Add to ORKGIn Pliny’s story about the origin of representation, the shadow wasn’t charged with a negative aspect: the story of the maid of Corinth tracing her lover’s shadow on a wall and thereby giving birth to painting is a wonderful story, a love story, and not at all negative, unlike Plato’s story about the origin of knowledge. But despite the positive approach to the shadow in Pliny’s story, the myth was slowly forgotten in the the western mentality, shadows not only function to give a sense of space and volume but are also used as symbols-from Masaccio to Duchamp, and in the architectural theory and practice, and from the origin of painting to the deconstruction of art.