grisaille

(noun)

in painting, a method of working which employs only varying values of gray to create form; often a preliminary step in a fully colored painting

Related Terms

Examples of grisaille in the following topics:

  • Illuminated Manuscripts

    • Pucelle's work was characterized by delicate figures and the use of the primarily monochromatic grisaille technique with additional touches of color.

  • Islamic Book Painting

    • The paintings of Reza Abbasi figure largely in this new form of book art, depicting one or two larger figures, typically idealized beauties in a garden setting, often using the grisaille techniques previously used for background border paintings .

  • Norman Stained Glass

    • Most cathedrals of the period had a mixture of windows containing plain or grisaille glass and windows containing dense stained glass panels, with the result that the brightness of the former tended to diminish the impact and legibility of the latter.