Topic 9 From light and tone to pattern

Question 1

What are the main features of the Enlightenment?

Answer 1

Included a range of ideas centered on…

• The value of human happiness.
• The pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the senses.
• Ideals such as natural law, liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.

Question 2

What were the 3 major ideas of the Enlightenment?

Answer 2

• Reason.
• Individualism.
• Skepticism.

Question 3

What was the Enlightenment period?

Answer 3

Was an intellectual and cultural movement in the eighteenth century that emphasized reason over superstition and science over blind faith.

Question 4

What can Light and tone be used for?

Answer 4

• To create a naturalistic image or a dramatic one.
• For narrative and symbolism.
• To create atmosphere.

Question 5

How many light sources can you see within the painting?

List these, together with their source and location.

Answer 5

1. Fire ~ in the brazier illuminating the white flesh of the young woman’s shoulder and breast and the white headdress of the older woman.
2. Candle ~ in the hand of the older woman (maidservant) which moves our eye across to the figure of the barber and so to the focal point of his scissors.
3. Small flame of the candle ~ beneath the statue in the niche far left.
4. Torch ~ of the soldiers standing in the doorway.

Question 6

What is Chiaroscuro?

Answer 6

Strong use of light and shade.

Question 7

What is Form?

Answer 7

The term artists use to describe objects with a sense of three-dimensional volume rather than being flat two-dimensional shapes.

Question 8

What is the most effective way to create the illusion of a three-dimensional figure?

Answer 8

Tonal modelling.

Question 9

How is Tonal modelling used?

Answer 9

Make an outline drawing → use a single light source to model it with light and shade, moving from highlights to shadows.

Question 10

What does Sfumato avoid?

Answer 10

Sharp outlines.

Question 11

What is Sfumato a much softer way of showing than tonal modelling?

Answer 11

Form.

Question 12

What certain styles rely heavily on outline drawing to represent the form of figures and objects?

Answer 12

Gothic and classical revival styles such as Renaissance and Neoclassical.

Question 13

What styles create form using shadow or patches of colour rather than line?

Answer 13

Baroque and Romantic art.

Question 14

What is Scale?

Answer 14

The actual size of the painting and its significance.

Question 15

What can have meaning within the work?

Answer 15

The scale of figures.

Question 16

What was decoration sometimes viewed with when applied to painting?

Answer 16

Suspicion or hostility.