painterly

American  

[peyn-ter-lee] / ˈpeɪn tər li /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a painter.

2. Fine Arts. characterized by qualities of color, stroke, or texture perceived as distinctive to the art of painting, especially the rendering of forms and images in terms of color or tonal relations rather than of contour or line.

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painterly British  

/ ˈpeɪntəlɪ /

adjective

1. having qualities peculiar to painting, esp the depiction of shapes by means of solid masses of colour, rather than by lines Compare linear

2. of or characteristic of a painter; artistic

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Etymology

Origin of painterly

First recorded in 1580–90; painter ¹ + -ly

Example Sentences

The execution is nevertheless lush, sometimes startlingly beautiful, and painterly and evocative of Johnson’s elegiac theme about a bygone America.

From The Wall Street Journal

The icing had been applied in thick, painterly swirls.

From Literature

Abstraction meets landscape; painterly application meets rough-and-tumble applications.

From The Wall Street Journal

His last film was the willfully obtuse 2022 French Polynesian political thriller “Pacifiction,” which more often oozed colonial malaise through its painterly landscapes than any narrative.

From Los Angeles Times

The line brings to life the garden’s delicate wildflowers and rippling fountains in playful, painterly prints, featuring blossoming orange poppies and deep purple lily pads.

From Los Angeles Times