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
Giovanni Baglione. Divine Love Conquering Earthly Love (1602–1603), showing dramatic compositional chiaroscuro.
Christ at Rest, by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1519, a chiaroscuro drawing using pen, ink, and brush, washes, white heightening, on ochre prepared paper
Detail of La Fornarina (1518–19) by Raphael, shows delicate modelling chiaroscuro in the body of the model, for example in the shoulder, breast, and arm on the right
Chiaroscuro woodcut of the Virgin and Child by Bartolommeo Coriolano, created between 1630 and 1655 (digitally restored)
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for a significant portion of his artistic life. He began his apprenticeship in Milan in 1584,
Chiaroscuro
…the Renaissance (alongside cangiante, sfumato and unione) (see also Renaissance art). Artists known for using the technique include Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, and Georges de La Tour. The term chiaroscuro originated during the Renaissance as drawing on coloured paper, where the artist…
Chalk portrait of Caravaggio by Ottavio Leoni, c. 1621
Basket of Fruit, c. 1595–1596, oil on canvas, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
The Cardsharps, c. 1594, Oil on canvas, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
The Musicians, 1595–1596, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York