The depiction of a full tonal range represents full yet soft lighting. In this range you will find full, dark shadows and well lit highlights, yet without loss of detail on either end of the spectrum.
The work below, "Jeunes Grecs a la Mosquée" by Jean-Leon Gerome, is a good example of a full tonal range image. You can see its beautiful depiction of detail and texture in the tonal extremes of the white skirt as well as the black areas of the jackets. Between these poles, we enjoy the full range of tonal color within rich reds and warm yellows. However, a painting can employ the full tonal range while controlling chroma (color intensity). Highly chromatic works can be very intense and are often not suited to classical realism. Classical works usually employ limited chroma that may be broken with small areas of intense color. In the work below, most of the colors, while clear and beautiful, are nonetheless limited in chroma; they are grayed colors. The exception is the strong red in the costume of the standing figure. But even this is a muted color compared to modern synthetic colors. However, a large neutral area will always intensify the appearance of a small area of purer chroma.
The biggest benefit to this type of lighting is the full modelling of form; objects appear very 3-dimensional. The strength of form is accentuated by the use of value contrast as well, most notably in the silhouetting of the dark standing figure against the light colored wall behind him.
With this lighting the colors are pure and clear as well, undistorted by extremes of light or shadow. The entire effect is one of strong spacial reality, but often of limited emotional intensity. Emotional effects can, however, be created within a full tone painting by other means, such as gesture and expression.
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