A sculptural work where figures project slightly from the background, between bas-relief and high relief in depth.
From demi- (half) + relief (from Italian rilievo, meaning 'to raise'). This art term became standard in the 18th-19th centuries as art critics needed vocabulary to classify the many intermediate sculptural styles.
Ancient sculptors understood that you don't need to carve all the way through to create stunning effects—demirelief figures, barely raised from their backgrounds, can create dramatic shadows that trick the eye into seeing depth that isn't really there.
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