relief

1. The easing of a burden or distress, such as pain, anxiety, or oppression.
2. Something that alleviates pain or distress.
3. 1. Public assistance.
   2. Aid in time of danger, especially rescue from siege.
4. 1. Release from a post or duty, as that of sentinel.
   2. One who releases another by taking over a post or duty.
5. A pleasant or amusing change; a diversion.
6. 1. The projection of figures or forms from a flat background, as in sculpture, or the apparent projection of such shapes in a painting or drawing.
   2. A work of art featuring such projection. Also called relievo.
7. Geology. The variations in elevation of an area of the earth's surface.
8. Distinction or prominence due to contrast: “The light brought the white church . . . into relief from the flat ledges” (Willa Cather).
9. Law. Redress awarded by a court.
10. Baseball. The pitching done by a relief pitcher: gave the team two innings of excellent relief.
11. A payment made by the heir of a deceased tenant to a feudal lord for the privilege of succeeding to the tenant's estate.

on relief

1. Receiving public assistance because of need or poverty.

[Middle English, from Old French, from relever, to relieve. See relieve. Senses 6, 7, and 8, French, from Italian rilievo. See bas-relief.]

noun

1. The act or an instance of helping: abetment, aid, assist, assistance, hand, help, succor, support. See help/harm/harmless.
2. Freedom, especially from pain: alleviation, assuagement, ease, mitigation, palliation. See increase/decrease.
3. Assistance, especially money, food, and other necessities, given to the needy or dispossessed: aid, dole, handout, public assistance, welfare. See help/harm/harmless.
4. A person or persons taking over the duties of another: replacement. See substitute.

Definition: remedy, aid; relaxation
Antonyms: damage, hurt, injury, pain

1. the mitigation or removal of pain or distress. n 2. the reduction or elimination of pressure from a specific area under a denture base.

n. 1. the replacement of one unit, commander, or individual by another.

2. inequalities of elevation and the configuration of land features on the surface of the Earth which may be represented on maps or charts by contours, hypsometric tints, shading, or spot elevations.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

The shape of the earth's surface. High relief generally denotes large local differences in the height of the land; low relief indicates little variation in altitude.

Art

(click to enlarge)
Athena mourning, mezzo-relievo from the Acropolis, 5th century BC, in the Acropolis Museum, Athens (credit: Alinari/Art Resource, New York)

(from Italian, rilievare: "to raise") In sculpture, any work in which the figures project from a supporting background, usually a plane surface. Bas-reliefs ("low reliefs"), in which the design projects only slightly, were common on the walls of stone buildings in ancient Egypt, Assyria, and elsewhere in the Middle East. High reliefs, in which the forms project at least half or more of their natural circumference, were first employed by the ancient Greeks. Italian Renaissance sculptors combined high and low relief in strikingly illusionistic compositions, as in Lorenzo Ghiberti's bronze doors in Florence. Baroque sculptors continued these experiments, often on a larger scale (e.g., Alessandro Algardi's Meeting of Attila and Pope Leo, 1646 – 53). The dramatic possibilities of the Renaissance concept of relief were later notably employed by François Rude (The Marseillaise, 1833 – 36) and Auguste Rodin (The Gates of Hell).

Business and Economics

For more information on relief, visit Britannica.com.

Sculptured work, carving, casting, or embossing that is raised above the plane of its background. Also called relievo; see bas-relief, demi-relief, high relief, mezzo-relievo, sunk relief.

relief

Financial assistance provided to the indigent by the government. The redress, or benefit, given by a court to an individual who brings a legal action.

The relief sought in a lawsuit might, for example, be the return of property wrongfully taken by another, compensation for an injury in the form of damages, or enforcement of a contract.

(DOD, NATO) Inequalities of evaluation and the configuration of land features on the surface of the Earth which may be represented on maps or charts by contours, hypsometric tints, shading, or spot elevations.

Persian low relief from Qajar era in the style of Persepolis, located at Tangeh Savashi in Iran.

For other uses, see Relief (disambiguation).

A relief is a sculptured artwork where a modelled form is raised, or in sunken-relief lowered, from a plane from which the main elements of the composition project (or sink). Reliefs are common throughout the world, for example on the walls of monumental buildings. The frieze in the classical Corinthian order is often enriched with bas-relief (low relief). Alto-relievo (high-relief) may be seen in the pediments of classical temples, e.g., the Parthenon. Several panels or sections of relief together may represent a sequence of scenes.

Contents 1 Types 1.1 Bas-relief or low relief 1.2 High relief 1.3 Sunken relief 2 Notable reliefs 3 Gallery 4 See also 5 External links

Types

Detail in high relief from the Ancient Greek Elgin Marbles. Some front limbs are detached from the background completely, while the centaur's left rear leg is in low relief.

There are three main types of relief. The drawing of the distinction between high and low is often drawn differently, and in fact the two are very often combined in a single work - in particular most "high-reliefs" contain sections in "low-relief". Dashes may or may not be used in all these terms.

Bas-relief or low relief

A bas-relief ("low relief", French pronunciation: [baʁəljɛf], from the Italian basso rilievo) or low relief is the quality of an projecting image where the overall depth is shallow. The background is very compressed or completely flat, as on most coins, on which all images are in low-relief.

Lorenzo Ghiberti's gilded bronze "Doors of Paradise", Baptistery, Florence combine high relief main figures with backgrounds mostly in low relief.

Bas-relief is very suitable for scenes with many figures and other elements such as a landscape or architectural background. A bas-relief may use any medium or technique of sculpture, but stone carving and metal casting are the traditional ones. If more than 50% of most rounded or cylindrical elements such as heads and legs project from the background, a sculpture is usually considered to be "alto rilievo" or "high relief", although the degree of relief within both types may vary across a composition, with prominent features such as faces in higher relief.

High relief

High relief (or alto relievo, from Italian) is where the most prominent elements of the composition are undercut and rendered at more than 50% in the round against the background.

All cultures and periods where large sculptures were created used this technique as one of their sculptural options. Seen in "monumental sculpture" and architecture from ancient times to present.

Sunken relief

Sunken-relief depiction of Pharaoh Ankhenaten with his wife Nefertiti and daughters. Note how strong shadows are needed to define the image.

Sunken-relief, also known as intaglio or hollow-relief, is where the image is made by carving into a flat surface - usually the images are mostly linear in nature. It is most notably associated with the Art of Ancient Egypt, where the strong sunlight usually needed to make the technique successful for images is present most of the time. In the sculpture of many cultures, including Europe, it is mostly used for inscriptions.

Notable reliefs

Notable examples of reliefs include:

• Persepolis, 70 km northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province, Iran, treasury relief
• Naqsh-e Rustam, 12 km northwest of Persepolis in Fars province, Iran, rock-face relief
• Naqsh-e Rajab,12 km north of Persepolis in Fars province, Iran, rock-face relief
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Keystone, South Dakota, high relief
• Great Altar of Pergamon, now at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin, mostly high relief
• Lions and dragons from the Ishtar Gate, Babylon, low relief
• Temple of Karnak in Egypt, sunken relief
• Angkor Wat in Cambodia, mostly low relief
• The images of the elephant, horse, bull and lion at the bottom of the Lion Capital of Asoka, the national symbol of India (the capital itself is a full sculpture)
• Glyphs and artwork of the Maya civilization, low relief
• The monument to the Confederacy at Stone Mountain, Georgia
• Borobudur temple, Java Island Java, Indonesia
• The Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, now housed at the British Museum, high and low relief.
• Frieze of Parnassus, high relief
• Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, Boston, mostly high relief.

Gallery

Bas-relief in Persepolis - a symbol of Zoroastrian Nowruz - in day of a spring equinox power of eternally fighting bull (personifying the Earth), and a lion (personifying the Sun), are equal	Two Persian Soldiers in Persepolis	Rock-face relief at Naqsh-e Rustam of Iranian emperor Shapur I (on horseback) capturing Roman emperor Valerian (kneeing) and Philip the Arab (standing)	Egyptian figures in "alto relievo"
Atropos cutting the thread of life. Ancient Greek low relief.	Yaxchilan Lintel 24, a Mayan carving depicting a blood sacrifice	A bas-relief at Banteay Srei in Cambodia depicts Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa, the residence of Siva.	12th century Romanesque portal of Christ in Majesty at Moissac Abbey
Angled view of a panel with the story of Abraham from the Florence Gates of Paradise (see above).	Side view of high relief: Madonna and Child, marble of c. 1500/1510 by an unknown north Italian sculptor	Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, 1897, Boston, combining free-standing elements with high and low relief.	A relatively modern high relief (depicting shipbuilding) in Bishopsgate, London. Note that some elements jut out of the frame of the image.
Art Deco tiled bas relief, old Press-Citizen Building, Iowa City, Iowa.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Relief

External links

• Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, "American Relief Sculpture", Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
• Melissa Hardiman, "Bas-Relief Pathfinder"

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - lettelse, afhjælpning, aflastning, hjælp, relief

idioms:

• relief map    reliefkort, højdekort
• relief work    hjælpearbejde

Nederlands (Dutch)
opluchting, verlichting, verademing, steun, aflossing, extra (hulp-), reliëf, bijstand, helderheid van contrast, versterking (militair), herstel van grieven, opluchting etc. verschaffend, gekenmerkt door reliëf

Français (French)
n. - soulagement, rafraîchissement, allégement, secours, (US) aides sociales, divertissement, (Mil) délivrance, (Art, Géog) relief, relève, (Jur) réparation

idioms:

• relief map    carte en relief
• relief work    travail humanitaire

Deutsch (German)
n. - Hilfe, Abwechslung, Ablösung, Verstärkung, Erleichterung, Relief

idioms:

• relief map    Reliefkarte
• relief work    Rettungsarbeiten

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ανακούφιση, εκτόνωση, ξελάφρωμα, αρωγή, βοήθεια, περίθαλψη, ποικιλία, αντικατάσταση, αλλαγή, προβολή, ανάγλυφο, (στρατ.) ενίσχυση, αντικατάσταση (φρουράς), αντικαταστάτης, (μτφ.) τονισμός, έξαρση

idioms:

• relief map    (γεωγρ.) ανάγλυφος χάρτης
• relief work    ανάγλυφο

Italiano (Italian)
rilievo, appoggio, sollievo, sostituto, ristoro, sussidio

idioms:

• relief map    carta orografica
• relief work    lavori di sostentamento

Português (Portuguese)
n. - alívio (m), rendição (f), relevo (m)

idioms:

• relief map    mapa em relevo
• relief work    trabalho social

Русский (Russian)
облегчение, освобождение, пособие, смена, рельеф

idioms:

• relief map    рельефная карта
• relief work    благотворительная деятельность

Español (Spanish)
n. - auxilio, ayuda, alivio, desahogo, relevo, sustituto, relieve, refresco, subsidio de desempleo

idioms:

• relief map    mapa en relieve
• relief work    obras de socorro o de emergencia (para reducir el desempleo)

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - lättnad, avdrag, relief

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
减轻, 安慰, 救济

idioms:

• relief map    立体模型地图, 有等高线的地图
• relief work    救济事业, 失业救济工作

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 減輕, 安慰, 救濟

idioms:

• relief map    立體模型地圖, 有等高線的地圖
• relief work    救濟事業, 失業救濟工作

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 안심, 경감, 구원, 기분전환

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 除去, 起伏, 気分転換になるもの, 救助, 救援, きわだつこと, 強調, 相続上納金, 任務からの解放, 緩和, 救出, 浮き彫り
adj. - レリーフのある, 表面が平らでない

idioms:

• relief map    起伏量図
• relief work    失業対策の公共施設

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) إغاثه, فرج, راحه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮הקלה, הרגעה, שחרור, סעד, עזרה, מחליף, ממלא מקום, הנחה, גיוון, תבליט, בהירות, ייחודיות, תגבור‬

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