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 Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political stat ...

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

was the most prominent practitioner of sfumato, based on his research in optics and human vision, and his experimentation with the

camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is a darkened room with a aperture, small hole or lens at one side through which an image is 3D projection, projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. ''Camera obscura'' can also refer to analogous constructions su ...

. He introduced it and implemented it in many of his works, including the ''

Virgin of the Rocks The ''Virgin of the Rocks'' ( it, Vergine delle rocce), sometimes the ''Madonna of the Rocks'', is the name of two paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, with a composition which is identical except fo ...

'' and in his famous painting of the ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...

''. He described sfumato as "without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke". According to the theory of the art historian

Marcia B. Hall Marcia Hall, who usually publishes as Marcia B. Hall, is an American art historian, who is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Renaissance Art at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture of Temple University in Philadelphia. Hall's scholarship has ...

, which has gained considerable acceptance, ''sfumato'' is one of four modes of painting colours available to Italian

High Renaissance In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...

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 ...

chiaroscuro 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 historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

, 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 ...

Etymology

The word ''sfumato'' comes from the Italian language and is derived from ''fumo'' ("smoke", "fume"). Sfumato translated into English means soft, vague, or blurred. In Italian, the word is used often as an adjective (such as ''biondo sfumato'' for pale blonde hair) or as a verb (''l'affare è sfumato'' would mean "the deal has gone up in smoke"). The use of the term (unlike some others) dates back to the period when da Vinci introduced it.

Technique

The technique is a fine shading meant to produce a soft transition between colours and tones, in order to achieve a more believable image. It is most often used by making subtle gradations that do not include lines or borders, from areas of light to areas of dark. The technique was used not only to give an elusive and illusionistic rendering of the human face, but also to create rich atmospheric effects.

described the technique as blending colours, without the use of lines or borders "in the manner of smoke". Raphael_-_Madonna_in_the_Meadow_-_Google_Art_Project

Raphael_-_Madonna_in_the_Meadow_-_Google_Art_Project

Practitioners

Besides Leonardo and his followers, the

Leonardeschi The Leonardeschi were the large group of artists who worked in the studio of, or under the influence of, Leonardo da Vinci. They were artists of Italian Renaissance painting, although his influence extended to many countries within Europe. As a ...

, who often used it heavily, other prominent practitioners of sfumato included

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

, and

Giorgione Giorgione (, , ; born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco; 1477–78 or 1473–74 – 17 September 1510) was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic qualit ...

. Raphael's '' Madonna of the Meadow'' is a famous example, particularly around Mary's face. The Leonardeschi include

Bernardino Luini Bernardino Luini (c. 1480/82 – June 1532) was a north Italian painter from Leonardo's circle during the High Renaissance. Both Luini and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio were said to have worked with Leonardo directly; he was described as having ...

and Funisi.

Notes

External links

''Leonardo da Vinci, master draftsman''
exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on this technique (see index) Visual arts terminology Italian words and phrases Painting techniques {{art-technique-stub