An Italian term used to indicate a painting technique that entails applying oil paints directly on the raw canvas without the use of an underdrawing. The preferred method of Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, Frans Hals, and Jusepe de Ribera, it allows for speed of execution as well as greater fluidity. Works created through this method often have many pentimenti, changes and corrections made by the artist as he or she works out the details of the scene.
Historical dictionary of Renaissance art. Lilian H. Zirpolo. 2008.