A ''tondo'' (: ''tondi'' or ''tondos'') is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

term for a circular work of art, either a

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

or a

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. The word derives from the Italian ''rotondo'', "round". The term is usually not used in English for small round paintings, but only those over about 60 cm (two feet) in diameter, thus excluding many round

portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting from Renaissance art, usually executed in gouache, Watercolor painting, watercolor, or Vitreous enamel, enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illumin ...

s – for sculpture the threshold is rather lower. A circular or oval relief sculpture is also called a roundel. The infrequently-encountered synonym

rondo The rondo or rondeau is a musical form that contains a principal theme (music), theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes (generally called "episodes", but also referred to as "digressions" or "c ...

Artlex.com
. usually refers to the musical form.

History

Artists have created ''tondi'' since

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

antiquity. The circular paintings in the centre of painted vases of that period are known as ''tondi'', and the inside of the broad low winecup called a '' kylix'' also lent itself to circular enframed compositions. Although the earliest true Renaissance, or late Gothic painted ''tondo'' is Burgundian, from

Champmol The Chartreuse de Champmol, formally the ''Chartreuse de la Sainte-Trinité de Champmol'', was a Carthusian monastery on the outskirts of Dijon, which is now in France, but in the 15th century was the capital of the Duchy of Burgundy. The monast ...

(of a ''Pietà'' by Jean Malouel of 1400–1415, now in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

), the ''tondo'' became fashionable in 15th-century

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, revived as a classical form especially in architecture. It may also have developed from the smaller '' desco da parto'' or birthing tray. The '' desco da parto'' by

Masaccio Masaccio (, ; ; December 21, 1401 – summer 1428), born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was a Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great List of Italian painters, Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaiss ...

from around 1423 may be one of the first to use linear perspective, another feature of the Renaissance. Also using linear perspective was

Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), known mononymously as Donatello (; ), was an Italian Renaissance sculpture, Italian sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sc ...

for the stucco ''tondi'' created around 1435–1440 for the ''Sagrestia Vecchia'' at the Basilica of San Lorenzo designed by

Brunelleschi Filippo di ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi (1377 – 15 April 1446), commonly known as Filippo Brunelleschi ( ; ) and also nicknamed Pippo by Leon Battista Alberti, was an Italian architect, designer, goldsmith and sculptor. He is considered to ...

, one of the most prominent buildings of the

Early Renaissance Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurr ...

. For Brunelleschi's Hospital of the Innocents already (1421–24), Andrea della Robbia provided glazed terracotta babes in swaddling clothes in ''tondos'' with plain blue backgrounds to be set in the

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

s of the arches. Andrea and Luca della Robbia created glazed terracotta ''tondi'' that were often framed in a wreath of fruit and leaves, which were intended for immuring in a stuccoed wall. Filippo Lippi's Bartolini Tondo (1452–1453) was one of the earliest examples of such paintings. In painting

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

created many examples, both Madonnas and narrative scenes,For exampl
''The Adoration of the Kings''
a tondo from about 1470-5 at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

in London. as did

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. According to art historian Roberta Olson,

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

's "only documented and securely attributed panel painting" was a tondo -- the ''

Doni Tondo The ''Doni Tondo'' or ''Doni Madonna'' is the only finished panel painting by the mature Michelangelo to survive. Now in the Uffizi in Florence, Italy, and still in its original frame, the ''Doni Tondo'' was probably commissioned by Agnolo Doni ...

'' at the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...

. Michelangelo also created, at the time he was sculpting his ''David'', two carved marble tondi -- the '' Taddei Tondo'' and the '' Pitti Tondo''. In the sixteenth century the painterly style of ''istoriato'' decoration for maiolica wares was applied to large circular dishes (see also charger). Since then it has been less common. In

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...

's painting '' The Last of England'', the ship's wire railing curving round the figures helps enclose the composition within its ''tondo'' shape.

Examples

Portrait of family of Septimius Severus - Altes Museum - Berlin - Germany 2017.jpg, Portrait of family of Septimius Severus, so-called '' Severan Tondo'', Roman painting of , Altes Museu, Berlin National gallery in washington d.c., andrea della robbia, madonna and child with cherubin, 1485 01.JPG, Andrea della Robbia, ''Madonna and Child with Cherubin'', 1485 Madonna della Melagrana (Botticelli).png,

Sandro Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

, '' Madonna of the Pomegranate'', , tempera on panel, 143.5 cm diameter,

, Florence Michelangelo, tondo pitti.jpg,

, '' Pitti Tondo'', , Uffizi Taddei Tondo.JPG, Michelangelo, '' Taddei Tondo'', marble

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

, ,

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, London Tondo Doni, por Miguel Ángel.jpg, Michelangelo, ''

'', , Uffizi

References

External links

Six tondi from the National Gallery, London
{{Authority control Painting Types of sculpture History of art Italian Renaissance Circles

History

Examples

See also

References

Further reading

External links