I did a lot of complaining about bad use of chroma

in my last post. I was grous­ing about artists who use high chroma col­ors indis­crim­i­nately. So I thought I’d pro­vide an exam­ple of a good paint­ing with lots of intense color.

This is the Doni Tondo by Michelan­gelo. Notice the bright col­ors in the drap­ery, which dom­i­nate the paint­ing. Yet Michelan­gelo has care­fully pro­vided rests of dark dull col­ors and lighter tints. He uses chroma brilliantly.

So I don’t have a prob­lem with high chroma, just clue­less chroma.

It’s called the “Doni Tondo,” by the way, because it was com­mis­sioned for the daugh­ter of a guy whose last name was Doni. A tondo, of course, is a round paint­ing. It was painted circa 1506, when Michelan­gelo was 31 years old.