Editing Chiaroscuro (section)

==Use of the term==
[[File:Wright of Derby, The Orrery.jpg|thumb|[[Joseph Wright of Derby]] painted several large groups with strong chiaroscuro, such as ''[[A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery]]'', 1766]]
The French use of the term, {{lang|fr|'''clair-obscur'''}}, was introduced by the seventeenth-century art-critic [[Roger de Piles]] in the course of a famous argument (''Débat sur le coloris''), on the relative merits of drawing and colour in painting (his ''Dialogues sur le coloris'', 1673,<ref>Le rubénisme en Europe aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Volume 16 of Museums at the Crossroads, Michèle-Caroline Heck, University of Michigan, Brepols, 2005</ref> was a key contribution to the ''Débat'').

In English, the Italian term has been used{{mdash}}originally as {{lang|it|claro-obscuro}} and {{lang|it|chiaro-scuro}}<ref>{{citation |last= |first= |editor-last=Smellie |editor-first=William |editor-link=William Smellie |display-editors=0 |contribution=[[:s:Encyclopædia Britannica, First Edition/Chiaro-Scuro|Chiaro-Scuro]] |title=[[:s:EB1|Encyclopaedia Britannica]] |edition=1st |volume=II |date=1771 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[Colin Macfarquhar]] }}.</ref>{{mdash}}since at least the late seventeenth century. The term is less frequently used of art after the late nineteenth century, although the [[Expressionist]] and other modern movements make great use of the effect.

Especially since the strong twentieth-century rise in the reputation of Caravaggio, in non-specialist use the term is mainly used for strong chiaroscuro effects such as his, or Rembrandt's. As the [[Tate]] puts it: "Chiaroscuro is generally only remarked upon when it is a particularly prominent feature of the work, usually when the artist is using extreme contrasts of light and shade".<ref>[http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/chiaroscuro Tate Glossary]. Retrieved 30 August 2007.</ref><ref>For the history of the term, see {{cite book|last=Verbraeken|first=René|title=Clair-obscur, histoire d'un mot|year=1979|publisher=J. Laget|location=Nogent-le-Roi|isbn=2-85497-021-7}}</ref>