repoussoir
Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- noun An object in the foreground of a painting, which leads the viewer's eye towards the principal figure, increasing the sense of depth.
Examples
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There was no rain; there was only, all the afternoon, a mild, moist wind and a sky magnificently black; which made a repoussoir for the paler cliffs of the fountain.
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In 1823, he paints it for Bishop Fisher – Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds, a strange work, the church rendered flat and thin behind a repoussoir screen of trees and cows.
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The eldest daughter acts as a dark repoussoir to concentrate our attention on the infant heir in white, and the younger daughter supports the brat in his bold full-frontal pose (Reynolds would have made him an infant Henry VIII).
Brian Sewell, 'Face to Face with Constable,' London Evening Standard, March 20, 2009
Note
This word is French in origin and in the 18th century referred to a medical instrument.
