grisaille

American  

[gri-zahy, -zeyl, gree-zah-y^uh] / grɪˈzaɪ, -ˈzeɪl, griˈzɑ yə /

noun

plural

grisailles

1. monochromatic painting in shades of gray.

2. a work of art, as a painting or stained-glass window, executed in grisaille.

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grisaille British  

/ ɡrizɑj, ɡrɪˈzeɪl /

noun

1. a technique of monochrome painting in shades of grey, as in an oil painting or a wall decoration, imitating the effect of relief

2. a painting, stained glass window, etc, in this manner

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Etymology

Origin of grisaille

1840–50; < French: painted in gray monotone, equivalent to gris gray + -aille noun suffix

Example Sentences

MFA’s example from that summer, “Three Boys on a Beached Dory,” is a charming grisaille work depicting the children, wearing broad-brimmed hats, looking at sailboats on the horizon.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025

Sterne’s work is a tall, abstracted cityscape in grisaille that looks, from a distance, drawn or somehow printed but, up close, reveals itself to be tenderly brushed.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 31, 2018

For example, I did a show in Berlin two years ago that was all grisaille — almost no color or very little color except red, black and white.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2018

Subtly cropped and enormously enlarged, they appear precariously close, atomized into grainy grisaille, and almost abstract in their simplicity.

From Architectural Digest • Mar. 5, 2015

The family of Jean P�nicaud, Jean Court de Vigier, Pierre Raymond and Pierre Courteys were all great names of artists who excelled in the grisaille process.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3 "Electrostatics" to "Engis" by Various