tenebral

[…] thou tenebral speck of foul negation : […]

1898, The Medical Brief: A Monthly Journal of Scientific Medicine, page 296

[…] despite the mass of tenebral gloom, inseparable from silk hat and black frock-coat, yet the artist shows a sense of "values" and harmony which pleases the observer.

1913 March 7, The Architect & Contract Reporter, volume 89, page 245

Of course, Mr. Gibson has written many other things less mortuary, […] But the idea seems to be, when a smashing effect is desired, to pull down the shades, […] It is not alone in verse that this tenebral tendency is manifest.

1917 March 17, The Bellman, volume 22, page 298

But the darkness was tenebral, for the door was closed again, and the blinds were drawn. Hethcott stumbled over the lamp-stand, but, heedless of his sister's scream, knowing she was unhurt, made for the lighted hall.

1925, Louis Tracy, The Black Cat, page 259

The shadows on either side of the vessel, the dark waters of the cave to the left, and the hollow rocks to the right, all belong to a tenebral range close to pure black. I am not able to tell whether this lower range is enhanced. It may be that the pigments have physically decayed: the Morning Herald for 5 May 1829 speaks of positive indigo, which is hard to find […]

1986, David Bindman, Essays on British Narrative Art, page 55