Grisaille (from the French gris – “gray”) is a type of art in which the artist creates a work (painting, painting or drawing) using various shades of gray or another neutral color. It is ideal for imitating a sculptural relief on a flat surface using a variety of painting and graphic techniques.

Grisaille is traditionally used by painters as an underpainting (for applying a preliminary drawing to canvas or paper) for further work on the painting using the glazing technique. In addition, this type of art is in demand in art schools. With its help, novice artists learn to subtly distinguish and use in practice the smallest shades of colors.

Features of grisaille

Grisaille cannot be called a technique or a type of painting (graphics). It is a separate type of fine art. Visually, the painting made by the artist is more reminiscent of a drawing with charcoal, sanguine or pastel, although when creating it, the author usually uses oil or watercolor paints, which he applies with a brush.

Initially, grisaille was the name given only to paintings made in gray shades. To designate similar works of art created in brown tones, there was the term “brunaille”, and in green – “verdaille”. But today there is no such division. The name grisaille has become generally accepted for all monochrome colors and is widely used in the artistic environment.

History

The history of grisaille, according to the most conservative estimates, is more than 700 years old. Although people learned to create monochrome images back in ancient times, this type of art was practically unknown until the beginning of the Renaissance.

The first surviving examples of grisaille date back to the beginning of the 14th century. They can be found in the lower fragments of Giotto’s frescoes (Giotto di Bondone) in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. A little later, monochrome paintings began to be used by architects and sculptors of the Early Renaissance to present preliminary projects to customers.

A century later, grisaille found a new, very worthy use. Artists began to decorate the outer wings of painted altars (triptychs and polyptychs) with monochrome images. In that distant era, Catholic churches had strict rules. The altars were open only during festive services, and on other days their wings were tightly closed.

The paintings made on the outer walls skillfully imitated sculptural images and harmoniously fit into the interior of the cathedral or church. The creation of grisaille was also profitable for financial reasons, since it was much cheaper than painting a colorful multi-colored picture.

Many outstanding masters of fine art were involved in making grisailles for altars at that time, including: Robert Campin; Jan van Eyck; Hieronymus Bosch; Albrecht Dürer; Matthias Grünewald.

By the middle of the 16th century, artists began to use grisaille in easel painting. Masterpieces by Pieter Bruegel de Oude “Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery” (1565), Rembrandt “Adoration of the Magi” and many other famous monochrome paintings have survived to this day.

Since the 17th century, artistic painting of walls with grisaille has found wide application in architecture. The interiors of many majestic buildings built in the Baroque, Neoclassical and Empire styles are still decorated with skillful imitation of sculptural compositions.

Despite the emergence of new painting and graphic techniques, grisaille remained a popular form of art throughout the following centuries. Even the great Pablo Picasso used monochrome colors when painting his famous masterpiece Guernica in 1937.

To this day, grisaille has not lost its popularity among painters of different styles and genres. On the contrary, thanks to the huge variety of modern art materials, creating monochrome paintings has become much easier for both experienced professionals and students of specialized schools and painting courses.