Rome and It’s Light: The “Chiaroscuro” Technique

The lighting in Rome, across hours of the day and night, is undoubtedly one of the most striking aspects of the city. This light, with its ability to cast shadows and rays, has been a tool utilized by artists and photographers alike across time and artistic mediums. Examples of this can be found throughout the ancient city of Rome in paintings and sculpture created during the Baroque period, and can now be seen in modern photographs taken by current-day artists. Within art, this technique of manipulating light is called “Chiaroscuro”.

Identified by art historians as a widespread technique beginning in the Renaissance, this practice is highly recognizable in Baroque works. The Baroque period in Rome saw the flourishing of Italian artists such as Caravaggio, Bernini, Carracci, and much more. They are some of the most recognizable examples of the employment of Chiaroscuro, which is simply defined as the stark contrast between light and dark in a piece of art. This function of shadow work and shading is present in sculptural and painted works scattered across the city of Rome in its churches and galleries.

Whether in Caravaggio’s San Girolamo found in the Galleria Borghese or in Bernini’s sculpture, Saint Teresa in Ecstasy, found in Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome’s light is an integral part of the art produced by it’s artists. The photography of today is no exception to this practice. Though this term was coined in relation to art forms such as painting and sculpture, photographers have employed this technique in order to produce images with high contrast and creative uses of shadow.

In photography, the Chiaroscuro style is most identifiable through the employment of light as a stark contrast against a dark background. In the most easily definable examples of this style, a single subject against a dark background with a light source that leaves a compelling or dramatic effect on the subject is often present. Through utilizing light to draw the viewers eye, this technique evokes drama and emotion.

Photographic chiaroscuro, though commonly used with manipulated light sources, can also be derivative of the manipulation of authentic, natural light. Through playing with shadows, rays of light, or naturally occurring contrasts, a photographer can employ Chiaroscuro in natural settings as well.

Rome, a city containing a plethora of tones and intensities of light over a twenty-four hour period, is the perfect place to practice and capture the Chiaroscuro style. Whether photographing a monument, an authentic moment at a café, or a manipulated, posed shoot on the cities’s streets, Rome presents a unique possibility to embody a rich, dynamic photographic style practiced by artists across time.

Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/art/Renaissance-art
https://www.cacei.ro/chiaroscuro-a-photographer-guide-to-this-technique/

-Samantha Wolfe