A tondo is a small round picture in a frame or without it. The word derives from the Italianrotondo, "round," being an abbreviated form.
Like in a logo the scene is consolidated and omitted, and to a large extent, unimportant. While the background is visible in tondo paintings, in tondo relief carvings the background is not seen. The portrait of the Greek poet Menander is an example of tondo.
Since Greekantiquity artists have created tondi, particularly in Italy in the 15th and 16th century. The application of tondi is often an indication of on mannerism in the art.
* Roberta J. M. Olson, The Florentine tondo, Oxford 2000. * Moritz Hauptmann, Der Tondo: Ursprung, Bedeutung und Geschichte des italienischen Rundbildes in Relief und Malerei, Frankfurt a. M. 1936.
