighting characteristics that escape human perception. Based on these results, old and recent hypotheses about his studio practice are tested, in dialogue with the optical knowledge of the time and with technical literature on architecture and scenography. Through the algorithmic interpretation of Caravaggio, the project seeks to redefine naturalism as a gray area in the spectrum between reality and artifice.