In the "Shadows Past" series Pieter Schoolwerth superimposes the figures of paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries, in this case “Aeneas and Anchises” by Lionello Spada which currently sits in the Louvre. The layering of multiple figures into one is an attempt to create a model of the contemporary body, fragmented by digitalisation. Schoolwerth also adds layers of figures from the current century; photographs of his friends in order to implicate the contemporary viewer. This results in a temporal compression that is composed of different bodies from two different points in time and space, subsequently depicted as one figure through the juxtaposition of digital print and painting.

Another important element of this series is that Schoolwerth has projected a light over his friends' bodies to cast a shadow over the border of the paintings. He then takes a picture, and a photograph of the painting is printed on canvas which creates this white border with casted shadows. It is a photographic print of where the painting hits the wall. The painting becomes this once removed version of itself — a photograph of an artwork that was once there. In this series, we also see Schoolwerth employ what he calls “reverse cubism”. The artist further explains, “Picasso or Braque painted a single person from several points of view, whereas I paint several people from a single point of view.”