chiaroscuro

See also chiaroscurò

English

WOTD – 18 June 2012    

Wikipedia

Chiaroscuro (use of exaggerated light contrasts)

Etymology

Italian, from chiaro (“light”) + oscuro (“dark”)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌkjɑːrəʊˈskuːrəʊ/

Noun

chiaroscuro (plural chiaroscuros or chiaroscuri)

1. (art) An artistic technique developed during the Renaissance, referring to the use of exaggerated light contrasts in order to create the illusion of volume.
2. (art) A monochrome picture made by using several different shades of the same color.
3. (art) The use of blocks of wood of different colors in a woodcut.
4. (photography) A photographic technique in which one side of a face (for example) is well lit and the other is in shadow.

Synonyms

• (photography): Rembrandt lighting

Translations

artistic technique

• Finnish: chiaroscuro (fi)
• French: clair-obscur (fr) m
• Italian: chiaroscuro (it)
• Lithuanian: kiaroskuras (lt) m

• Norwegian: chiaroscuro (no) m, kjellerlys (no) n
• Russian: кьяроскуро (ru) (kʹjaroskuro)
• Spanish: claroscuro (es) m

See also

• contrast

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Italian

Noun

chiaroscuro m (plural chiaroscuri)

1. light and shade, chiaroscuro
2. contrasts, ups and downs

Verb

chiaroscuro

1. first-person singular present indicative of chiaroscurare