Images available to the press for promotion of Scenes of the Stone Age: The Cave Paintings of Lascaux
Scroll through to see some of the images available to the media for Scenes of the Stone Age: The Cave Paintings of Lascaux. Contact media@fieldmuseum.org for more.
One of the most recognizable images from Lascaux, the Hall of Bulls contains 36 images of bulls, horses and stag. One bull measures 17 feet long—the largest animal depicted in cave art.© LRMH
Another view of the Hall of Bulls shows the immense size of the Lascaux cave paintings. The painted animals are accompanied by unknown symbols, which are found throughout the cave complex.© CNP – DRAC – MCC
The image of the crossed bison gives us an indication of the artistic skill of the cave painters. The hind legs of the bison cross, giving the illusion that one is closer than the other. This technique highlights mankind’s early use of perspective.© Philippe Psaila
The black cow, found in Lascaux’s main gallery illustrates the way the cave was not simply painted once and left, but painted, and repainted over generations. Behind the black cow, you can see traces of other animals that were since painted over.© Philippe Psaila
Sixteen feet deep, the Shaft is located in the center of the Lascaux sanctuary. Its sunken position and its difficult accessibility indicate that the painters reached it through another entrance which has yet to be found.© Philippe Psaila
The caves featured in Scenes from the Stone Age: The Cave Paintings of Lascaux are exact replicas of the French caves. The first step in recreating the caves is to perform a full 3-D scan in order to create a topographical map of the caves.© Philippe Psaila
An artist works to recreate the cave walls. The “copyist” uses natural pigments similar to those used by the original artist to ensure accuracy and precision of the replication.© Philippe Psaila
When the caves were discovered in 1940, the best way to record accurate drawings of the paintings was to simply use tracing paper. Surely a daunting task, the paper needed to be held up to the walls (yet not touch!) as someone traced the lines that man had made over 17,000 years earlier.© Alain Roussot
This scan of one of those original traces shows the animals captured in one section. As with the black cow image, one can see where images were painted and then painted over.© Médiathèque de Patrimoine
In addition to the recreated caves, visitors to Scenes from the Stone Age: The Cave Paintings of Lascaux will come face-to-face with life-like sculptures our early ancestors who created Lascaux.© E. Daynès
Elizabeth Daynès, a French sculptor, uses facial reconstruction techniques to bring those who lived near Lascaux to life.© E. Daynès
Daynès’ works leave a haunting impression as you look into the eyes of our early ancestors.© S. Entressangle/E. Daynès
