Editing Shadow play (section)

===Europe===
[[File:Greek Shadow Puppetry.jpg|thumb|An example of shadow puppetry in Greece]]
In [[Plato]]'s [[allegory of the cave]] (circa 380 BCE), [[Socrates]] described a kind of shadow play with figures made out of stone, wood, or other materials, presented to prisoners who in all of their life could see nothing more than the shadows on the wall in front of them. This was an imaginative illustration of ideas about (false or limited) the relations between knowledge, education and a truthful understanding of reality. Plato compared a wall that screens off the people who carry the figures to the kind of partitions used by puppet ([[marionette]]) players to hide behind.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plato, Republic, book 7, page 514 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plat.+Rep.+7.514&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0167 |access-date=2022-03-14 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Apparently, there was no existing form of shadow theatre known in [[ancient Greece]] that Socrates/Plato could refer to.

[[File:Théatre d'Ombres in Le Chat Noir.jpg|thumb|Stagehands moving zinc figures behind the screen of the Théatre d'Ombres in [[Le Chat Noir]]]]Shadow plays started spreading throughout Europe at the end of the 17th century, probably via Italy. It is known that several Italian showmen performed in Germany, France and England during this period.<ref name=light&movement1/>

In 1675 German polymath and philosopher [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]] imagined a kind of world exhibition that would show all kinds of new inventions and spectacles. In a handwritten document he supposed it should include shadow theatre.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/379115|title=Leibniz and the Lantern|first=Deac|last=Rossell|year=2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Dr%C3%B4le_de_Pens%C3%A9e,_touchant_une_nouvelle_sorte_de_repr%C3%A9sentations|year=1675|title=Drôle de Pensée, touchant une nouvelle sorte de représentations|author1=Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz |access-date=26 January 2017}}</ref>

French missionaries brought the shadow show from China to [[France]] in 1767 and put on performances in [[Paris]] and [[Marseille]], causing quite a stir.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} In time, the ''ombres chinoises'' ([[French language|French]] for "Chinese shadows") with local modification and embellishment, became the ''ombres françaises'' and struck root in the country.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} The popularity of ''ombres chinoises'' reflected the [[chinoiserie]] fashion of the days.<ref name=light&movement1/>

French showman [[François Dominique Séraphin]] first presented his shadow spectacle in a [[hôtel particulier]] in [[Versailles (city)|Versailles]] in 1771. He would go on to perform at the [[Palace of Versailles]] in front of royalty. In 1784 Séraphin moved to Paris, performing his shows at his permanent theatre in the newly opened [[Palais-Royal]] from 8 September 1784. The performances would adapt to the political changes and survived the [[French Revolution]]. Séraphin developed the use of [[clockwork]] mechanisms to automate the show. His nephew took over the show after Séraphin's death in 1800 and it was continued by his heirs until the theatre closed in 1870.<ref name=light&movement1/><ref name="Altick">{{cite book|title=The Shows of London|first=Richard Daniel|last=Altick|date=January 1978|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674807310}}</ref><ref name="Pupazzi">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/lespupazzinoirso00lemeuoft/lespupazzinoirso00lemeuoft_djvu.txt|title=Full text of "Les pupazzi noirs"|date=1896 |publisher=Paris C. Mendel |access-date=13 August 2012}}</ref><ref name="Stafford">{{cite book|title=Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen|first1=Barbara|last1=Stafford|first2=Frances|last2=Terpak|publisher=Getty Research Institute, U.S|date=1 February 2002|isbn=978-0892365906|page=77}}</ref>

In 1775, Ambrogio (also known as Ambroise and Ambrose) staged ambitious shows in Paris and London.<ref name=light&movement1/>

[[File:Ombra francese seconda.jpg|thumb|right|alt=French shadow puppets|Part of the collection of the [[Museum_of_Precinema|Museo del Precinema]], Padua, Italy]]
The art was a popular entertainment in Paris during the 19th century, especially in the famous Paris nightclub district of [[Montmartre]].<ref>Thomas, Richard; Cate, Philip Dennis; Chapin, Mary Weaver; Coman, Florence E. (2005). [https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/toulouse-lautrec-and-montmartre.pdf ''Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre'']. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, Princeton University Press. pp. 37-41. {{ISBN|0691123373}}. {{OCLC|56632116}}.</ref> The cabaret [[Le Chat noir]] ("The Black Cat") produced 45<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the-musee-dorsay/exhibitions-in-the-musee-dorsay/article/le-cabaret-du-chat-noir-1881-1897-6768.html?cHash=2525e3a5cd|title=Musée d'Orsay: Le Cabaret du Chat Noir (1881-1897)}}</ref> ''Théatre d'ombres'' shows between 1885 and 1896 under the management of [[Rodolphe Salis]]. Behind a screen on the second floor of the establishment, the artist [[Henri Rivière (painter)|Henri Rivière]] worked with up to 20 assistants in a large, [[oxy-hydrogen]] back-lit performance area and used a double optical [[Magic lantern|lantern]] to project backgrounds. Figures were originally cardboard cut-outs, but were replaced with zinc figures since 1887. Various artists took part in the creation, including [[Steinlen]], [[Adolphe Willette]] and [[Albert Robida]]. [[Caran d'Ache]] designed circa 50 cut-outs for the very popular 1888 show ''L'Epopée''. [[Musée d'Orsay]] has circa 40 original zinc figures in its collection. Other cabarets would produce their own versions; the ''ombres'' evolved into numerous theatrical productions and had a major influence on [[phantasmagoria]].<ref name="light&movement1" /><ref>''The Spirit of Montmartre: Cabarets, Humour and the Avant-Garde, 1875-1905''. edited by Phillip Dennis Cate and Mary Shaw (1996) <!--Publisher?-->, excerpted on line as [https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20040302130000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/13071/20040303-0000/www.acmi.net.au/AIC/RIVIERE.html Henri Riviere: Le Chat noir and 'Shadow Theatre']{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, [[Australian Centre for the Moving Image]]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/decorative-arts/commentaire_id/infantry-mounting-an-assault-17678.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=846&tx_commentaire_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=843&cHash=922d5c2b6f |title=Musée d'Orsay - Works in focus: Infantry mounting an assault}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.montmartre-secret.com/article-montmartre-le-cabaret-du-chat-noir-2-rue-victor-masse-salis-69278723.html|title=montmartre-secret.com - Montmartre: Le cabaret du Chat Noir (2) rue Victor Massé|date=19 March 2011 }}</ref>

In Italy, the [[Museum of Precinema]] collezione Minici Zotti in [[Padua]] houses a collection of 70 French shadow puppets, similar to those used in the cabaret Le Chat Noir, together with an original theatre and painted backdrops, as well as two magic lanterns for projecting scenes. So far, the shadow plays identified are ''La Marche a l'étoile'' (introduced by Henri Rivière), ''Le Sphinx'' (introduced by Amédée Vignola), ''L'Âge d'or'' and ''Le Carneval de Venise''. The shadow puppets were presumably created for a tour in France or abroad at the end of the 19th century.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

Nowadays, several theatre companies in France are developing the practice of shadow puppets: Le Théâtre des Ombres,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theatredesombres.free.fr/|title=Theatre des Ombres : une compagnie spécialisée dans le théâtre d'ombreset les ombres chinoises, la réalisation de spectacles d'ombres, lesreprésentations de spectacles d'ombre chinoise, atelier et spectacle de théâtre d'ombre, stage de theatre d'ombres, shadow puppets, shadows show, shadowtheater}}</ref> Le Théâtre du Petit Miroir, Le Théâtre Les Chaises, and La Loupiote.