A cartellino (Italian for small piece of paper) was a piece of parchment or paper painted illusionistically, often as though attached to a wall or parapet in a painting, commonly with the artist's name or that of a sitter.
Giovanni Bellini's 'The Virgin and Child' and 'The Doge Leonardo Loredan' are among a number of examples of this artist's work with a cartellino, painted as a piece of unfolded paper with creases still visible, attached to the centre of the parapet. It creates the illusion of being almost part of the real, rather than the painted (illusionistic), space.
