http://www.brown.edu/Courses/CG11/2007/Tatyana_Dyshlova/background.

html Chiaroscuro The first appearance of the chiaroscuro effect dates back to Roman Imperial illuminated manuscripts, which used purpled dyed vellum and gold paint to create volume in pictorial forms and letters. For several hundred years, the artists of the medieval times created flat illuminated manuscripts that employed a lot of color contrasts but little shading and no shadows. It was Leonardo Da Vince who is credited as being the first artist to use chiaroscuro in the late 15th century as a technique for creating a three dimensional shapes on canvas: Shadows and lights are the most certain means by which the shape of any body becomes known, because a colour of equal lightness or darkness will not display any relief, but gives the effect of a flat surface, which with all its parts at equal distance will seem equally distant from the brightness that illuminates it. Leonardo A common technique that Leonardo is known for is called glazing. Glazing is a technique of building up thin layers of translucent paint to create soft shadows, contrast and volume. The most famous example of the atmosphere that glazing creates is the Mona Lisa. Glazing was a tedious process, because the artist would have to wait until each coat of paint dried before adding another one; this would take very long for oil paints. An advantage of glazing was that one could redo and retouch the top coat as necessary without worrying about removing the bottom layers of the paint. To finish off the chiaroscuro effect, Leonardo added strokes of white opaque paint to accent the specular highlights. To create the effect of shadows with glazing, Leonardo sacrificed the brightness and saturation that was prevalent in paintings in Europe during his time and was thus criticized by his peers, including Michelangelo, who strove to instead create volume with brilliant, de-saturated colors that formed strong silhouettes.

(left) Leonardo's Mona Lisa is modeled with chiaroscuro, the interaction of light and shadows define the shape of the woman as well as her draw attention to her face because the light is focuses on her face. The colors used are mostly warm and subtle, t he edges are soft. Leonardo created a well defined silhouette without inducing tension due to sharp contrast borders. (right) Michelangelo's Doni Holy Family on the other hand uses sharp color contrast instead of shadow and light interaction to create the silhouettes.

Chioroscuro became very popular during the 16th century as it was very successful at capturing the divine light in religious paintings. Artists developed a technique of darkening the canvas, and then use light colors to accent the light. Using dramatic luminance contrasts, artists like Caravaggio and Hugo van der Goes where able to achieve glowing light effects in

against a night background that were especially fruitful for recreating biblical scenes such as the Nativity scene and candle light settings. This dramatic and exaggerated use of chiaroscuro later became known as tenebrism, and it was a long step away from the subtle and warm tones of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Nativity by Geertgen tot Sint Jans, uses chiaroscuro to create the effect of the baby Jesus as a source of the divine light that is illuminating the room. The dramatic contrast of the baby to the background creates the glowing effect similar to illumination of a candle light.

During the 17th century, artists moved on from candlelight dramatic effect of tenebrism, instead concentrating on other effects that the darkness of chiaroscuro can afford. Rembrandt became famous for perfecting and utilizing the technique in his painting to create tension, mystery and atmosphere. Rembrandt used clever positioning of the light to accent certain facial traits of his clients in a way that both revealed their character and created mystery about their persona. Rembrandt did not always follow the natural light behavior, and used chiaroscuro to reveal parts of the paintings that would otherwise not be seem in real life. He also used the light to draw the viewers' attention to various parts of the scene. Overall, Rembrandt was able to create an illusion of life in his paintings by using light and shadows to create tension . None of the subjects have a relaxed or blank expression, each painting looks like a snapshot of in the middle of some happening that should resume any minute.

(left) Rembrandt's Buste van oude man met bontmuts illustrates how Rembrandt focuses heavily on the facial features of the portrait to accent every appropriate wrinkle that gives the man a strong expression. The position of light from the side angle that does not fully illuminate the front of his face gives the painting a sense of tension that makes it appear more alive. (right) Rembrandt did not always follow the physical rules of light, here we see a figure of a woman illuminated slightly in the background; there is no physical light source in the scene that can cast that illumination. Rembrandt is using chiaroscuro to reveal something that would otherwise not be scene in real life. His choice of green light compared to the bright orange light cast on the woman gives the woman in a back a ghostly look.

Chiaroscuro continues to be an important technique today, especially in graphic novels, movies and photography. Noir films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) and Sin City (2005) use chiaroscuro achieved with low key lighting to maintain drama and tension throughout the movie. In photography, Rembrandt lighting is a famous portrait lighting technique that uses chiaroscuro to shape the face of the subject.

Resources "chiaroscuro." Encyclopdia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. 7 May 2007. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9023967>. "Rembrandt." Wikipedia. 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 7 May 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt>, Leonardo's Colour and Chiaroscuro. John Shearman. Zeitschrift fr Kunstgeschichte, 25 Bd., H. 1. (1962), pp. 13-47. Leonardo da Vincis Chiaroscuro. Color Vision and Art. 2007. Webexhibits. 7 May 2007. <webexhibits.org/colorart> Light, a detailed tutorial. Richard Harris. 2004. Itchy-Animation. 6 May 2007. <http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/tutorials/light01.htm> Is lightness induction a pictorial illusion? Alexander D Logvinenko, John Kane, Deborah A Ross. Perception, 2002, volume 31, pages 73 - 82. An Excellent Lightness. Thomas D. Albright Science, New Series, Vol. 273, No. 5278. (Aug. 23, 1996), pp. 1055-1056. (all pictures taken from Wikipedia) (all color illustration done by Tatyana Dyshlova) (Global Illumination rendering and scene done by Marshall Maagnew)