RELIEVO, or Relief, in painting, is the degree of boldness with which the figures seem, at a due distance, to stand out from the ground of the painting.
The relievo depends much upon the depth of the shadow, and the strength of the light; or on the height of the different colours, bordering on one another; and particularly on the difference of the colour of the figure from that of the ground: thus, when the light is so disposed as to make the nearest parts of the figure advance, and is well diffused on the masses, yet insensibly diminishing, and terminating in a large spacious shadow, brought off insensibly, the relievo is said to be bold, and the chiar obscure well understood.