Editing Chiaroscuro (section)

===Chiaroscuro woodcuts===
[[File:Mary Coriolano2.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Chiaroscuro woodcut of the Virgin and Child by [[Bartolommeo Coriolano]], created between 1630 and 1655 (digitally restored)]]

Chiaroscuro woodcuts are [[old master print]]s in [[woodcut]] using two or more blocks printed in different colours; they do not necessarily feature strong contrasts of light and dark. They were first produced to achieve similar effects to chiaroscuro drawings. After some early experiments in book-printing, the true chiaroscuro woodcut conceived for two blocks was probably first invented by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]] in Germany in 1508 or 1509, though he backdated some of his first prints and added tone blocks to some prints first produced for monochrome printing, swiftly followed by [[Hans Burgkmair the Elder]].<ref>Landau and Parshall, 179–192; ''Renaissance Impressions: Chiaroscuro Woodcuts from the Collections of Georg Baselitz and the Albertina, Vienna'', [[Royal Academy]], London, March–June 2014, exhibition guide.</ref> The [[formschneider]] or block-cutter who worked in the press of [[Johannes Schott]] in [[Strasbourg]] is claimed to be the first one to achieve chiaroscuro woodcuts with three blocks.<!-- doubted by modern sources --><ref name=steiff>{{cite book |last=Steiff |chapter=Schott, Johannes|title=Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie |volume=32 |year=1891 |pages=402–404 |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd124577008.html#adbcontent  |access-date=11 August 2021 |language=de}}</ref> Despite [[Vasari]]'s claim for Italian precedence in [[Ugo da Carpi]], it is clear that his, the first Italian examples, date to around 1516<ref>Landau and Parshall, 150</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wdct/ho_17.50.1.htm |title=Ugo da Carpi after Parmigianino: Diogenes (17.50.1) &#124; Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History &#124; The Metropolitan Museum of Art |publisher=Metmuseum.org |date=2012-02-03 |access-date=2012-02-18}}</ref> But other sources suggest, the first chiaroscuro woodcut to be the ''Triumph of Julius Caesar'', which was created by [[Andrea Mantegna]], an Italian painter, between 1470 and 1500.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Italian Renaissance and Cultural Memory |last=Emison |first=Patricia A. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-107-00526-6 |location=New York |pages=105–107}}</ref> Another view states that: "Lucas Cranach backdated two of his works in an attempt to grab the glory" and that the technique was invented "in all probability" by Burgkmair "who was commissioned by the emperor Maximilian to find a cheap and effective way of getting the imperial image widely disseminated as he needed to drum up money and support for a crusade".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/mar/11/revolutionary-chiaroscuro-woodcuts-british-exhibition | work=The Guardian | first=Mark | last=Brown | title=Revolutionary chiaroscuro woodcuts win first British exhibition | date=11 March 2014|access-date=11 March 2014}}</ref>

Other [[printmaker]]s who have used this technique include [[Hans Wechtlin]], [[Hans Baldung Grien]], and [[Parmigianino]]. In Germany, the technique achieved its greatest popularity around 1520, but it was used in Italy throughout the sixteenth century. Later artists such as [[Hendrick Goltzius|Goltzius]] sometimes made use of it. In most German two-block prints, the keyblock (or "line block") was printed in black and the tone block or blocks had flat areas of colour. In Italy, chiaroscuro woodcuts were produced without keyblocks to achieve a very different effect.<ref>David Landau & Peter Parshall, ''The Renaissance Print'', pp. 179–202; 273–81 & passim; Yale, 1996, {{ISBN|0-300-06883-2}}</ref>