Word of the Day - Grisaille

[debodun]

Grisaille (noun) - a method of painting in gray monochrome.

Many artists including Robert Campin, Hugo van der Goes, Hans Memling, Hieronymus Bosch and Jan van Eyck painted the exterior shutters of winged doors in muted grisaille tones to imitate the voluminous effect of sculpture.

 

[ohioboy]

My artistry skills do not include Grisaille, as a matter of fact, I can't draw at all!

 

[Lavinia]

The word 'gris' means grey in French, so this is obviously the root of the word grisaille. A grey painting.....sounds rather depressing!

 

[ohioboy]

The word 'gris' means grey in French, and the word "Vert" in French means Green, ergo Vermont, green mountain state.

 

[Em in Ohio]

As a fan of high contrast and accent colors, I find some works using the grisaille technique a bit dull. Today, most computer paint programs will transform a full color image to appear like a grisaille work by clicking "convert to grey scale."