Aureola

Look up aureola in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Look up aureole in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
This article is about a type of halo in art. For the breast tissue, see areola.
"Aureole" redirects here. For the racehorse, see Aureole (horse).
17th century Central Tibetan thanka of Guhyasamaja Akshobhyavajra, Rubin Museum of Art
Images of Mary, mother of Jesus, are often surrounded by an aureole, as in this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Resurrection of Christ, fresco in Chora Church, Istanbul

An aureola or aureole (diminutive of Latin aurea, "golden") is the radiance of luminous cloud which, in paintings of sacred personages, surrounds the whole figure.

In Romance languages, the noun Aureola is usually more related to the disc of light surrounding the head of sacred figures, which in English is called halo or nimbus. In Indian religions, the back or head halo is called prabhāmaṇḍala or prabhavali.