Thursday, August 19, 2010

Term for the Day: Chiaroscuro

The Cardsharps, 1594, by Caravaggio: Kimbell Art Museum

Chiaroscuro refers to the sharp between light and dark in a painting. This contrast defines the overall composition of the painting. The use of chiaroscuro allows the painters to utilize his medium to model shapes and figures that appear to be fully three-dimensional. This practice is especially helpful when rendering the human body. The Italian artist, Caravaggio, was a master of chiaroscuro. As you can see in this image from Fort Worth’s Kimbell Museum, Caravaggio uses this contrast to create almost sculptural figures.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

From Italian : Chiaro = clear and Scuro = dark.

Joseph Crisalli said...

Yes, thanks for pointing out the origin of the word.