Generally the changing of a colour, making it lighter or darker, through gradual variants that involve the transition from light to shadow and vice versa. In the 16th Century, the term (cangiantismo of colours) assumes particular emphasis in the pictorial practice of mannerism and is one of its fundamental expressive elements. Lomazzo (1584) distinguishes three grades of cangiantismo, where the chromatic and luminous variations are obtained using first white, then yellow, and then black. Lomazzo also defines the number of the variations, that are indicated as 3584 for the first grade, 1792 for the second and 128 for the third.