Italian term for softened or vaporous. Delicate gradation of chiaroscuro as in intensive transition in the light-shadow relationship of a drawing, and in the chiaroscuro of the pictorial colour where the edges and the particulars, in function with the use of the sfumato technique, appear unspecified and inserted into a vague atmosphere. Leonardo da Vinci, whose painting masterfully takes advantage of this technique, suggests to painters: "and finally your shadows and highlights are united without traces or signs by the use of smoke. And when you will have created the hand and the judgement of this diligence, the practice will be done so quickly that you will not believe it."