Grisaille
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 In painting, a method of working which employs only varying values of gray to create form. Often a preliminary step in a fully colored painting. countable, uncountable
"Very pertinent relationships between these grisailles of the vegetal type and Islamic transennas have been established by Eva Frodl-Kraft, between that of Obazine with palmettes enchâssées, and a transenna from the Umayyad castle of Qasr-el Heir al Gharbi (about 727-750), today reconstructed at the National Museum in Damascus, and with a plaque, probably of Syrian origin, reused over a tomb in San Marco in Venice."
- 2 chiaroscuro painting or stained glass etc., in shades of grey imitating the effect of relief wordnet
- 3 A stained-glass window in this style. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"Very pertinent relationships between these grisailles of the vegetal type and Islamic transennas have been established by Eva Frodl-Kraft, between that of Obazine with palmettes enchâssées, and a transenna from the Umayyad castle of Qasr-el Heir al Gharbi (about 727-750), today reconstructed at the National Museum in Damascus, and with a plaque, probably of Syrian origin, reused over a tomb in San Marco in Venice."
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French grisaille.
Related phrases
More for "grisaille"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.