ritratto

Forms

ritratto m (plural ritratti)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian ritrarre (“to draw back; to portray”): its past participle, used as a noun in the sense “portrait” from the Renaissance.^[2][3][4][5] The verb is learned, from Latin retrahō (“to draw back”), from trahō (“to draw, pull”) with re- (“back”), and was remade on trarre.^[2][3] The DEI, Devoto and Wiktionary give the noun directly as Latin retractus, the participle, which in Latin meant “drawn back”.^[6][7][1][8]

The Italian noun was borrowed into Spanish retrato, Portuguese retrato and Catalan retrat.^[3][9][1] The English word ritratto is recorded from 1722, and earlier, crossed with portrait, as retrait (1590); the German word is Ritratto (1838).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a participle and adjective the word is recorded in the 14th century: “drawn back” in the Meditazione sull'albero della Croce, and “portrayed” in an Old Italian translation of the deeds of Alexander the Great, where envoys show him “the image of Alexander portrayed on a parchment” (la immagine d'Alessandro ritratta in una carta di pecora).^[2][11] The noun for a work of art showing a human figure is first recorded in Pietro Bembo in 1505.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Bernardino Baldi used the noun for a literary description of places, people or events in 1590, and Contile, in 1550, for a person or thing that closely resembles another, as in è il ritratto di sua nonna.^[2] Older senses, now out of use, were “copy of a writing or work of art”, “written account” and “proceeds of a sale”.^[12][5][13] Tommaseo defines the portrait as a human figure painted or sculpted from life, and records ritratto parlante “speaking likeness”.^[14]

Derivatives are ritrattista “portrait painter” (1676–77) and ritrattistica “the art of portraiture” (1950).^[2] Nineteenth-century purists rejected ritrattare in the sense “to portray”.^[2]

Timeline

• 14th century – Ritratto “drawn back” appears in the Meditazione sull'albero della Croce.^[2]
• 14th century – The sense “portrayed” appears in a translation of the deeds of Alexander.^[2][11]
• 1505 – Pietro Bembo uses ritratto for a portrait.^[2]
• 1550 – Contile uses it for a close likeness.^[2]
• 1590 – Bernardino Baldi uses it for a written description.^[2]
• 1590 – English retrait is recorded.^[10]
• 1722 – English ritratto is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A portrait: a painting, drawing, sculpture or photograph of a person's face or figure: Nello studio c'era un ritratto a carboncino della nonna.^{[15][4][5][13][1]}
2. Portraiture as a genre.^[15][4]
3. A spoken or written description of a person, place, period or situation.^{[15][4][5][12]}
4. (literary criticism) A critical essay on an author and the work.^[15]
5. A person who closely resembles another, a spitting image: è il ritratto di sua nonna.^[15][4][12]
6. (figurative) The very picture of a state: il ritratto della salute.^[15][4][13]
7. (archaic) A copy of a writing or work of art; the proceeds of a sale.^{[15][5][12][13]}

Adjective

1. portrayed, depicted.^[15][16][1]
2. Drawn back, withdrawn;^[12][1] (literary) hidden.^[12][1]

Word family

• ritrattista
• ritrattistica
• ritrattistico
• ritrattino

Related words

• ritrarre
• trarre
• tratto
• ritrazione
• Latin retractus

Usage notes

A separate regional ritratto (also retratto) was used in the Republic of Venice for land reclaimed from floods or neglect and brought under cultivation, from Venetian retrato, participle of retrar “to reclaim”.^[11] The diminutive is ritrattino.^[17][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3267
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana