Tondo

As the ellipse becomes longer and flatter, it takes on the qualities of the rectangle. Even more than the tondo, the oval is a playful shape, prescribed by the demands of the setting it bedecks rather than those of the composition it encloses.

In the tondo of a cup in the Louvre we see a young slave, a pais, dip an oenochoe into a garlanded krater; he is holding a cup in the other hand and is about to serve drinks (fig. 20).” By isolating this detail, the painter implies all the aspects of a […]