Light and Dark

By luigi_pagano

Wed, 26 Jun 2024

276 reads

4 comments

1 likes

It was a technique that Leonardo introduced

and artists took notice when Da Vinci spoke..

When he said that “light and shade should blend

without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke”

he was talking about the concept of chiaroscuro

to create the illusion of three-dimensional forms

by applying sfumato, a gradual tonal spectrum

to eliminate sharp edges between light and dark.

This new dimension very soon made its mark

and it was adopted in the seventeenth century

by Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt and others

who in the Baroque period were superb painters.

It is thanks to the enlightenment of these men

that many works of art saw the light of the day,

masterpieces like the Mona Lisa with mid-tones

that gave a subdued flavour to the painting.

But not everything is sweetness and light;

there are things that are far from serene

and have disturbed the art world's scene:

some masterpieces damaged by vandals,

that has been the subject of many scandals.

others not genuine but the result of forgery

which is a game that is not worth the candle

if one thinks about it in the cold light of the day.

Certificate U

Poem

Mutevoli pensieri

Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

I think I remember this one

Permalink Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on Wed, 2024-06-26 15:19

I think I remember this one Luigi - very much enjoyed. So interesting to find out about this period in the history of art (and everything else too!)

It is basically the one you

Permalink Submitted by luigi_pagano on Wed, 2024-06-26 16:32

It is basically the one you recall apart from the third stanza, completely rewritten.
Thank you for reading and commenting.

Luigi x

Interesting explaining the

Permalink Submitted by Rhiannonw on Wed, 2024-06-26 20:23

Interesting explaining the blending. Rhiannon

Hello Rhiannon. It was

Permalink Submitted by luigi_pagano on Thu, 2024-06-27 13:44

Hello Rhiannon. It was fascinating researching this topic and after writing the poem, I learned that chiaroscuro, or light modelling, which became popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, has been traced to the Ancient Greeks of the fifth century BC.