Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A cameo.
- noun In the arts: A painting executed in a single color, varied only by shades, as of gray, when it is called
en grisaille , or in yellow, en cirage; a monochrome painting. - noun A painting in two or three tints, as of brown, red, yellow, or green, in which the natural hues of the objects represented are not rendered.
- noun A species of printing with several blocks, of uniform tint, or of two or three pale tints, and tones of different degrees of intensity, which produces the effect of a stump- or pencil-drawing.
- noun An imitation of pen-and-ink drawings on colored paper by means of two blocks, one having the design engraved upon it in outline with cross-hatchings, and the other colored in bister, with all the lights taken out, so as to leave the ground of the paper white. The impression may be finished with brush or pencil.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A cameo.
- noun (Fine Arts) Painting in shades of one color; monochrome.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun art A style of
painting in a small range ofmonochrome colours
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Painters en camaieu wanted only one color, often sepia or black.
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A note in one of Leonardo's manuscripts speaks of twenty-four Roman subjects, probably small decorative groups in _camaieu_, painted on the vaulting of these rooms, and gives the exact cost of the blue, gold, and enamel employed, but all trace of these decorations has vanished.
Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, 1475-1497 Julia Mary Cartwright Ady 1887
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The after-fashion for grisailles or _camaieu gris_ has reference probably rather to stained glass than to carving.
Illuminated Manuscripts John William Bradley 1873
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A single oblong mirror is placed above the fireplace; the top of its frame represented the Dawn led by the Hours, and painted in camaieu (two shades of one color).
An Old Maid Honor�� de Balzac 1824
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A single oblong mirror is placed above the fireplace; the top of its frame represented the Dawn led by the Hours, and painted in camaieu (two shades of one color).
The Jealousies of a Country Town Honor�� de Balzac 1824
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_caryatides_ in camaieu is of a richness of ornamentation in keeping with the rest of the volume.
Illuminated Manuscripts John William Bradley 1873
qms commented on the word camaieu
In Nippon a volcano's pall
Has smothered the colors of Fall:
The once vivid milieu
Now a pale camaieu,
A landscape in monochrome thrall.
September 28, 2014