Vocab List 16th Century Northern & Southern Renaissance

Burin

A steel-cutting tool that is used to make engravings

Engraving

A metal plate is engraved with various lines and designs; the incised lines are filled with ink (excess is wiped away); paper is laid atop the metal plate and pressure is applied to transfer the ink to paper.

Four Humors

Ancient Greek system of medicine and later adopted in the Renaissance; excesses or deficiencies of any of four bodily fluids (blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm) will affect attitude and health.

Genre scene

Painting in which scenes of everyday life are shown

Polyptych

An altarpiece that consists of more than three leaves or panels

Predella

A decorative platform at the bottom of the altarpiece; often painted

Swoon of the Virgin

Popular image of a fainting Mary during the Crucifixion and Deposition

Woodcut

Relief printing; an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed; surface is covered with ink, paper is applied on top to transfer the image

Canvas

Heavy woven material which is used as the surface for a painting; largely replaces wood; widely used first in Venice

Codex (plural: codices)

A manuscript book

Figura Serpentinata

Latin for serpentine figure, a spiral pose used in Mannerist art

Fresco secco

Dry fresco; paint is applied when plaster is dry; not durable but artist can take time

Frontispiece

An illustration facing the title page of a book

Ignudi

Nude corner figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling

Madrasa

Islamic school for learning, often connected to mosques

Minaret

A tall, slender tower used to call people to prayer

Quadro riportato

Italian for "carried picture"; It is used in art to describe paintings that are seen in a normal perspective and painted into a fresco

Refectory

Dining rooms, particularly in monasteries

Sfumato

Forms are rendered subtly with a misty or smoky effect

Sibyl

Ancient pagan soothsayers who can see the future and foretell the coming of Christ

Two-point perspective

A mathematical way of rendering space that utilizes two vanishing points