sfumato
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of sfumato
1840–50; < Italian, past participle of sfumare to gradate tone or color, equivalent to s- < Latin ex- ex- 1 + fumare to smoke < Latin fumāre; see fume
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The smoky texture of the images led me to think of her technique as a kind of sfumato: shading in and out of moods of presence, absence and longing.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
So, for all the hype surrounding it, the exhibition offers a precious opportunity to find a bit of focus in the fog, to draw something substantial out of the sfumato.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2019
Leonardo believed in sfumato, the blurring of lines, because he felt that was the way we actually see reality.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 4, 2017
Actors seem to displace an image of mist—what the creative team calls "sfumato," after the Renaissance painting technique—as they move in front of it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2010
The Mona Lisa is the height of sfumato.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
