tondo

American  

[ton-doh, tawn-daw] / ˈtɒn doʊ, ˈtɔn dɔ /

noun

plural

tondi

1. a round painting or relief.

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tondo British  

/ ˈtɒndəʊ /

noun

1. a circular easel painting or relief carving

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Etymology

Origin of tondo

First recorded in 1885–90; from Italian: “plate, circle, round painting,” noun use of the adjective: “round,” shortening of rotondo, from Latin rotundus “wheel-shaped, circular, round”

Example Sentences

It’s a celestial tondo of the posthuman, a portal to the angels or their digital avatars.

From New York Times • Aug. 3, 2023

The obliteration of Geta’s head made the tondo a statement of the owner’s obedience to Caracalla.

From Slate • Apr. 11, 2022

The exhibition’s centerpiece is a tondo, or round painting, called “Terranuova Madonna” from about 1505 that Raphael created shortly after his arrival in Florence.

From Washington Times • Dec. 11, 2019

In the fourth and most dramatic room of the National Gallery of Art’s captivating Piero di Cosimo retrospective, the walls are devoted to paintings in the round, a form known as a tondo.

From Washington Post • Jan. 29, 2015

The Madonna and Child, a tondo, marble bas-relief, unfinished.

From Michael Angelo Buonarroti by Holroyd, Charles