[Translation of It. chiaroscuro or F. clair-obscur; a good deal used towards the end of the 18th c., but not now the usual term.] = CHIAROSCURO. Also fig.
1778. Phil. Surv. S. Irel., 443. Drawing and the clear-obscure were cultivated as an end.
1784. J. Barry, Lect. Art, v. (1848), 177. Neither does ‘the clear-obscure’ (which an ingenious writer has adopted) come fully to the desired point [understood by the Italian word chiaroscuro, and the French clair-obscur]; for the word ‘clear’ is … equivocal.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, II. 333. The clear obscure of Rembrandt.
1816. Byron, Parisina, i. In the heaven that clear obscure, So softly dark, and darkly pure, Which follows the decline of day.
1880. Daily News, 30 Sept., 5/1. A doubtful light, a sort of clear-obscure … thrown on the subject of dress.
