Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A round painting, relief, or similar work of art.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A plate or dish with a flat rim very wide in proportion to the size of the center, and usually decorated with especial reference to the border painted upon this rim or marly. Compare tondino.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A round picture or other work of art

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, short for rotondo, round, from Latin rotundus; see rotund.]

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Examples

  • Two of these pictures, circular in form (called tondo, round) have become very famous.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2: Assizes-Browne 1840-1916 1913

  • The show includes Bouguereau paintings of a water girl; a bather; two gypsies; and a nude winged Cupid, and is fleshed out with paintings and sculptures by his contemporaries, including a striking tondo by Jean-Léon Gérôme.

    The Shape of Things Lance Esplund 2011

  • November 17th, 2009 5: 33 pm ET its about time they start to look at jobs and stop the stupidy with the bailout healthcare (which has nothing tondo with care costs and proscriptions just ins. so great job, not) but heck it took the pres 2 months to get a dog cant work to fast I might miss something. shmeckel

    Hoyer: Dems plan vote on jobs bill before Christmas 2009

  • The Berlin tondo of Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, and their sons Caracalla and Geta is the only painted portrait of an imperial family to survive from antiquity.

    Caesars’ Wives Annelise Freisenbruch 2010

  • The crude faceless void left by the erasure of his portrait on the Berlin tondo, for example, shows signs of having been smeared with excrement.66

    Caesars’ Wives Annelise Freisenbruch 2010

  • The “Berlin tondo,” as it is known, is not only the most famous portrait of Julia Domna and her husband; it is the only painted portrait of members of the Roman imperial family that survives from antiquity, affording us for the first time a precious chance to look on the faces of the new incumbents of the Palatine in color.

    Caesars’ Wives Annelise Freisenbruch 2010

  • Though in fact the red and orange colour scheme of the theatre's interior dates from the 1920s -- it was originally pink, grey and white, as in the not very Mogul pastoral tondo over the proscenium.

    Iain Sinclair: Banned by Labour, invited by Lib Dems 2008

  • Chi nasce tondo non muore quadro, ma può sempre imparare dai propri errori…

    No Fat Clips!!! : Miller Genuine Draft: Conversation 2007

  • Look at his wonderful tondo painting, the Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome and John the Baptist, where he makes the poison green and electric blue of the Virgin's mantle even more intense by placing them next to the bright yellow and orange mops of curly hair sported by the goofy Christ child and even goofier John the Baptist.

    Archive 2007-10-01 2007

  • Look at his wonderful tondo painting, the Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome and John the Baptist, where he makes the poison green and electric blue of the Virgin's mantle even more intense by placing them next to the bright yellow and orange mops of curly hair sported by the goofy Christ child and even goofier John the Baptist.

    Renaissance Siena 2007

Comments

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  • a circular painting or relief sculpture.

    February 4, 2008

  • "Profs who do schoolwork on Pollock look for photobooks on Orozco or Rothko (two tomfools who throw bold colors, blotch on blotch, onto tondos of dropcloth)."

    Eunoia by Christian Bök (upgraded edition), p 76

    May 22, 2010