alto-relievo
(ˌæltəʊ, rɪˈliːvəʊ)
Pl. -os.
[It. alto-rilievo high relief; this spelling is sometimes used in Eng.]
High relief; sculpture or carved work in which the figures project more than one half of their true proportions from the wall or surface on which they are carved. Hence concr. A sculpture or carving in high relief.
| 1717 Berkeley in Fraser Life (1871) 550 The infinite profusion of alto-relievo. 1762 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 276 A fine bust of queen Elizabeth on onyx, alto relievo in profile. 1773 Brydone Sicily xix. (1809) 199 The representation of a boar-hunting in alto relievo, on white marble. 1878 M. E. Herbert tr. Hübner's Round the World II. v. 342 There are no alto-relievos. |