In art, chiaroscuro (English: kee-AR-ə-SKOOR-oh, Italian: lit. 'light-dark') 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 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. Taken to its extreme, the use of shadow and contrast to focus strongly on the subject of a painting is called tenebrism.
Giovanni Baglione. Divine Love Conquering Earthly Love (1602–1603), showing dramatic compositional chiaroscuro.
Further specialized uses of the term include chiaroscuro woodcut for colour woodcuts printed with different blocks, each using a different coloured ink; and chiaroscuro for drawings on coloured paper in a dark medium with white highlighting.
Chiaroscuro woodcut of the Virgin and Child by Bartolommeo Coriolano, created between 1630 and 1655 (digitally restored.)
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, sfumato and unione). Artists known for using the technique include Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, and Georges de La Tour.
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