:: COMPARE ::
The short answer
Both use strong light-dark contrast. Chiaroscuro is the general technique; tenebrism is its extreme, where darkness dominates the whole scene and figures seem spotlit out of black.
Side by side
| Aspect | Chiaroscuro | Tenebrism |
|---|---|---|
| Contrast | Strong | Extreme |
| Darkness | Present | Dominates |
| Relationship | The broad technique | A subset of it |
| Feel | Volume, depth | Drama, menace |
What each one means
Chiaroscuro is the dramatic use of strong contrast between light and dark. In art, film, and writing, it's how a single source of light carves shape, tension, and mood out of surrounding shadow. In its narrower art-historical sense it is simply the modelling of three-dimensional form with light and shade — as in a chiaroscuro drawing or woodcut.
Full definition of Chiaroscuro →The contrast above sets out how Tenebrism differs from Chiaroscuro on the points that actually matter.