putto

American  

[poo-toh, poot-taw] / ˈpu toʊ, ˈput tɔ /

noun

Fine Arts.

plural

putti

1. a representation of a cherubic infant, often shown winged.

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putto British  

/ ˈpʊtəʊ /

noun

1. a representation of a small boy, a cherub or cupid, esp in baroque painting or sculpture See also amoretto

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Etymology

Origin of putto

1635–45; < Italian: literally, boy < Latin putus

Example Sentences

While the Madonnas and portraits are in some general sense familiar, an unusual and surprising work in the show is a single fresco of a putto bearing a garland, a fragment that research by the curator revealed to have come from a chimney piece in the Vatican apartments.

From The Wall Street Journal

Unlike the soft, pliable versions of the Christ child in his early Madonnas, this is a monumental, muscular putto, using his strength to hold that garland aloft.

From The Wall Street Journal

A little plaster putto Cézanne had in his studio — familiar from one of his greatest fruit-strewn still lifes, in the Courtauld Gallery in London — appears several times here as a lumpy, unwieldy assemblage.

From New York Times

This show includes several other small bronzes by Verrocchio, including the recently conserved “Putto With a Dolphin,” from 1465 or a little later, which was the first Renaissance sculpture made to be beheld from 360 degrees.

From New York Times

In the middle of the set, a pinstriped putto peed into a fountain.

From New York Times