Chiaroscuro Woodcuts
Chiaroscuro woodcuts are old master prints in woodcut using two or more blocks printed in different colours; not necessarily strongly contrasting light and dark. They were first invented by Hans Burgkmair in Germany in 1508, and first made in Italy by Ugo da Carpi before 1516. Other printmakers to use the technique include Cranach, Hans Baldung Grien and Parmigianino. In Germany the technique was only in use for a few years around 1520, but Italians continued to use it throughout the sixteenth century, and later artists like Goltzius sometimes made use of it. In the German style, one block usually had only lines and is called the "line block", whilst the other block or blocks had flat areas of colour and are called "tone blocks". The Italians usually used only tone blocks, for a very different effect, much closer to the drawings the term was originally used for, or watercolours.
According to one definition of the term, they were first invented by Lucas Cranach in Germany in 1507. In some German two-block prints, the keyblock (or "line block") was printed in black and the tone block or blocks had flat areas of colour. In Italy, chiaroscuro woodcuts were produced without keyblocks to achieve a very different effect. They resembled the style of wash drawings also known as chiaroscuro.
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