RELIEVO, or Relief, in Painting, is the degree of boldness with which the figures appear, 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 in the height of the different colours, bordering upon 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 clear-obscure well understood.