Cangiante: Difference between revisions

'''Cangiante''' ({{IPA|it|kanˈdʒante|lang}}) is a painting technique where, when using relatively pure colors, one changes to a different, darker color to show shading, instead of dulling the original color by darkening it with black or a darker related hue. According to the theory of the art historian [[Marcia B. Hall]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Marcia B.|title=Color and Meaning: Practice and Theory in Renaissance Painting|date=1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=978-0-521-45733-0}}</ref> which has gained considerable acceptance,<ref>{{cite web|title=Four Canonical Painting Modes by APA|url=http://artpaintingartist.org/the-four-canonical-painting-modes-of-the-renaissance/}}. Retrieved June 18, 2015.</ref> '''''cangiante''''' ({{IPA-it|kanˈdʒante|lang}})this is one of the [[canonical painting modes of the Renaissance]]; i.e. one of the four modes of painting colours available to Italian [[High Renaissance]] painters, along with [[sfumato]], [[chiaroscuro]] and [[unione]].<ref>Hall, Marcia B., ''Rome'' (series "Artistic Centers of the Italian Renaissance"), pp.148-150, 2005, Cambridge University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0521624452}}, 9780521624459, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gt5gtrqoKOIC&pg=PA148 google books]</ref> The word itself is the present participle of the Italian verb ''cangiare'' ("to change"). This approach to the use of color is sometimes referred to as "cangiantismo".

''Cangiante'' is characterized by a change in color necessitatedwhen bya anpainted originalobject color'schanges darknessfrom orlight lightnessto limitationdark (value) due to variations in illumination (light and shadow). For example, when in a painting shadowsan onobject aappears yellow objectin its illuminated area, the artist may use a red color simplyfor becauseattached theshadows yellowrather paintthan cannottransition beto madethe dark, less colorful, forms of yellow, i.e. yellow-brown, raw enoughumber. There are other methods of rendering shadows or highlights (for example, mixing the original hue with black or brown), but these can render the shadow color dull and impure. During the [[Renaissance]], the variety and availability of paint colors were severely limited.

The greatest practitioner of the ''cangiante'' technique was [[Michelangelo]],<ref>Hall, Marcia B., ''Rome'' (series "Artistic Centers of the Italian Renaissance"), pp.148-150, 2005, Cambridge University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0521624452}}, 9780521624459, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gt5gtrqoKOIC&pg=PA148 google books]</ref> especially in many parts of the [[Sistine Chapel ceiling]]. For example, in the image of the prophet [[Daniel (biblical figure)|Daniel]], a transition from green to yellow is evident in the subject's robes. This technique is in contrast to the "chiaroscuro" method of Leonardo and, later, Caravaggio, where attached shadows generally appeared simply as a darker form of the object's color ("local color"),or transitioned to nearly colorless dark earth colors. After Michelangelo's time, the technique found widespread acceptance and is now a standard painting technique.