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Article: Pastel
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PASTEL
PASTEL.
The term "pastel" refers to a dry colored powdery artist's material, the stick or tool into which the material is formed, and the work of art executed with the stick. It also refers to an artistic practice that gives rise to a particular aesthetic approach, pastel painting. The term itself derives from the early modern European pastille (English),
pastel
(French), and
pastello
(Italian) used by grocers, apothecaries, and others to describe the various forms in which crushed or powdered substances, formed into viscous pastes, then shaped and dried, were dispensed.
Artists' pastel sticks may be differentiated from naturally available chalks by their constituents and the ...