Caravaggio is probably the artist most associated with the term chiaroscuro. He produced many paintings comprising dark backgrounds lit dramatically by a single light source or shaft of light. Although chiaroscuro had been used by artists before him, Caravaggio used more extremes of light and dark in his paintings - with virtually black backgrounds and very pale figures. Most of his commissions were on religious themes, and the dramatic, theatrical nature of his paintings suited his subjects very well.
For example, in "The Calling of St Matthew" (1599-1600) he uses a shaft of light coming through an open window to describe the moment a man turns to God. For a religious painting of the time, it is a very subtle message, but one which works well.
Another painting which uses 'divine light' is " The Conversion of St. Paul, 1601". Although this painting has a lot more colour than many of Caravaggio's painting, and is not tonally as dramatic, the imagery of a man flat on his back with his arms accepting the light of God is very strong. Caravaggio has still made the background very dark, and used the white of the horse's coat to guide the viewer's eye towards the prone figure on the ground.
In " The Incredulity of St. Thomas, 1602-03", Caravaggio again uses a flat, black background with the four figures in a central composition. Even though the three on-lookers are wearing bright clothing (red and yellow), even these melt into the blackness at the bottom of the painting to keep the focus on the faces of the subjects. The figure of Jesus himself is draped in a white cloth, with the light (not shown in the painting) coming from the left-hand side of him. This focuses all the highlights, and attention of the painting, on that figure. Compositionally, everything leads to the wound on Jesus' side - the drapes of the fabric, the eye-gaze of all the subjects and the hands of Jesus and St Thomas.
"Tenebrism" is a term sometimes used in conjunction with chiaroscuro, and especially Caravaggio: Wikipedia defines it as "a style of painting using very pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image".
Rubens developed chiaroscuro so that the dark areas were not so intense, and added subtle details. In "The Conclusion of Peace, 10th August 1620, 1621-25 (oil on canvas)", Rubens used strong tonal contrasts but, as can be seen in the background, added detail to the sky and the building. This differs from Caravaggio's paintings, which frequently only consisted of the figures or a very intimate background. Ruben's paintings put the subjects into a landscape that gives more of a narrative to the paintings
In "Head Study of a Bearded Man, c.1617 (oil on panel)", Rubens uses chiaroscuro to concentrate on the face of the man. The strong angled light creates strong planes on the face, the puts the whole area under the cheekbone into shadow, along with the hair, which allows the artist to depict the hair with a few curls of grey/white paint. Although a sketch, the detail on the man's face is incredible and captures a great deal of gravitas and emotion.
"The Crowning with Thorns, 1602 (oil on panel)" is a painting that uses strong chiaroscuro selectively - the background figures and scene have contrasting tones, but the strongest contrast is reserved for and around the figure of Jesus. His skin and draped fabric have the palest tones, while the area around his feet has some of the darkest tones, drawing the viewer to that area of the painting. The figure of Jesus is also made the centre of the painting by using a C-curve composition: the use of the light from the lantern in the background illuminates the spiral stairs, drawing the eye down into the centre of the painting.
Rembrant's use of chiaroscuro was more subtle than either Rubens or Caravaggio - his works appear to be lit with soft light, rather than the 'spotlight' effect of some earlier works. In his painting " Portrait of Rembrandt's Mother (oil on canvas)" Rembrandt depicts his mother hunched over a large book, as if struggling to read the text - whether due to old age/poor lighting or both - and whilst both the book and face are illuminated, it is more subtle and gentle than say, a Caravaggio portrait. The artist also makes sure that, whilst the book is a lighter tone than the face, the face is completed in much more detail to attract the viewer.
One of Rembrandt's most famous works " The Nightwatch, c.1642 (oil on canvas)" again uses a subtle chiaroscuro to bring to life his painting and focus the viewer's attention. The main characters in this painting are the two men at the front, and the small child peering through the group. They are painted wearing much lighter costumes than the other characters, but are a subtle yellow/cream rather than bright white. He has also made certain 'background' characters stand our more by painting them wearing ruffs and white collars to highlight their faces. There is detail in the background, but it is painted in muted dark tones so as not to detract from the main characters in the foreground. The light in this painting is bright enough to illuminate the characters, but the warm tones and long shadows suggest candle or firelight.
An artist who took the candlelit scene further was Joseph Wright of Derby. Many of his paintings are warm, intimate household scenes, frequently showing the participants involved in candle-lit activities, such as the girl reading a letter by candlelight "A Girl reading a letter by Candlelight, with a Young Man peering over her shoulder, c.1760-2". Here, the artist has cleverly put the candle behind the letter to illuminate the scene, casting light up towards here and through the paper – the girl’s hand almost being in silhouette.
Wright again uses silhouetted figures in the two paintings below:
In “The Orrery” (had to look this up – according to Wikipedia, an orrery is “a mechanical device that illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System in a heliocentric model”), he places the foreground figure into total silhouette which creates a strong contrast between the light coming from the machine, and the fascinated figures of the two small children peering over the edge to see the device.
Whilst looking up the historical uses of chiaroscuro, I came across two modern proponents of the type of work: Peter Layzell and James Gillick.
Peter Layzell uses candlelight in his portraits in the same way as Joseph Wright did – to illuminate the faces of his sitters, but in a more photo-realistic way. The painting below, Night Light, 2003, shows a small child peering into a china cup holding a night-light. Although this creates a very strong chiaroscuro effect, he adds a window space in the background which makes the scene more contemporary, and the ‘v’ created by her arms resting on the table focuses the view both down towards the cup, and upwards to her downturned face.
James Gillick’s paintings concentrate more on a modern still life – showing only single or a couple of objects in a very realistic manner. “George III Silver Cream Jug, 2009” shows a silver jug standing on white paper against a black background – a monochromatic painting only broken by the small amount of brown paint to describe the edge of the table. The reflection of the black background onto the silver describes the highly reflective quality of the silver, while showing off the form of the jug.
Another still life of his I admire is “Three Chrysanthemums” – a still life of three white chrysanthemums in a black vase sitting on a wooden table. Again, it is a contemporary interpretation of a still life in detail, lit from the front without the light source showing. The table is more loosely painted to allow the eye to concentrate more on the vase of flowers and the two leaves fallen on the table.
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