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chiaroscuro
Sign in to saveAlso known as light-dark, clair-obscur
thumb|right|Giovanni Baglione. Divine Love Conquering Earthly Love (1602–1603), showing dramatic compositional chiaroscuro.
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- El Greco - Allegory, Boy Lighting Candle in Company of Ape and Fool (Fábula).JPG
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- Chiaroscuro
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13 sectionsContents
- History
- Origin in the chiaroscuro drawing
- Chiaroscuro modelling
- Chiaroscuro woodcuts
- Compositional chiaroscuro to Caravaggio
- 17th and 18th centuries
- Use of the term
- Cinema and photography
- Gallery
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
thumb|right|Giovanni Baglione. Divine Love Conquering Earthly Love (1602–1603), showing dramatic compositional 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.