Research Point: Chiaroscuro

To link to images in this research point, click on the text that is grey.

I am fluent in Italian so the direct translation of this term is very familiar to me,
It is a combination of two Italian words:

Chiaro means light or can also be used in the context of clarity ("Sono stato chiaro?" - "Have I made myself clear")

Scuro means dark so the literal translation or chiaroscuro is lightdark.

When thinking about the term chiaroscuro the works of Caravaggio are those which immediately spring to mind with their very dark backgrounds and small areas of bright illumination making his compositions visually exciting (some examples of this later in the research point). This was the extent of my knowledge on this subject so more research was required.

My starting point was the glossary on the website of the National Gallery which gave a definition as follows:

"This is an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In painting this refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"

"Artists who are famed for the use of chiaroscuro  include Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio. Leonardo employed it to give a vivid impression of  the three dimensionality of his subjects while Caravaggio used such contrasts for the sake of drama. Both artists were also aware of the emotional impact of these effects" (1)

Further research via the Oxford Art Online library resource revealed that there are actually four accepted definitions of the term as follows:

(i) The gradations in light and dark values of a colour on a figure or object which produce the illusion of volume and relief as well as the illusion of light and shadow (2)

(ii) The distribution of light and dark over the surface of the whole picture, which serves to unify the composition and creates an expressive quality (2)

(iii) Monochrome pictures including grisaille paintings and painting an camaïeu (2) (examples to explain these later)

(IV) Woodcuts in three or more tones made from successive blocks (2) 

The first three of these definitions are the most relevant to the painting course so I will confine myself to these in this research point (in fact mainly to the commonest usages (i) and (ii). 

First examples the lesser used meanings from (iii)

Grisaille painting is monochrome or almost monochrome and was often made to imitate sculpture - for example these wings of a 15th century altarpiece depicting the Annunciation and the Angel Gabriel(3) by Jan van Eyck

Painting en Camaïeu was painting in tonal values a single colour to imitate ceramics or cameos. I could find very few examples of this Click here for an image

For definition (i) above a good starting point would be the drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci for example this study of drapery.(4) Here the artist has started on a mid toned ground and used charcoal or black chalk to describe the shadows and white chalk for the highlights to build the form and relief. He has "modelled the light".

But Leonardo also provides examples of usage (ii) of the term chiaroscuro. For example in his famous masterpiece The Mona Lisa. (1503-1507) I saw this painting when I was a teenager during a visit to the Louvre on a school trip to Paris. I remember being somewhat underwhelmed as the painting was so much smaller than I had expected and was quite dark and surrounded by crowds of people which meant I couldn't get close to examine it. However, it does exemplify both of the common definitions of chiaroscuro given above. There is the modelling of form with light both on the drapery and on the facial features as well as a strong contrast between the dark shadows and the ethereal glow of the illuminated face. It also illustrates 'sfumato' (the Italian verb sfumare has various translations such as to fade away, vanish, obscure). In this context it means to blur or make transparent the edges of shadows to appear as though they are veiled in smoke. (2) This sfumato effect is particularly seen in the representation of the facial features.


Definition (ii) of chiaroscuro is what comes to mind more readily in my previously uneducated mind. I am lucky enough to live near Naples and have made several visits to the Museo Nazionale de Capodimonte over the years. Two striking examples of works exemplifying the dramatic and expressive effects of Chiaroscuro seen here are Caravaggio's Flagellazione di Cristo (1609-1610) (5), (7) the cowed body of Christ is brightly illuminated whereas his tormentors are just partly illuminated in the shadows and the rest of the canvas is in complete darkness. The second example I would like to cite is Artemisia Gentileschi's Giuditta e Oloferne (1625-30) (6), (7) Here Judith and her servant are in the act of beheading the giant Holofernes. Again there is marked contrast between the dark background and the illuminated action - the arms they are carrying out the violence are the most illuminated part of the painting in particular Judith's arms which for a dramatic diagonal as she reaches down with the sword. This gives the whole composition a theatrical effect. In fact there was even more personal significance to this painting for Gentileschi as she uses her own self portrait to represent Judith and she is slaying her former mentor Agostino Tassi who was tried in court for her rape.(8)

There is a theatre group in Naples called Teatri 35 who exploit the drama and theatricality of these works of art creating "tableaux vivantes" representing works of art. I recently went to one of their workshops 'Caravaggio e i caravaggisti' (caravaggio and his followers) in which they physically represent the works of famous artists - They hold their poses for 20seconds allowing the audience to rapidly draw them. at the time I was struck by the drama of the poses. Only now am I realising how entirely appropriate the bright theatrical illumination in a dark theatre is to the representation of these works  of art. You can read about my experience of the workshop in my learning log for Drawing 1 Click Here for link

The examples above might give the impression that chiaroscuro was a 16th and 17th century phenomenon. In fact the term surfaced in art theory in Italy in the 15th century -however use of graduations of light and dark to represent form started to emerge in the 13th century(2). Around the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century Giotto was already mixing variable amounts of white pigment with colours to create tonal gradations to represent form For example in this panel painting - The lamentation of Christ.(9)

It was in the 17th century that the term came to mean more about the organisation of areas of light and dark in the composition on the canvas. I.e. the consideration of the chiaroscuro of the whole arrangement in addition to the chiaroscuro of individual elements of the composition - so the design of the whole canvas. The meaning was also extended to include lightness and darkness of colours independent of light and shadow. 

In the late 18th century writings by Denis Diderot made a distinction between the chiaroscuro used in the representation of light and shadow and that attributed to the imagination of the artist for dramatic effect. The exaggeration of natural lighting conditions or careful selection of illumination were used to add emotional impact and enhance the expressive qualities of painting. (2).

Another term used to describe these paintings in which there is marked contrast between dark and light is 'Tenebrism' (10) (from the Italian 'Tenebroso' which means dark/shadowy/gloomy). This is a term used to describe the works of Caravagigio, Gentileschi, Tintorretto(11) and others. In fact the word 'tenebroso' was used as a criticism of these works of art in literature from the 17th to the 19th century - taken to mean the unnatural effect and perceived crudeness of their lighting scheme. So the marked chiaroscuro effects have fallen in and out of fashion over time. 

Another famous tenebrist artist who came to this way of working without having direct prior knowledge of Caravaggio is Rembrandt. For example this is seen in his many self portraits painted using candlelight illumination. 

In August of this year I made a trip to the National Gallery where I saw several examples of chiaroscuro painting including Self Portrait at the age of 34 by Rembrandt (1640) (12), The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio (1601) (13) and Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby (1768) (14). This illustrates that the taste for dramatic lighting in paintings  extended beyond the boundaries of individual countries and also across centuries. The dramatic lighting might resulted partly from candlelight illumination but it seems to me more to have been motivated by a taste for drama. The work by Joseph Wright of Derby mentioned above seems to tip over almost into the melodramatic. It depicts a bird (a white cockatoo) being suffocated in a vacuum pump in front of an audience. The man carrying out the experiment is lit from below making his face look rather sinister and the illumination is greatest drawing our attention to the faces of two distraught young girls. I think the drama here is a bit staged and laboured so can see why 'tenebroso' might have been used as a pejorative term in the 18th century. To me this picture - while I can appreciate the skill of the painter it is all a bit 'OTT' in its dramatisation of the subject matter. 

References: 

(1) http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/chiaroscuro

(2) Chiaroscoro. Janis Callen Bell. article from Grove Art Online via Oxford art online
http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T016397

(3) http://www.artbible.info/images/vaneyck_annunciatie_thyssen_grt.jpg

(4) http://uploads8.wikiart.org/images/leonardo-da-vinci/drapery-for-a-seated-figure-1.jpg

(5)http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Caravaggio_-_La_Flagellazione_di_Cristo.jpg

(6)http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Artemisia_Gentileschi_-_Judith_Beheading_Holofernes_-_WGA8563.jpg

(7) The National Museum of Capodimonte (Guide Artistiche Electa Napoli)  Edited by Silvia Cassani. English Edition. Electa Napoli 2003

(8)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Slaying_Holofernes_(Artemisia_Gentileschi)

(9)http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Giotto_-_Scrovegni_-_-36-_-_Lamentation_(The_Mourning_of_Christ)_adj.jpg

(10) Tenebrism. Janis Callen Bell. article from Grove Art Online via Oxford Art Online. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T083775

(11) http://uploads3.wikiart.org/images/tintoretto/self-portrait.jpg

(12) http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/upload/img/rembrandt-self-portrait-age-34-NG672-fm.jpg

(13) http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/upload/img/caravaggio-supper-emmaus-NG172-fm.jpg

(14)http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/upload/img/wright-experiment-bird-air-pump-NG725-fm.jpg

Working on Different Coloured Grounds

I started this exercise by making some still life sketches in my sketchbook using charcoal, ink and wash and also using an 8b woodless pencil. I struggle to know what makes a good composition so I made quite a lot of thumbnail sketches. I wanted to include a wide range of tonal values but also to make quite a simple composition without losing visual interest or impact. 

I was first attracted to the rich dark but reflective surface of an aubergine which I thought would make a good area of darkness. However, my composition of vegetables lacked any variation in height. I experimented with propping up a pepper for height and also with a light coloured jug, the handle of which made some good negative shapes against the dark background. However, I found the shape of the jug a bit squat and in the end I decided to go with a very simple arrangement with three elements (eliminating the aubergine altogether), - a largish beer bottle, a yellow pepper and a group of two onions. I had sketched this image while sitting on the floor with the objects on a low (white) picnic table and I liked the perspective this gave me. I also liked the diagonal of the foreground onion leading the eye towards the other two elements and the shapes made between the bottle and the shadows of the onions. 

I didn't find the instructions for this exercise completely clear as to whether I was meant to do a light and a dark ground or a white and a mid-toned ground so I elected to do three studies instead. One on a white ground, one on a mid toned ground and one on a dark ground. 

Exercise: Tonal Study on a White Ground


I had received the alternative solvents that I had ordered so I decided to attempt this exercise in oils. The first sketch was on a white ground using a combination of prussian blue and raw umber.  This was my first attempt at a representational oil painting so my approach was a bit panicky - I think you can see the results of this nervous energy in the end result. I didn't organise my palette at all because I didn't think this was necessary using only the two colours and white so I ended up with random blobs of different colours and tonal values all over the place on the palette and some of the tones ended up being a sort of dull putty colour. However, for a first attempt the results weren't quite as bas as I'd expected. I had managed to create a sense of volume in the subjects and also an idea of the reflective but dark surface of the bottle.  The white of the paper gives a glowing light tone.

The good news was that using Gamblin Gamsol (an odourless type of mineral spirit) as a substitute for the turpentine, I hadn't developed a solvent headache.

Tonal Study on a Mid Ground

It was only during this painting that I realised that both of the colours I had chosen were cold colours. I had meant to choose a warm earth tone to combine with the prussian blue. In my mind, raw umber sounder warmer to me than burnt umber (burnt sounds like ash or charcoal so darker and greyer or cooler). Unfortunately - it appears it is the other way around and burnt umber would have been a warmer choice. However, I quite like the atmosphere that the cool palette brings to these studies. It reminds me of old-fashioned sepia -toned photographs.

In the second study I mixed a mid tone which was mainly raw umber with a very small amount of prussian blue and this was used for a wash to create the mid-toned ground. 
I made a note of the proportions of umber to blue used so that I could re-create this colour to paint with once the wash was dry. On my palette I then mixed a range of tonal values by combining this with variable amounts of titanium white. I mixed larger amounts of prussian blue with the base colour to create the darker tones - this meant that I could paint in either direction tonally from my base colour. I felt a bit less panicky when painting this second version as I was familiar with the set-up and I had organised myself better. 

I had started to enjoy manipulating the paint on the paper. I started out by squinting an placing the very darkest and the very lightest tonal values and build the forms from there, This seemed to be easier on the mid-toned ground especially as I had pre-mixed a tonal range. I found it was possible to overlay and work different tonal areas into each other on directly on the paper because the oil paint was slow to dry allowing gradual tonal changes to be made. I especially liked the marks made by scraping the light tome over the mid ground with a dryish brush in the lower right hand corner. 

I enjoyed the process of painting this study the most of the three. Looking at it though, I wonder whether being more organised has reduced the energy of the study produced compared to the first attempt

Tonal Study on a Dark Ground

For the third study I painted on a dark background made for a combination of mainly prussian blue combined with a small amount of raw umber. I used this base colour for the darks values and used mainly raw umber for the mid tones with the base colour mixed with titanium white. This was more rapidly executed than the second study (I was getting a bit bored with the subject by now). I found it quite difficult to get a really light tone to cover the background especially in the lower left corner of the study.  

I like the richness of the deep tones on the bottle and the contrast with the bright reflections on its neck. I also like some of the visible brush marks on the onions. Less successful in the pepper which looks very flat and sharp-edged - I haven't really conveyed the three dimensionality of this form very well. The bottle is also a bit broader and squatter than it was in reality - it's starting to look more like a milk bottle than a beer bottle.

I photographed each of these studies in black and white and placed them side-by-side here for comparison. It illustrates that the drawing is far from perfect with quite a lot of variation between the painting on the shape of the bottle in particular - but I think this is probably less important than the comparison of the tonal values. Overall I don't think the comparative tonal ranges are too different. There is certainly a greater tendency towards the lighter tones when painting on the white background and the tonal values especially on the pepper are generally darker on the the dark ground. I found controlling the tonal rages and unifying everything easiest on the mid toned ground.

Research - Working on Coloured Grounds

For the Project ,'Working on different coloured grounds' it was suggested that I look at oil sketches by Rubens and by Constable. I have posted links to a couple of examples of sketches by each artist below:

Rubens Oil Sketch 1
Rubens Oil Sketch 2

In both of the examples above Rubens has used a warm earth colour as the ground and has added darker and lighter tonal values to create form. The warm background colour unifies the compositions. 


Constable Oil Sketch 1
Constable Oil Sketch 2

The first sketch by Constable above is one of his famous cloud studies and one of the more dramatic examples of cloud formations. He has also used a warm ground although the sky is shades of grey and black but a hint of the warm ground shows through in the sky towards the horizon and a stronger warm tone is used for the beach. 
In the second sketch, he has used a dark ground and has painted with lighter tones onto this ground. There is dramatic tonal variation here. I particularly like the grainy dynamic diagonal brush strokes used on the sky and the hints of the dark ground showing through this adding texture, depth and visual interest. This also helps again to unify the painting by echoing some of the shapes in the trees.