In art, gusto is the excitement of the imagination that gives full expression to the dynamic character of an object.
According to William Hazlitt (1778-1830) in his essay “On Gusto,” gusto is “power or passion defining any object.”
Gusto unites the senses as “the impression made on one sense excites by affinity those of another.” Michelangelo’s sculptures, says Hazlitt, “are full of gusto.”