Chiaroscuro Drawing on Toned Paper

Chiaroscuro is a drawing technique that combines white body color with a dark medium (such as metalpoint, ink, or chalk) on a middle-tone colored ground. This method was central to Renaissance drawing practices because it closely aligns with the painting process. Renaissance tempera painting follows the same logic, building volumes from a local middle-tone color and transitioning to darker and lighter shades of the same color through a skillful combination of available pigments.

Vasari mentions the technique of chiaro e scuro (or chiaroscuro) on multiple occasions, both in relation to drawing on middle-tone papers and to a specific type of grisaille painting that begins with a middle-tone underpainting. It is primarily to him, and specifically to the following quote, that we owe the widespread (though often vague and erroneous) use of this term today.

This drawing method enabled artists to clearly distinguish between shadow and light masses, using the paper’s middle tone as an integral, active element of the composition. Notably, in the most masterful drawings executed in this technique, darker tones and white highlights are carefully separated and rarely or never overlap.

The importance of this technique and its relationship to painting becomes clear when one reads Vasari’s or Cennini’s descriptions of the painting process, which emphasize the manipulation of light and dark values emerging from a middle tone. These accounts highlight how the balance and interaction of these tonal values are central to achieving depth, form, and the illusion of three-dimensionality in a painting.

Within these dark and light masses, artists introduced additional tonal values. Vasari suggested painting with a scale of 9 premixed tonal values. Instead, Leonardo da Vinci noted that at least four distinct values were typically used by expert painters, though he acknowledged that tonal values in nature are infinite. This is important thought that highlights how Renaissance drawing as a whole, does not always seek to create an identical copy of reality. Instead, it offers a poetic interpretation, simplifying nature’s infinite complexity into a comprehensible and balanced set of principles.

In his book on painting, Alberti discusses both the process and the stylistic aspects of chiaroscuro drawing (and painting in general), emphasizing the importance of restraint in using extreme grayscale values—avoiding the overuse of both the darkest darks and the brightest lights. This golden rule was largely respected by Leonardo and artists within his circle, who prioritized delicate elegance and the pursuit of true tonal values. However, this approach quickly fell out of fashion with artists like Dürer and Tintoretto, who often employed the dramatic power of pure black and pure white tones with striking efficiency.

Renaissance artists created chiaroscuro drawings on colored grounds using the three primary drawing media available during their time. Note that in all three media, modeling is predominantly achieved through hatching. Pure washes, such as those seen in the above drawing by Giorgio Vasari, are rare during this period.

Chiaroscuro with Metalpoint

Artists within Andrea del Verrocchio’s circle—such as Lorenzo di Credi, Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Leonardo da Vinci, and his disciples—frequently combined chiaroscuro techniques with metalpoint drawing to produce portrait and composition studies. Although some metalpoint marks have faded over time (often due to the presence of copper in the silverpoint alloy), and lead white highlights have occasionally darkened, these drawings continue to captivate us with their elegance, delicacy, and precision.

Master Drawings:

If you wish to create a drawing with metalpoint on a colored ground, it is essential to remember that the ground must still be suitable for silverpoint drawing. Therefore, the primary ingredient in your pigment mixture should remain bone ash. The proces of making white body color is discussed in a dedicated article on Ars Pictoria website.

Examples of Student Works:

Chiaroscuro with Ink

Albrecht Dürer and his workshop extensively used ink combined with white body paint on colored grounds to create striking and highly detailed drawings. Most of the drawing was done with a brush, the use of pens in chiaroscuro technique seems to be quite rare. This is likely because dip pens are less compatible with liquefied media, such as the gradations of diluted ink commonly used in this technique.

While most dark tones were modeled through hatching, some very transparent washes were also applied. White paint was typically applied with hatching as well, often using its full covering power, as hatching itself allows for control over the intensity and luminosity of the drawn surfaces. However, it is not uncommon to find delicate washes of white or dry brush applications, which create a more textured effect.

Cennino Cennini offers a helpful description of the ink drawing process, providing general guidance on tonal drawing with inks after the composition’s outline has been briefly sketched with metalpoint. Notably, Cennini advises using an almost dry brush, which is a key distinguishing feature of Renaissance ink drawing and tempera painting, setting it apart from later drawing and painting styles.

He also provides great detail on the process of drawing on toned paper with ink and white gouache.

HOW YOU SHOULD DRAW AND SHADE WITH WASHES ON TINTED PAPER, AND THEN PUT LIGHTS ON WITH WHITE LEAD. CHAPTER XXXI
When you have mastered the shading, take a rather blunt brush; and with a wash of ink in a little dish proceed to mark out the course of the dominant folds with this brush; and then proceed to blend the dark part of the fold, following its course. And this wash ought to be practically like water, just a little tinted, and the brush ought to be almost always practically dry. Without trying to hurry, go on shading little by little, always going back with this brush into the darkest areas. Do you know what will come of it? —If this water is just a little tinted, and you shade with enjoyment, and without hurrying, you will get your shadows well blended, just like smoke [ombre a modo di un fummo bene sfumate]

. Remember always to work with the flat of the brush. When you have gone as far as you can with this shading, take a drop or two of ink and put it into this wash, and mix it up well with this brush. And then in the same way pick out the very bottoms of those folds with this brush, picking out their foundations carefully; always remembering your shading, that is, to divide into three sections: one section, shadow; the next, the color of your ground; the next, with lights put on it.

When you have got this done, take a little white lead well worked up with gum arabic. (I will explain this to you later on, how this gum is to be dissolved and melted; and I will explain about all the temperas.) Ever so little white lead is enough. Have some clear water in a little dish, and moisten this same brush of yours in it; and rub it over this ground white lead in the little dish, especially if this is dried up. Then dress it on the back of your hand or your thumb, shaping and squeezing out this brush, and getting it empty, practically draining it. And begin rubbing the brush flat over and into the areas where the high light and relief are to come; and proceed to go over them many times with your brush, and handle it judiciously.
Then, for the accents of the reliefs, in the greatest prominence, take a pointed brush, and touch in with white lead with the tip of this brush, and crisp up the tops of these high lights. Then proceed to crisp up with a small brush, with straight ink, marking out the folds, the outlines, noses, eyes, and the divisions in the hairs and beards.

HOW YOU MAY PUT ON LIGHTS WITH WASHES OF WHITE LEAD JUST AS YOU SHADE WITH WASHES OF INK. CHAPTER XXXII
I advise you, furthermore, when you get to be more experienced, to try to put on lights perfectly with a wash, just as you do the wash of ink. Take white lead ground with water, and temper it with yolk of egg; and it blends like an ink wash, but it is harder for you to handle, and more experience is needed. All this is known as drawing on tinted paper, and it is the path to lead you to the profession of painting. Follow it constantly as much as you can, for it is the essence of your study. Apply yourself to it enthusiastically, and with great enjoyment and pleasure.

The craftsman’s handbook by Cennini, Cennino, active 15th century; translated by Thompson, Daniel Varney, 1902- ed

In this citation, Cennini truly encapsulates everything we need to know about the technique. To summarize: begin with very diluted paints, work with an almost dry brush, reserve the maximum lights and darks for the final steps, and above all, be diligent and patient in your approach.

Note also how both Cennini and Alberti use the word “smoke” (fumo in Italian and sfumato which in Italian means blended) to describe the successful blending of tones. Leonardo da Vinci’s sfumato technique is a development of this idea: not only are tonal transitions on the surface of an object to be diffused, but even the outlines of objects should be softened like smoke, as our eyes do not register distinct lines contouring bodies.

Master Drawings:

Examples of Student Works:

Chiaroscuro with Chalks

In the 16th century, with the growing popularity of drawing chalks, many artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, Andrea del Sarto, and later Rubens, Barocci, Bernini, and others, adopted both natural and fabricated chalks to create drawings on either hand-colored or readily available toned papers, such as the famous carta azzurra commonly used by Venetian artists. Chalk, being a practical, soft, and expressive drawing medium, was perfectly suited to the more expressive, direct, and pastose oil painting style that ultimately prevailed during the Baroque period.

Benvenuto Cellini, in his treatises, mentions the practice of using dark and white chalks for drawing on toned papers:

Learn more about drawing with chalks in the dedicated article on Ars Pictoria website.

Master Drawings: