chiaroscuro
Americannoun
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the distribution of light and shade in a picture.
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Painting. the use of deep variations in and subtle gradations of light and shade, especially to enhance the delineation of character and for general dramatic effect.
Rembrandt is a master of chiaroscuro.
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a woodcut print in which the colors are produced by the use of different blocks with different colors.
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a sketch in light and shade.
noun
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the artistic distribution of light and dark masses in a picture
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monochrome painting using light and dark only, as in grisaille
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of chiaroscuro
1680–90; < Italian, equivalent to chiaro bright (< Latin clārus ) + oscuro dark (< Latin obscūrus ). See clear, obscure
Explanation
Chiaroscuro is an Italian artistic term used to describe the dramatic effect of contrasting areas of light and dark in an artwork, particularly paintings. It comes from the combination of the Italian words for "light" and "dark." Nowadays chiaroscuro applies to a far wider array of dramatic lighting effects, particularly in movies — anything dark and moody with great slashes of shadow, is very chiaroscuro. Film Noir, of all the film genres, is the best example of chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro remains essentially a technical word, though, and is not often used in everyday conversation — unless you happen to be a film critic of course.
Vocabulary lists containing chiaroscuro
Stroke of Genius: Words About Painting
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Visual Arts - High School
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Art History
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Femm receives much of its income from private donors including the Chiaroscuro Foundation, a charity backed almost exclusively by Sean Fieler, a wealthy Catholic hedge-funder based in New York.
From The Guardian • May 30, 2019
Since we’re on the subject of LACMA: Times art critic Christopher Knight reports that, despite its dry-sounding name, “The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy” is “ground-breaking” and “lucidly organized.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2018
Chiaroscuro of another variety is on offer in the Domus Aurea, the timeworn, underground shell of Nero’s vast and sprawling mansion.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2018
Greg Pfundstein, executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, an anti-abortion group in New York, questioned whether parents were really giving informed consent.
From New York Times • Sep. 24, 2012
Reader, this is important: The rat called Chiaroscuro did not look away He let the light from the upstairs world enter him and fill him.
From "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread" by Kate DiCamillo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
