Chiaroscuro (other)
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Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and
art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
s for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures. Similar effects in cinema, and black and white and low-key photography, are also called chiaroscuro. Further specialized uses of the term include chiaroscuro woodcut for coloured woodcuts printed with different blocks, each using a different coloured ink; and chiaroscuro drawing for drawings on coloured paper in a dark medium with white highlighting. Chiaroscuro originated in the Renaissance period but is most notably associated with Baroque art. Chiaroscuro is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance (alongside
cangiante According to the theory of the art historian Marcia B. Hall, which has gained considerable acceptance, ''cangiante'' is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance; i.e. one of the four modes of painting colours available to Italian Hig ...
,
sfumato Sfumato (, ) is a painting technique for softening the transition between colours, mimicking an area beyond what the human eye is focusing on, or the out-of-focus plane. It is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance. Leonardo da V ...
and
unione According to the theory of the art historian Marcia B. Hall, which has gained considerable acceptance, ''unione'' () is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance; that is, one of four modes of painting colours available to Italian H ...
) (see also Renaissance art). Artists known for using the technique include Leonardo da Vinci,
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
,
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
, Vermeer, Goya, and Georges de La Tour.


History


Origin in the chiaroscuro drawing

The term ''chiaroscuro'' originated during the Renaissance as drawing on coloured paper, where the artist worked from the paper's base tone toward light using white gouache, and toward dark using ink,
bodycolour Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...
or watercolour. These in turn drew on traditions in
illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
s going back to late Roman Imperial manuscripts on purple-dyed vellum. Such works are called "chiaroscuro drawings", but may only be described in modern museum terminology by such formulae as "pen on prepared paper, heightened with white bodycolour". Chiaroscuro woodcuts began as imitations of this technique. When discussing Italian art, the term sometimes is used to mean painted images in monochrome or two colours, more generally known in English by the French equivalent, grisaille. The term broadened in meaning early on to cover all strong contrasts in illumination between light and dark areas in art, which is now the primary meaning.


Chiaroscuro modelling

The more technical use of the term chiaroscuro is the effect of light modelling in painting,
drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...
, or
printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...
, where three-dimensional volume is suggested by the value gradation of colour and the analytical division of light and shadow shapes—often called " shading". The invention of these effects in the West, "''skiagraphia''" or "shadow-painting" to the Ancient Greeks, traditionally was ascribed to the famous Athenian painter of the fifth century BC, Apollodoros. Although few Ancient Greek paintings survive, their understanding of the effect of light modelling still may be seen in the late-fourth-century BC mosaics of Pella, Macedonia, in particular the '' Stag Hunt Mosaic'', in the House of the Abduction of Helen, inscribed ''gnosis epoesen'', or 'knowledge did it'. The technique also survived in rather crude standardized form in Byzantine art and was refined again in the Middle Ages to become standard by the early fifteenth-century in painting and
manuscript illumination An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
in Italy and Flanders, and then spread to all Western art. According to the theory of the art historian Marcia B. Hall, which has gained considerable acceptance, chiaroscuro is one of four modes of painting colours available to Italian High Renaissance painters, along with ''
cangiante According to the theory of the art historian Marcia B. Hall, which has gained considerable acceptance, ''cangiante'' is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance; i.e. one of the four modes of painting colours available to Italian Hig ...
'',
sfumato Sfumato (, ) is a painting technique for softening the transition between colours, mimicking an area beyond what the human eye is focusing on, or the out-of-focus plane. It is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance. Leonardo da V ...
and ''
unione According to the theory of the art historian Marcia B. Hall, which has gained considerable acceptance, ''unione'' () is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance; that is, one of four modes of painting colours available to Italian H ...
''. The Raphael painting illustrated, with light coming from the left, demonstrates both delicate modelling chiaroscuro to give volume to the body of the model, and strong chiaroscuro in the more common sense, in the contrast between the well-lit model and the very dark background of foliage. To further complicate matters, however, the compositional chiaroscuro of the contrast between model and background probably would not be described using this term, as the two elements are almost completely separated. The term is mostly used to describe compositions where at least some principal elements of the main composition show the transition between light and dark, as in the Baglioni and Geertgen tot Sint Jans paintings illustrated above and below. Chiaroscuro modelling is now taken for granted, but it has had some opponents; namely: the English
portrait miniaturist A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century el ...
Nicholas Hilliard cautioned in his treatise on painting against all but the minimal use we see in his works, reflecting the views of his patron Queen Elizabeth I of England: "seeing that best to show oneself needeth no shadow of place but rather the open light... Her Majesty... chose her place to sit for that purpose in the open alley of a goodly garden, where no tree was near, nor any shadow at all..." In drawings and prints, modelling chiaroscuro often is achieved by the use of hatching, or shading by parallel lines. Washes,
stipple Stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists. Art In printmaking, stipple engraving is ...
or dotting effects, and "
surface tone In printmaking, surface tone, or surface-tone, is produced by deliberately or accidentally not wiping all the ink off the surface of the printing plate, so that parts of the image have a light tone from the film of ink left. Tone in printmaking me ...
" in printmaking are other techniques.


Chiaroscuro woodcuts

Chiaroscuro woodcuts are
old master print An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition. The term remains current in the art trade, and there is no easy alternative in English to distinguish the works of "fine art" produced in printmakin ...
s in woodcut using two or more blocks printed in different colours; they do not necessarily feature strong contrasts of light and dark. They were first produced to achieve similar effects to chiaroscuro drawings. After some early experiments in book-printing, the true chiaroscuro woodcut conceived for two blocks was probably first invented by
Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder (german: Lucas Cranach der Ältere ;  – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is know ...
in Germany in 1508 or 1509, though he backdated some of his first prints and added tone blocks to some prints first produced for monochrome printing, swiftly followed by Hans Burgkmair the Elder. The
formschneider Woodcut is a relief printing Relief printing is a family of printing methods where a printing block, plate or matrix, which has had ink applied to its non-recessed surface, is brought into contact with paper. The non-recessed surface will ...
or block-cutter who worked in the press of
Johannes Schott Johannes Schott (19 June 1477 – 1550) was a book printer from Strasbourg. He printed a large number of books, including tracts from Martin Luther and other Reformers. He was a well-educated man, who had relationships with some of the leadin ...
in
Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
is claimed to be the first one to achieve chiaroscuro woodcuts with three blocks. Despite Vasari's claim for Italian precedence in Ugo da Carpi, it is clear that his, the first Italian examples, date to around 1516 But other sources suggest, the first chiaroscuro woodcut to be the ''Triumph of Julius Caesar'', which was created by Andrea Mantegna, an Italian painter, between 1470 and 1500. Another view states that: "Lucas Cranach backdated two of his works in an attempt to grab the glory" and that the technique was invented "in all probability" by Burgkmair "who was commissioned by the emperor Maximilian to find a cheap and effective way of getting the imperial image widely disseminated as he needed to drum up money and support for a crusade". Other
printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...
s who have used this technique include
Hans Wechtlin Johann, Johannes or Hans Wechtlin was a German Renaissance artist, active between at least 1502 and 1526, whose woodcuts are his only certainly surviving work. He was the most prolific producer of German chiaroscuro woodcuts, printed in two or mo ...
, Hans Baldung Grien, and Parmigianino. In Germany, the technique achieved its greatest popularity around 1520, but it was used in Italy throughout the sixteenth century. Later artists such as Goltzius sometimes made use of it. In most German two-block prints, the keyblock (or "line block") was printed in black and the tone block or blocks had flat areas of colour. In Italy, chiaroscuro woodcuts were produced without keyblocks to achieve a very different effect.


Compositional chiaroscuro to Caravaggio

Manuscript illumination was, as in many areas, especially experimental in attempting ambitious lighting effects since the results were not for public display. The development of compositional chiaroscuro received a considerable impetus in northern Europe from the vision of the Nativity of Jesus of Saint Bridget of Sweden, a very popular mystic. She described the infant Jesus as emitting light; depictions increasingly reduced other light sources in the scene to emphasize this effect, and the Nativity remained very commonly treated with chiaroscuro through to the Baroque. Hugo van der Goes and his followers painted many scenes lit only by candle or the divine light from the infant Christ. As with some later painters, in their hands the effect was of stillness and calm rather than the drama with which it would be used during the Baroque. Strong chiaroscuro became a popular effect during the sixteenth century in
Mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...
and
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
art. Divine light continued to illuminate, often rather inadequately, the compositions of Tintoretto,
Veronese Veronese is the Italian word denoting someone or something from Verona, Italy and may refer to: * Veronese Riddle, a popular riddle in the Middle Ages * ''Veronese'' (moth), a moth genus in the family Crambidae * Monte Veronese, an Italian chees ...
, and their many followers. The use of dark subjects dramatically lit by a shaft of light from a single constricted and often unseen source, was a compositional device developed by Ugo da Carpi (c. 1455 – c. 1523), Giovanni Baglione (1566–1643), and
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
(1571–1610), the last of whom was crucial in developing the style of tenebrism, where dramatic chiaroscuro becomes a dominant stylistic device.


17th and 18th centuries

Tenebrism was especially practiced in Spain and the Spanish-ruled Kingdom of Naples, by Jusepe de Ribera and his followers. Adam Elsheimer (1578–1610), a German artist living in Rome, produced several night scenes lit mainly by fire, and sometimes moonlight. Unlike Caravaggio's, his dark areas contain very subtle detail and interest. The influences of Caravaggio and Elsheimer were strong on Peter Paul Rubens, who exploited their respective approaches to tenebrosity for dramatic effect in paintings such as ''
The Raising of the Cross The raising of the Cross or elevation of the Cross has been a distinct subject in the Life of Christ in art depicting the start of the Crucifixion of Jesus.
'' (1610–1611). Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1656), a Baroque artist who was a follower of Caravaggio, was also an outstanding exponent of tenebrism and chiaroscuro. A particular genre that developed was the nocturnal scene lit by candlelight, which looked back to earlier northern artists such as Geertgen tot Sint Jans and more immediately, to the innovations of Caravaggio and Elsheimer. This theme played out with many artists from the Low Countries in the first few decades of the seventeenth century, where it became associated with the
Utrecht Caravaggisti Utrecht Caravaggism ( nl, Utrechtse caravaggisten) refers to the work of a group of artists who were from, or had studied in, the Netherlands, Dutch city of Utrecht (city), Utrecht, and during their stay in Rome during the early seventeenth centu ...
such as
Gerrit van Honthorst Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickname ''Gherardo delle Notti' ...
and Dirck van Baburen, and with Flemish Baroque painters such as
Jacob Jordaens Jacob (Jacques) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits. After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Fle ...
. Rembrandt van Rijn's (1606–1669) early works from the 1620s also adopted the single-candle light source. The nocturnal candle-lit scene re-emerged in the Dutch Republic in the mid-seventeenth century on a smaller scale in the works of fijnschilders such as Gerrit Dou and
Gottfried Schalken Godfried Schalcken (1643 – 16 November 1706) was a Dutch genre and portrait painter. He was noted for his mastery in reproducing the effect of candlelight, and painted in the exquisite and highly polished manner of the Leiden fijnschilders. L ...
. Rembrandt's own interest in effects of darkness shifted in his mature works. He relied less on the sharp contrasts of light and dark that marked the Italian influences of the earlier generation, a factor found in his mid-seventeenth-century etchings. In that medium he shared many similarities with his contemporary in Italy, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, whose work in
printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...
led him to invent the monotype. Outside the Low Countries, artists such as Georges de La Tour and
Trophime Bigot Trophime Bigot (1579–1650), also known as Théophile Bigot, Teofili Trufemondi, the Candlelight Master (''Maître à la Chandelle''), was a French painter of the Baroque era, active in Rome and his native Provence. Bigot was born in Arles in 1 ...
in France and
Joseph Wright of Derby Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution". Wr ...
in England, carried on with such strong, but graduated, candlelight chiaroscuro. Watteau used a gentle chiaroscuro in the leafy backgrounds of his fêtes galantes, and this was continued in paintings by many French artists, notably Fragonard. At the end of the century Fuseli and others used a heavier chiaroscuro for romantic effect, as did
Delacroix Delacroix is a French surname that derives from ''de la Croix'' ("of the Cross"). It may refer to: People * Caroline Delacroix (1883–1945), French-Romanian mistress of Leopold II of Belgium * Charles-François Delacroix (1741–1805), ...
and others in the nineteenth century.


Use of the term

The French use of the term, , was introduced by the seventeenth-century art-critic
Roger de Piles Roger de Piles (7 October 1635 – 5 April 1709) was a French painter, engraver, art critic and diplomat. Life Born in Clamecy, Roger de Piles studied philosophy and theology, and devoted himself to painting. In 1662 he became tutor to Miche ...
in the course of a famous argument (''Débat sur le coloris''), on the relative merits of drawing and colour in painting (his ''Dialogues sur le coloris'', 1673, was a key contribution to the ''Débat''). In English, the Italian term has been usedoriginally as and since at least the late seventeenth century. The term is less frequently used of art after the late nineteenth century, although the Expressionist and other modern movements make great use of the effect. Especially since the strong twentieth-century rise in the reputation of Caravaggio, in non-specialist use the term is mainly used for strong chiaroscuro effects such as his, or Rembrandt's. As the Tate puts it: "Chiaroscuro is generally only remarked upon when it is a particularly prominent feature of the work, usually when the artist is using extreme contrasts of light and shade".


Cinema and photography

''Chiaroscuro'' is used in cinematography for extreme low key and high-contrast lighting to create distinct areas of light and darkness in films, especially in black and white films. Classic examples are ''
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (german: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) is a 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. Considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema, ...
'' (1920), '' Nosferatu'' (1922), '' Metropolis'' (1927) '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1939), ''
The Devil and Daniel Webster "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) is a short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benét. He tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil and is later defended by Daniel Webster, a fictional version of the noted 19th-c ...
'' (1941), and the black and white scenes in
Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( rus, Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greates ...
's ''
Stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...
'' (1979). For example, in '' Metropolis'', chiaroscuro lighting creates contrast between light and dark mise-en-scene and figures. The effect highlights the differences between the capitalist elite and the workers. In photography, chiaroscuro can be achieved by using "
Rembrandt lighting Rembrandt lighting is a standard lighting technique that is used in studio portrait photography and cinematography; it is also used in contrast with butterfly lighting It can be achieved using one light and a reflector, or two lights, and is po ...
". In more highly developed photographic processes, the technique may be termed "ambient/natural lighting", although when done so for the effect, the look is artificial and not generally documentary in nature. In particular, Bill Henson along with others, such as
W. Eugene Smith William Eugene Smith (December 30, 1918 – October 15, 1978) was an American photojournalist.Peacock, Scot. "W(illiam) Eugene Smith." ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2003. ''Biography In Context'' He has been described as "perhaps the si ...
, Josef Koudelka,
Lothar Wolleh Lothar Wolleh (January 20, 1930 – September 28, 1979) was a well-known German photographer. Until the end of the sixties, Lothar Wolleh worked as a commercial photographer. He made portraits of international contemporary painters, sculptors ...
, Annie Leibovitz,
Floria Sigismondi Floria Sigismondi (, born 1965) is an Italian-Canadian film director, screenwriter, music video director, artist, and photographer. She is best known for writing and directing '' The Runaways'', for directing music videos for performers includi ...
, and
Ralph Gibson Ralph Gibson (born January 16, 1939) is an American art photographer best known for his photographic books. His images often incorporate fragments with erotic and mysterious undertones, building narrative meaning through contextualization and su ...
may be considered some of the modern masters of chiaroscuro in documentary photography. Perhaps the most direct use of chiaroscuro in filmmaking is
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
's 1975 film ''
Barry Lyndon ''Barry Lyndon'' is a 1975 period drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel ''The Luck of Barry Lyndon'' by William Makepeace Thackeray. Starring Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard ...
''."Victorian Studies Bulletin". Northeast Victorian Studies Association, v. 9–11, 1985. 1984 When informed that no lens then had a sufficiently wide aperture to shoot a costume drama set in grand palaces using only candlelight, Kubrick bought and retrofitted a special lens for the purpose: a modified Mitchell BNC camera and a Zeiss lens manufactured for the rigors of
space photography Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1840, but it was n ...
, with a maximum aperture of f/0.7. The natural, unaugmented lighting of the sets in the film exemplified low-key, natural lighting in filmwork at its most extreme, outside of the Eastern European/Soviet filmmaking tradition (itself exemplified by the harsh low-key lighting style employed by Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein). Sven Nykvist, the longtime collaborator of
Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...
, also informed much of his photography with chiaroscuro realism, as did Gregg Toland, who influenced such cinematographers as László Kovács, Vilmos Zsigmond, and
Vittorio Storaro Vittorio Storaro, A.S.C., A.I.C. (born 24 June 1940) is an Italian cinematographer widely recognized as one of the best and most influential in cinema history, for his work on numerous classic films including ''The Conformist,'' ''Apocalypse Now ...
with his use of deep and selective focus augmented with strong horizon-level key lighting penetrating through windows and doorways. Much of the celebrated
film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
tradition relies on techniques related to chiaroscuro that Toland perfected in the early 1930s (though
high-key lighting High-key lighting is a style of lighting for film, television, or photography that aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene. This was originally done partly for technological reasons, since early film and television did not deal w ...
, stage lighting, frontal lighting, and other film noir effects are interspersed in ways that diminish the chiaroscuro claim).


Gallery

Chiaroscuro in modelling; paintings File:Fra Angelico 005.jpg, Fra Angelico c. 1450 uses chiaroscuro modelling in all elements of the painting File:Sandro Botticelli 054.jpg, '' Saint Sebastian'' by
Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered ...
, 1474 File:Retrato de Juan Pareja, by Diego Velázquez.jpg, ''
Portrait of Juan de Pareja The ''Portrait of Juan de Pareja'' is a painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez of his slave Juan de Pareja, a notable painter in his own right, who was owned by Velázquez at the time the painting was completed. Velázquez painted the portra ...
'', c. 1650 by
Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...
, uses subtle highlights and shading on the face and clothes File:Johannes Vermeer - Het melkmeisje - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Milkmaid'' c. 1658, by Johannes Vermeer, whose use of light to model throughout his compositions is exceptionally complex and delicate
Chiaroscuro in modelling; prints and drawings File:Meckenem.jpg, Delicate engraved lines of hatching and cross-hatching, not all distinguishable in reproduction, are used to model the faces and clothes in this late-fifteenth-century engraving File:Herkules und Antäus (Mantegna).jpg, Another fifteenth-century engraving showing highlights and shading, all in lines in the original, used to depict volume File:Study of Arms and Hands.jpg, Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci File:Study for the Kneeling Leda.jpg, Another study by Leonardo, where the linear make-up of the shading is easily seen in reproduction Chiaroscuro as a major element in composition: painting File:Domenico Beccafumi 070.jpg, ''
Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...
'' by Domenico Beccafumi, 1545–46 File:El Greco - Allegory, Boy Lighting Candle in Company of Ape and Fool (Fábula).JPG, ''Allegory, Boy Lighting Candle in Company of Ape and Fool'' by
El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
, 1589–1592 File:Caravaggio-Crucifixion of Peter.jpg, '' Crucifixion of St. Peter'' by
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
, 1600 File:Adam Elsheimer - Die Flucht nach Ägypten (Alte Pinakothek) 2.jpg, ''The Flight to Egypt'' by Adam Elsheimer, 1609 File:Rembrandt van Rijn "Petrus in de gevangenis" (St. Peter in prison).jpg, ''St. Peter in prison'' by
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
, 1631 File:Judith Leyster The Proposition.jpg, '' The Proposition'' by
Judith Leyster Judith Jans Leyster (also Leijster; baptised July 28, 1609Molenaer, JudithNational Gallery of Art website. Accessed February 1, 2014. – February 10, 1660) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, portraits, and still lifes. Her work was h ...
, 1631 File:Georges de La Tour 007.jpg, ''
Magdalene with the Smoking Flame ''Magdalene with the Smoking Flame'' (also titled in French ''La Madeleine à la veilleuse'', and ''La Madeleine à la flamme filante'') is a c. 1640 oil-on-canvas depiction of Mary Magdalene by French Baroque painter Georges de La Tour. Two v ...
'', by Georges de La Tour, c. 1640 File:Bal26151-Jan-Both.jpg, Landscape chiaroscuro, Jan Both, 1646 File:Gerard van Honthorst 002.jpg, '' Adoration of the Shepherds'' by Matthias Stom, mid-17th century File:Antoine Watteau - La Partie carrée.jpg, Antoine Watteau – ''La Partie carrée'', c. 1713 File:An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1768.jpg, ''
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump ''An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump'' is a 1768 oil-on-canvas painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, one of a number of candlelit scenes that Wright painted during the 1760s. The painting departed from convention of the time by depicting a ...
'' by
Joseph Wright of Derby Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution". Wr ...
, 1768 File:Jean-Honoré Fragonard 009.jpg, '' The Bolt'' by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, c. 1777 File:Goya Christ.jpg, ''Christ on the Mount of Olives'' by Francisco Goya, 1819
Chiaroscuro as a major element in composition: photography File:Golden Retriever Carlos im Wald (10580536693).jpg File:Bembel With Care (167479007).jpeg File:Woman (Imagicity 501).jpg Chiaroscuro faces File:José de Ribera 011.jpg, ''Saint Jerome'' by
José de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...
, 1652 File:Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn - An Old Man in Red.JPG, ''An Old Man in Red'', by
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
, 1652–1654 File:The Knitting Woman painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.jpg, ''
The Knitting Girl ''The Knitting Girl'' (french: La Couseuse) is a painting by nineteenth-century French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1869. The painting is currently held in the Joslyn Art Museum The Joslyn Art Museum is the principal fine arts museum in ...
'' by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1869 File:Millais - Self-Portrait.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'' by John Everett Millais, 1881
Chiaroscuro drawings and woodcuts File:Springinklee schmerzensmann.jpg, '' Man of Sorrows'', chiaroscuro drawing on coloured paper, 1516, by Hans Springinklee File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Study of a Seated Veiled Female Figure (19th Century).png, A nineteenth-century version of the original type of chiaroscuro drawing, with coloured paper, white gouache highlights, and pencil shading File:5316 bassenge saturn.jpg,
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
, anon. Italian, sixteenth-century?, Italian style chiaroscuro woodcut, with four blocks, but no real line block, and looking rather like a watercolour File:5049 bassenge chiaroscuro.jpg,
Ludolph Buesinck Ludolph may refer to: * Ludolph of Ratzeburg (d. 1250), Bishop of Ratzeburg and saint * Ludolph of Saxony (14th century), German ecclesiastical writer * Ludolph van Ceulen (1540-1610), German mathematician * Ludolph Berkemeier (1864-1930), Dutch ...
, Aeneas carries his father, German style, with line block and brown tone block


See also

*
Light-and-shade watermark A light-and-shade watermark,Also called a chiaroscuro watermark, a tonal, shaded, or shade-craft watermark, or a shadowmark is a watermark image produced in a chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between li ...


Notes


References

*David Landau & Peter Parshall, ''The Renaissance Print'', pp. 179–202; 273–81 & passim; Yale, 1996,


External links


Chiaroscuro Woodcut from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art HistoryChiaroscuro woodcut
from Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas

{{Authority control Visual arts terminology Artistic techniques Italian words and phrases Composition in visual art Shadows