mandorla

/ mænˈdɔːlə /

noun

1. (in painting, sculpture, etc) an almond-shaped area of light, usually surrounding the resurrected Christ or the Virgin at the Assumption Also calledvesica

Word History and Origins

Origin of mandorla¹

from Italian, literally: almond, from Late Latin amandula; see almond

Example Sentences

On “Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds,” a 2017 LP influenced by Octavia Butler’s writings, the poet and vocalist Avery R. Young lends Pentecostal flair to lines of earnest recognition — “I want to pick up my blade/But then again there’s gotta be another way,” he hollers — while Mitchell’s flute whips and shivers around him, a well-contained force of nature.

From New York Times

She “bursts forth from the Virgin’s traditional flaming mandorla, throws off her star-spangled cloak and dashes straight toward us, beaming, into the future,” New York Times art critic Holland Cotter wrote in 1999.

From Washington Post

Another, composed of gleaming copper radiates a tawny mandorla.

From New York Times

It is true, whisked egg whites make for the most tender marzipan-hearted paste di mandorla, the sugar-coated, jewel-studded bling that fills the grass-fronted counters of Sicilian pastry shops, and sends puffs of icing sugar down the front of your T-shirt.

From The Guardian

Freshly made paste di mandorla are well matched with cherries.

From The Guardian