Unione
{{Short description|Renaissance painting technique}}
{{context|date=January 2019}}
File:La-belle-jardiniere.jpg, showing the use of unione]]
According to the theory of the art historian Marcia B. Hall, which has gained considerable acceptance, unione ({{IPA|it|uˈnjoːne|lang}}) is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance; that is, one of four modes of painting colours available to Italian High Renaissance painters,Hall, Marcia B., Rome (series "Artistic Centers of the Italian Renaissance"), pp. 148–150, 2005, Cambridge University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0521624452}}, 9780521624459, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gt5gtrqoKOIC&pg=PA148 google books]{{cite web|title=Four Canonical Painting Modes by APA|url=http://artpaintingartist.org/the-four-canonical-painting-modes-of-the-renaissance/}}. Retrieved June 18, 2015. along with sfumato, chiaroscuro and cangiante.{{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Marcia B.|title=Color and Meaning: Practice and Theory in Renaissance Painting|date=1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York |isbn=978-0-521-45733-0}} Unione was developed by Raphael, who exemplified it in the Stanza della Segnatura.Hall, Marcia B., Rome (series "Artistic Centers of the Italian Renaissance"), pp. 148–150, Cambridge University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0521624452}}, 9780521624459, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gt5gtrqoKOIC&pg=PA148 Google Books]
Unione is similar to sfumato, but is more useful for the edges of chiaroscuro, where vibrant colors are involved. As with chiaroscuro, unione conveys the contrasts, and as sfumato it strives for harmony and unity, but also for coloristic richness.{{Cite book|title=Color and Technique in Renaissance Painting: Italy and the North|last=Hall|first=Marcia B.|date=1987|publisher=J. J. Augustin|language=en}} Unione is softer than chiaroscuro in the search for the right tonal key. There should be the harmony between light and dark, without the excesses and accentuation of a chiaroscuro mode.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBMNDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA190|title=Utopia(s) - Worlds and Frontiers of the Imaginary: Proceedings of the 2nd International Multidisciplinary Congress, October 20–22, 2016, Lisbon, Portugal |last1=Monteiro|first1=Maria do Rosário|last2=Kong|first2=Mário S. Ming|last3=Neto|first3=Maria João Pereira|date=2016-11-03|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781351966832|language=en}}