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Grisaille (/ɡrɪˈzaɪ/ or/ɡrɪˈzeɪl/;French:grisaille,lit. 'greyed'French pronunciation:[ɡʁizaj], fromgris 'grey') is apainting executed entirely in shades of black and grey or of another neutral greyish colour. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles include a slightly wider colour range.[1]
A grisaille may be executed for its own sake, asunderpainting for anoil painting (in preparation for glazing layers of colour over it), or as amodel for anengraver or otherprintmaker to work from. "Rubens and his school sometimes use monochrome techniques in sketching compositions for engravers."[2] By the 19th century many illustrations for books or magazines were made reproducing grisailles inwatercolour. Full colouring of a subject makes many more demands of an artist, and working in grisaille was often chosen as being quicker and cheaper, although the effect was sometimes deliberately chosen for aesthetic reasons. Grisaille paintings resemble thedrawings, normally in monochrome, that artists from the Renaissance on were trained to produce; like drawings they can also betray the hand of a less talented assistant more easily than a fully coloured painting.
Giotto used grisaille in the lower registers of his frescoes in theScrovegni Chapel in Padua (c. 1304) andRobert Campin,Jan van Eyck and their successors painted grisaille figures on the outsides of the wings oftriptychs, including theGhent Altarpiece. Originally these were the sides on display for most of the time, as the doors were normally kept closed except on feast days or at the (paid) request of tourists. However, today these images are typically unseen in museums, the triptych displayed in its open state, flat against a wall. In these cases, imitation of sculpture was intended, as sculpture remained more expensive than a painting, even one by an acknowledged master.
Limners often producedilluminated manuscripts in pen andwash with a very limited colour range, and many artists such asJean Pucelle (activec. 1320–1350) andMatthew Paris specialised in such work, which had been especially common in England sinceAnglo-Saxon times. Renaissance artists such asMantegna andPolidoro da Caravaggio often used grisaille to imitate the effect of a classicalsculptured relief orRoman painting.
In theLow Countries, a continuous tradition of grisaille painting can be traced fromEarly Netherlandish painting toMartin Heemskerck (1498–1574),Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, 1565) andHendrik Goltzius, and through the copious output ofAdriaen van de Venne, to the circle ofRembrandt andJan van Goyen.
Portions of the ceilingfrescoes of theSistine Chapel are executed in grisaille, as is the lower section of the great staircase decoration byAntonio Verrio (c. 1636 – 1707) atHampton Court.
Grisaille, while less widespread in the 20th century, persists as an artistic technique.Pablo Picasso's paintingGuernica (1937) stands as a prominent example.
Contemporary American painterHugo Bastidas has become known for black-and-white paintings that imitate the effect of grisaille and often resemble black-and-white photographs. His medium- and large-scale paintings feature contrasting zones of high and low detail.[3][4]
The term is also applied to monochrome painting in other media such as those involvingenamels, in which an effect similar to arelief in silver may be intended. Grisaille is also common instained glass, as the need for sections in different colours is greatly reduced, such as York Minster'sFive Sisters window. Portions of a window may be done in grisaille using, for example,silver stain or vitreous paint, while other sections are coloured glass.
Monochrome work is sometimes executed in colours other than grey: abrunaille is a painting executed entirely or primarily in shades of brown, while averdaille is the same for green. Such works are said to have been painteden brunaille oren verdaille, respectively.[5][6]
Brunaille andverdaille painting both have their roots in 12th centurystained glass made forCistercian monasteries, which prohibited the use of coloured art in 1134. The term "brunaille" was first used to refer to all-brown paintings in the 17th century.[6]
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![Student copy in grisaille after Jacques-Louis David[7]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aDavid_patroclus_mimsstudios_grisaille.jpg)
![Painted Fire Screen by Jacques Vigoureux Duplessis, The Walters Art Museum. The pair of figures on the right are in grisaille.[8]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aJacques_Vigoureux_Duplessis_-_Painted_Fire_Screen_-_Walters_372479.jpg)
