grisaille

views updated Jun 11 2018

grisaille.
1. Style of painting in grey monochrome to represent solid objects in relief, the objects being supposedly white and the shadows they project properly depicted by various grey tints. It was used on the external leaves of medieval triptych altarpieces. In Neo-Classical schemes of decoration it represents e.g. figures in Etruscan or Pompeian interiors.

2. Grey-tinted stained glass.

grisaille

views updated May 14 2018

grisaille a method of painting in grey monochrome, typically to imitate sculpture; a painting or stained-glass window in this style. The word comes (in the mid 19th century) from French, from gris ‘grey’.

grisaille

views updated Jun 08 2018

grisaille painting in grey monochrome. XIX. — F., f. gris grey.

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