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sfumato (sfoo-MAH-toh) - n., in painting, the blurring or softening of sharp outlines using subtle and gradual blending of one tone, color, or object into another.
The technique was developed and named by Leonardo da Vinci, and a classic example is in the Mona Lisa, especially the shadows around the eyes:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
We took in 1909 (so late!) from Italian, of course, from the past participle of sfumare, to evaporate/fade out, composed of s- (from Latin ex-, out of) + fumare, to smoke.
---L.
The technique was developed and named by Leonardo da Vinci, and a classic example is in the Mona Lisa, especially the shadows around the eyes:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
We took in 1909 (so late!) from Italian, of course, from the past participle of sfumare, to evaporate/fade out, composed of s- (from Latin ex-, out of) + fumare, to smoke.
---L.
