Tondo (plural: tondi or tondos) is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art, either a painting or a sculpture. The word derives from the Italian rotondo, meaning "round." In English, the term is typically reserved for circular works over about 60 cm (two feet) in diameter; smaller round paintings, such as portrait miniatures, are generally not called tondi. For sculpture, the size threshold is somewhat lower.
History
Artists have created tondi since Greek antiquity. Circular paintings on the interior of ancient Greek vases and wine cups (kylikes) are early examples of the form. The earliest true Renaissance painted tondo is Burgundian—a Pietà by Jean Malouel (c. 1400–1415, now in the Louvre). The form became especially fashionable in 15th-century Florence, where it was revived as a classical shape in both painting and architecture.
The tondo may have developed from the desco da parto (birth tray). Masaccio's desco da parto from around 1423 is among the first to employ linear perspective. Donatello created stucco tondi for the Sagrestia Vecchia at the Basilica of San Lorenzo (c. 1435–1440), designed by Brunelleschi. Andrea and Luca della Robbia produced glazed terracotta tondi, often framed in wreaths of fruit and leaves, intended for immuring in stuccoed walls. Filippo Lippi's Bartolini Tondo (1452–1453) is one of the earliest painted examples.
Notable Examples
- Sandro Botticelli created numerous tondi, including Madonna of the Pomegranate (c. 1487).
- Michelangelo produced the Doni Tondo (c. 1507, Uffizi), his only documented and securely attributed panel painting. He also carved two marble relief tondi: the Taddei Tondo (Royal Academy, London) and the Pitti Tondo (Bargello, Florence).
- Raphael also painted several notable tondi.
- Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres used the tondo format for The Turkish Bath (1862).
- The Severan Tondo (c. 200 AD, Altes Museum, Berlin) is a rare surviving Roman panel painting in circular form, depicting the family of Emperor Septimius Severus.
Related Terms
- Roundel: A circular or oval relief sculpture.
- Medallion: A round or oval architectural ornament.
- Cartouche: An oval design element.
- Rondo: A musical form; the term is sometimes (infrequently) used as a synonym for tondo.
