CHIAROSCURO, or CLAIR-OBSCURE, in painting, the art of distributing to advantage the lights and shadows, both with respect to relief, and to general effect. The term is also applied to a design of only two colours, as black and white, or black and yellow; or to a design washed only with one colour, the shadows being brown, and the lights heightened up by white. It is likewise applied sometimes to prints of two colours taken off at twice.