morbidezza

American  

[mawr-bi-det-suh, mawr-bee-det-tsah] / ˌmɔr bɪˈdɛt sə, mɔr biˈdɛt tsɑ /

noun

Fine Arts.

1. the effect of extreme softness and delicacy in pictorial and sculptural representations.

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Etymology

Origin of morbidezza

1615–25; < Italian, equivalent to morbid ( o ) delicate ( see morbid) + -ezza -ice

Example Sentences

Perhaps only a valetudinarian would have been capable of this morbidezza of touch, this marriage of virile thought and feminine caprice.

From Amiel's Journal by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.

"He can't persuade us, Lady Auriol, that he is afflicted with the morbidezza of 1830."

From The Mountebank by Locke, William John

If it were not for the largeness of their conception they would recall by their "morbidezza" and their cold grace the style of Civitale and Rossellino.

From Michelangelo by Rolland, Romain

Beneath his facile brush, soft and thick, the transparencies of the skin and the morbidezza of the flesh become ideal.

From Great Pictures, As Seen and Described by Famous Writers by Singleton, Esther

But if it is less beautiful such beauty as it has is free from the slightest morbidezza.

From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 by Saintsbury, George