Glossary · Technique
Chiaroscuro
The dramatic use of strongly contrasting light and shadow to model three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional surface — one of the defining innovations of Renaissance painting that Leonardo elevated to science.
Definition
Chiaroscuro (kee-AH-ro-SKOO-ro) is the organisation of a composition through strongly contrasting areas of light and shadow to create the illusion of three-dimensional volume. By controlling where light falls and how shadows deepen and spread, a painter can make flat paint appear to describe rounded, solid forms.
Leonardo did not invent chiaroscuro — it appears in Flemish painting before him — but he systematised it with unprecedented rigour. His notebooks contain extensive analyses of light sources, shadow types (primary shadow vs. cast shadow), reflected light in shadows, and the relationship between surface angle and luminosity. He distinguished six grades of light and darkness.
Etymology
From Italian chiaro ("bright, clear") + oscuro ("dark, obscure"). The compound was in use in Italian art criticism by the 16th century; Vasari uses it to describe the quality Leonardo brought to painting.
Leonardo's Own Words
"Among all studies of natural causes and reasons, light chiefly delights the beholder; and among the great features of mathematics the certainty of its demonstrations is what pre-eminently elevates the minds of its investigators." — Treatise on Painting, §56
"Shadow is the privation of light and is merely the obstruction of luminous rays by an opaque body. Shadow is of the nature of darkness." — MS C, 25v
Used In
- St John the Baptist — the most extreme chiaroscuro of Leonardo's career; figure emerges from absolute black
- Virgin of the Rocks — rocky grotto setting creates dramatic shadow environment
- Notebooks: Light & Shade — 200+ pages of theoretical analysis