‖ mezzo-rilievo
(ˌmɛddzoriliˈevo)
Pl. -os. Also 7 mezo-, 7–9 -relievo.
[It. mezzo half + rilievo relief n.]
1. Half-relief; relief in which the figures project half their true proportions from the surface on which they are carved.
| 1598 R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo v. iii. 189 Imbossing halfe rounde called mezzo relievo. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 330 Having three pair of brass doors artificially cast or engraven with curious figures in mezo relievo. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1810) 49 We saw..figures of men, carv'd in the natural rock, in mezzo relievo. 1820 T. S. Hughes Trav. Sicily, etc. I. vii. 227 A piece of sculpture in mezzo-relievo representing a Jupiter and a Leda. 1860 J. Newlands Carp. & Joiner's Assist. Gloss., Demi-relievo... It is also called mezzo-rilievo. |
2. concr. A sculpture or carving in half-relief.
| 1665–6 Evelyn Diary 3 Jan., There are some mezzo-relievos as big as the life. 1821 Whitaker Richmondsh. I. 155 A mezzo relievo by Westmacott, very finely wrought. |
Hence † mezzo-relievo v.
| 1644 Evelyn Diary 27 Feb., In the Court is a Volary, and the statues of Charles IX, Hen. III, IV, and Lewis XIII, on horseback, mezzo-relievod in plaster. |