pentimento

[pen-tuh-men-toh]

noun

Painting.

plural

pentimenti 

1. the presence or emergence of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over.

pentimento

/ ˌpɛntɪˈmɛntəʊ /

noun

1. the revealing of a painting or part of a painting that has been covered over by a later painting

2. the part of a painting thus revealed

Word History and Origins

Origin of pentimento¹

1900–05; < Italian, equivalent to penti ( re ) to repent (< Latin paenitēre to regret) + -mento -ment

Word History and Origins

Origin of pentimento¹

C20: Italian, literally: correction

Example Sentences

The yellow title casts a grayish shadow within the turquoise, a pentimento whose sign of an earlier paint layer signals a stratum of history.

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There are holes drilled into the top and the pentimento outline of where the displaced sculpture once stood.

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It's so common that art historians and conservators have a word for it: pentimento.

Read more on Salon

As in a painter’s pentimento, they peep though the present narrative, subtly revealing the author’s awareness of the world’s cruel ironies.

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Layers of roughly built-up geometric shapes emphasize the paintings’ pentimento, which pokes through from beneath the surface, while radiant light was perhaps inspired by a visit to North Africa.

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