Tenebrism - Wikipedia

Style of painting that uses strong contrasts of light and dark for dramatic effect For the racehorse, see Tenebrism (horse).

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Tenebrism, from Italian tenebroso ('dark, gloomy, mysterious'), also occasionally called dramatic illumination, is a style of painting using especially pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and where darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image. The technique was developed to add drama to an image through a spotlight effect,[1] and is common in Baroque paintings. Tenebrism is used only to obtain a dramatic impact while chiaroscuro is a broader term, also covering the use of less extreme contrasts of light to enhance the illusion of three-dimensionality.

Artists

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The artist Caravaggio is generally credited with the invention of the style, although this technique was also used by earlier artists such as Albrecht Dürer in his several self portraits; by Tintoretto in his dramatic religious paintings, such as The Miracle of St Mark; by El Greco, who painted three versions of a composition with a boy, a man, and a monkey grouped in darkness around a single flame; and lesser known painters such as Adam Elsheimer, who painted night-scenes with a restricted lighted areas. The term is usually applied to artists from the 17th century onward.[citation needed]

Among the best known tenebrist artists are Italian, Dutch and Spanish followers of Caravaggio. These include the Italian Baroque follower of Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, who was an outstanding exponent of tenebrism.[2] Other exponents include the Dutch painters of the Utrecht School and the Spanish painters Francisco Ribalta, Jusepe de Ribera, and their followers, with the term most often being applied to these painters.[3]

Tenebrism is sometimes applied to other 17th-century painters in what has been called the "candlelight tradition". These include Georges de La Tour, who painted many works illuminated with a single candle, Trophime Bigot, Gerrit van Honthorst, and Rembrandt. In Flanders Adam de Coster was recognized as a leading tenebrist who excelled in scenes in which a single candle has its light blocked by an object.[4] The Dutch artist Godfried Schalcken painted many candle-lit scenes. The northern painters (but not always Rembrandt) often achieved a mood of stillness and tranquility through their extreme lighting, rather the reverse of the impression that Spanish painters intended. They are typically as interested in the very dimly-lit areas of the painting as the spot-lit ones, and their light diffuses gently across much of the picture area.[citation needed]

Later development

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Later, similar compositions were painted by Joseph Wright of Derby and other artists of the Romantic Movement, but the term is rarely used to characterize their work in general.[5]

See also

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• Effets de soir
• Low key

References

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1. ^ Lois Fichner-Rathus (January 2011). Foundations of Art and Design: An Enhanced Media Edition. Cengage Learning. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-111-77145-4.
2. ^ Thomas Buser (2006). Experiencing Art Around Us. Cengage Learning. p. 89. ISBN 0-534-64114-8.
3. ^ login.proxy1.library.jhu.edu https://login.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/login?qurl=https://academic.eb.com%2flevels%2fcollegiate%2farticle%2fFrancisco-Ribalta%2f63499. Retrieved 2025-09-07. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. ^ Notes on Adam de Coster at Sotheby's
5. ^ Policarp Hortolà i Gómez (April 2013). The aesthetics of haemotaphonomy : stylistic parallels between a science and literature and the visual arts. Editorial Club Universitario. p. 38. ISBN 978-84-9948-991-9.

External links

[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tenebrism.

• Baroque Painting: The Golden Age at Cartage.org
• Tenebrism at Art Lexicon
• Jusepe de Ribera, 1591–1652, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which includes material on Ribera and tenebrism

v t e Caravaggisti
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Artists in biographies by Giovanni Baglione Baroque Chiaroscuro Tenebrism Paintings attributed to Caravaggio
Dutch Caravaggisti	Dirck van Baburen Jan van Bijlert Paulus Bor Andries Both Hendrick Bloemaert Jan Gerritsz van Bronckhorst Hendrick ter Brugghen Wouter Crabeth II Gerard van Honthorst Matthias Stom
Flemish Caravaggisti	Flemish Baroque painting Adam de Coster Nicolas Régnier Theodoor Rombouts Gerard Seghers
French Caravaggisti	Trophime Bigot Valentin de Boulogne Georges de La Tour Jean LeClerc Nicolas Tournier Claude Vignon Simon Vouet
Italian Caravaggisti	Giovanni Baglione Marco Antonio Bassetti Orazio Borgianni Battistello Caracciolo Cecco del Caravaggio Bernardo Cavallino Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Domenico Fetti Paolo Domenico Finoglia Giovanni Antonio Galli Artemisia Gentileschi Orazio Gentileschi Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri Ottavio Leoni Bartolomeo Manfredi Mario Minniti Pietro Paolino Mattia Preti Orazio Riminaldi Carlo Saraceni Bartolomeo Schedoni Giovanni Serodine Carlo Sellitto Leonello Spada Massimo Stanzione Giuseppe Vermiglio
Spanish Caravaggisti	Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Francisco Ribalta Juan Ribalta Jusepe de Ribera Francisco de Zurbarán
Related topics Rembrandt Gerrit Dou Peter Paul Rubens Diego Velázquez