Meaning & use
Pentimento
Last updated
A visible trace of an earlier painted image, shape, or brushstroke that shows through a layer of paint as the top layer becomes more transparent with age.
See it in a sentence
X-ray analysis revealed a pentimento beneath the portrait, showing the sitter's hand had originally been positioned differently.
Art historians study pentimenti to understand how a painter revised a composition.
A note on using this word
Borrowed from Italian, where 'pentimento' literally means 'repentance,' evoking the artist's change of mind.
Words with a similar meaning
underpainting trace
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