Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro is an Italian term which translates as light-dark, and refers to the balance and pattern of light and shade in a painting or drawing

Inside a dark timber-roofed forge, a white-hot iron bar under a tilt hammer casts golden light on a family: a smith in a headscarf folds his arms, another man bends to the work, and women and children look on

Joseph Wright of Derby
An Iron Forge (1772)
Tate

Chiaroscuro is generally only remarked upon when it is a particularly prominent feature of the work, usually when the artist is using extreme contrasts of light and shade.

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Selected artworks in the collection

Self-Portrait

William Dobson
c.1639
On display at Tate Britain Part of Historic and Modern British Art
Muted brown interior with a tall multi-paned window and panelled door; low sunlight through the glass throws a glowing grid of light across bare floorboards, a white-clothed table just visible at left.

Interior, Sunlight on the Floor

Vilhelm Hammershoi
1906

Self-Portrait

Sir Stanley Spencer
1913

Portrait of the Artist

Daniel Stringer
1776

Vignette: Hampstead Heath, Middlesex

John Constable, David Lucas
1831 or 2
View by appointment

Back Drawing

Juan Muñoz
1990

Dunstanburgh Castle from the South

Joseph Mallord William Turner
1797–8
View by appointment
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