Let's discuss another art term.
If you’ve ever driven around Los Angeles,
you’ve experienced sfumato. Through the smog, everything takes on a
misty, ethereal quality—Golden Arches meld imperceptibly with the San Gabriel
Mountains, palm fronds dissipate into the gray of the Disneyland
Matterhorn. It’s all very delightful
until you remember PM-10s are responsible for the effect.
Fortunately, the sfumato technique used in paintings
won’t give you lung cancer. The term,
which comes from the Italian fumo (“smoke”),
describes the process of blending colors so carefully that they merge without a
visible outline, resulting in a ‘smoky,’ soft-focus look. Leonardo da Vinci was a pioneer of the sfumato style, which was in stark contrast to the earlier Italian tradition of
sharp outlines.
You can see sfumato at work in the Mona
Lisa, especially where the subject’s right cheek blends with
her hair.
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