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Painterly characterizes the work of Rembrandt or Renoir. Linear characterizes the work of Vermeer or Ingres.

"Painterly" art makes strong coloristic use of the many visual effects produced by paint on canvas, broad brushstrokes, impressionism, impasto and also of the artist's experience in painting. Jackson Pollack's "action paintings" are more "painterly" than Frank Stella's super-graphics.

Of course, "painterly" finally refers to paint, though some forms of sculpture make such use of surface texture and stroke that they could almost be called painterly; nevertheless, the application of the term outside painting is a little self-conscious, and may not genuinely help the reader experience the character of Auguste Rodin's surfaces or Richard Strauss's flow of chromatic harmonies. But see Wood as a medium, Green new art . PhotographyPhotography is the technique of recording, by chemical, mechanical or digital means, a permanent image on a layer of material sensitive to light exposure. The word comes from the Greek words φως phos ("light"), and γρα&phi can also be described as painterly.