Chiar-oscuro

Chiar-oscuro (Ital.), an artistic term, composed of two Italian words, the one of which signifies light, the other darkness or shadow. But chiar-oscuro signifies neither light nor shadow; neither is it adequately described by saying that it is the art of disposing of both the lights and shadows in a picture, so long as either is regarded apart from the other. It is rather the art of representing light in shadow and shadow in light, so that the parts represented in shadow shall still have the clearness and warmth of those in light, and those in light the depth and softness of those in shadow. It is not the making of the one die softly and gradually away into the other, but the preservation of both in combination, as we constantly see it in nature, when the light is not the mere glare of the sun striking on a particular object, nor the shadow the entire absence of the influence of light. That the skilful treatment of chiar-oscuro is a matter of extreme difficulty is plain enough from the very small number of artists who ever attain to it. Still, it is a branch of art without the mastery of which no painting can be successful in any department. It is as indispensable in portrait-painting as in the highest departments of ideal arts; and though a just and even a lofty conception of the subject may be distinctly indicated by attention to form alone, it is impossible that its realisation can ever be satisfactorily accomplished by any one who has not mastered this most subtle mode of handling colours. The only mode by which a knowledge of chiar-oscuro can be attained, so as to apply it to practice, is by studying it as exhibited in the works of such painters as Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Correggio.