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Leonardo da Vinci: The Virgin of the Rocks
The Virgin of the Rocks, oil on wood by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1491/2–99 and 1506–08; in the National Gallery, London.
chiaroscuro
art technique
chiaroscuro, (from Italian chiaro, “light,” and scuro, “dark”), technique employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects. Some evidence exists that ancient Greek and Roman artists used chiaroscuro effects, but in European painting the technique was first brought to its full potential by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 15th century in such paintings as his Adoration of the Magi (1481). Thereafter, chiaroscuro became a primary technique for many painters, and by the late 17th century the term was routinely used to describe any painting, drawing, or print that depended for its effect ...(100 of 365 words)