Detail of a woman in yellow raising one hand toward a candle, shading its light; her face and hand are lit against near-black darkness, her forearm in shadow.

Concept · Light in Painting

Tenebrism

Tenebrism pushes chiaroscuro to an extreme: figures lit sharply against near-black, with few middle tones.

The name comes from the Italian tenebroso, "dark".

  • The darkness hides the setting and pushes the figures toward us.

See

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

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