Chiaroscuro by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo

Get to know the masters through their drawings

Presented by: bruceblackart.com

Chiaroscuro is the Italian terms light and shadow. It refers to the way in which light moves around an object to create shadows and highlights. In drawing understanding churiscurro allows the artist to move away from line drawings and into more naturally appearing images.

Creating strong contrast is important in establishing Chiaroscuro. Notice how the drawing moves from very light values to black tones.

BiographyLeonardo da Vinci was a Florentine artist, one of the great masters of the High Renaissance, who was also celebrated as a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist

LEONARDO da Vinci (b. 1452, Vinci, d. 1519,

His profound love of knowledge and research was the keynote of both his artistic and scientific endeavors. His innovations in the field of painting influenced the course of Italian art for more than a century after his death, and his scientific studies—particularly in the fields of anatomy, optics, and hydraulics—anticipated many of the developments of modern science.

The Vitruvian Man is a world-renowned drawing created by Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1487. It is accompanied by notes based on the work of the famed architect, Vitruvius Pollio The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions or, less often, Proportions of Man

Notice How the light moves over the hand. Leonardo is gradually removing the outlines in order to reveal the form through values.

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe. The term renaissance is in essence a modern one that came into currency in the nineteenth century, in the work of historians such as Jacob Burckhardt.

Ledonardo worked for years on this painting. He masterfully managed the lights and darks to create a very lifelike quality to the skin.

Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda or La Joconde) is a 16th century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance. It is perhaps the most famous and iconic painting in the world.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer.

Notice how the muscles and bones are revealed by how the light creates shadows in the valleys and highlights on the crests. No outlines here!

Notice how Michelangelo has used a series of crosshatching marks to create values. The denser hashes make for the darker values. This is great when working with pen and ink.

The woman is turned towards the light and shadows are created has the light moves around the face.

Here is a student drawing of some simple objects. The student has created chiaroscuro by exmamining the light and shadows and paying attention to contrast.

Now it’s your turn!

End of show

• Presented by: bruceblackart.com

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