tondo

noun

ton·​do ˈtän-(ˌ)dō 

plural tondi ˈtän-(ˌ)dē 

1

: a circular painting

2

: a sculptured medallion

Examples of tondo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But the circular tondo does not permit such isolation for long, returning the eye to her son. — Carmen Rosenberg-Miller, Artforum, 6 Aug. 2026

In the pool bath, a Scott Zaragoza tondo of Jeff as a dapper explorer confronting a gargantuan Venus flytrap strikes a pitch-perfect note of weirdness. — Mayer Rus, Architectural Digest, 1 July 2026

At the center of the tondo, the Virgin Mary holds both a pomegranate and an infant Jesus Christ. — Demir Alp, JSTOR Daily, 29 Aug. 2025

Choosing the tondo canvas for He (2024), an acrylic and gold leaf, Holmes is inserting his Black figure into the dead-white-male art historical canon. — Natasha Gural, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024

The exhibition includes five rectangular and two tondo (round) paintings. — Danielle Avram, Dallas News, 12 Nov. 2020

Created around 1480, the canvas depicts a handsome young man with a small tondo of a saint in his hands. — Katya Kazakina, Bloomberg.com, 7 Oct. 2020

DeLap began slicing up the traditional rectangle — as well as the less common (but equally traditional) circular tondo — into various irregular geometries. — Christopher Knight, latimes.com, 16 Mar. 2018

Word History

Etymology

Italian, from tondo round, short for rotondo, from Latin rotundus — more at rotund

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined at sense 1