Monday, January 26, 2009

Words of the Day: "GRISAILLE" and "EN CAMAIEU"

Grisaille
Pronounced: "gree ZYE" or "griz ZYE"
From the French, a monochromatic (typically shades of grey) painting aimed at creating the look of carved marble. 

En camaieu
Pronounced: "ahn ka mah YUR"
Also from the French, when a painting is in just two tones of color and not trying to imitate marble, it is called "en camaieu".

Compare these 18th Century Italian grisaille panels with the 16th century Italian en camaieu panel below them:

Grisaille:
List price: $105,000 USD

En camaieu:
List price for a pair: $324,000 USD

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Grisaille's pictured are stunning. I will have my designer contact you on the pair.

Chris
Google Inc.