Chiaroscuro

In art, chiaroscuro 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.

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Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

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Museum entries, images, and facts are drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, used under public-domain and Creative Commons licenses.