chi·a·ro·scu·ro
kyärəˈsk(y)o͝orō | noun
1. The treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
2. Mid 17th century, from Italian:
chiaro = ‘clear, bright’ (Latin clarus )
+
oscuro = ‘dark, obscure’ (Latin obscurus )
History is like a Rembrandt painting: some parts are clear, while others have been lost in the shadows of time.
Out of the shadows, the little details are illuminated - clear and bright, full of life immortal.
As I wandered Amsterdam's hallways, galleries, artists' studios and living quarters, visions came to me in fragments...
weathered leather seats, indicating the outline of the sitter.
several old protractors.
a box, dusty now, filled with butterflies stuck on pins.
a pair of reading glasses.
the set of eyes they belonged to: creased lids unable to hide the inquisitive twinkle held within.
a wicker chair, the seat of which is sagging.
a candle by the bed...
the bed itself is boxy, the pillows bolstered, the sleeper laying in a sitting position for health's sake.
a window overlooking the canals and passersby.
a sitter, on a settee, her gaze languid in the morning sun.
copper pots and pans, and a huge hearth in the downstairs kitchen.
thousands of chipped blue and white tiles, showing little boys and girls and windmills.
many creaky sets of stairs.
flowers in a vase, beside a moulding orange.
a stiff lace collar.
a human skull.
a set of used oil paints, and the smell of turpentine.
These are the fragments of beautiful human lives.
