mandorla

/ (mænˈdɔːlə) /

noun

(in painting, sculpture, etc) an almond-shaped area of light, usually surrounding the resurrected Christ or the Virgin at the AssumptionAlso called: vesica

Words nearby mandorla

mandioca, mandir, mandira, mandola, mandolin, mandorla, mandragora, mandrake, mandrel, mandrill, mandrin

Word Origin for mandorla

from Italian, literally: almond, from Late Latin amandula; see almond

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for mandorla

Finally, Donatello made two busts of prophets for the Mandorla door.
Donatello|David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford
Mandorla, man-dor′la, n. an oval panel, or a work of art filling such: the vesica piscis.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)|Various
This is the oval-shaped glory which the Italians call the mandorla, from the word meaning “almond.”
Titian; a collection of fifteen pictures and a portrait of the painter|Estelle Hurll
But the type would appear more advanced than the busts on the Mandorla doorway or the Siena work made about this time.
Donatello|David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford

The Madonna is in the sky within a mandorla of cherubs, and has four angels around her playing on instruments.
Great Masters in Painting: Perugino|George C. Williamson