Art Survey I: Roman Art Key Terms

MoU, module 7

abacus

The flat slab that forms the topmost unit of a Doric column and on which the architrave rests.

aisle

A passageway flanking a central area (e.g., the corridors flanking the nave of a basilica or cathedral). The portion of a basilica flanking the nave and separated from it by a row of columns or piers.

amphitheater

Greek, "double theater." A Roman building type resembling two Greek theaters put together. The Roman amphitheater featured a continuous elliptical cavea around a central arena. An oval or circular space surrounded by rising tiers of seats, as used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for plays and other spectacles.

annular or ring vault

Ring-shaped, as in an annular barrel vault.

apse

A projecting part of a building (especially a church), usually semicircular and topped by a half-dome or vault. A recess, usually semicircular, in the wall of a Roman basilica or at the east end of a church.

aqueduct

A man-made conduit for transporting water.

arcade

A series of arches supported by piers or columns. A gallery formed by a series of arches with supporting columns or piers, either freestanding or blind (i.e., attached to a wall).

arch

A curved structural member that spans an opening and is generally composed of wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs) that transmit the downward pressure laterally. See also thrust.

arena

The central area in a Roman amphitheater where gladiatorial spectacles took place.

atrium

(a) an open courtyard leading to, or within, a house or other building, usually surrounded on three or more sides by a colonnade; (b) in a modern building, a rectangular space off which other rooms open.

attic

In Classical architecture, a low story placed above the main entablature.

barrel vault, tunnel vault

A semi cylindrical vault, with parallel abutments and an identical cross section throughout, covering an oblong space.

base

In ancient Greek architecture, the lowest part of Ionic and Corinthian columns.

basilica

(a) in Roman architecture, an oblong building used for tribunals and other public functions; (b) in Christian architecture, an early church with similar features to the Roman prototype. In Roman architecture, a civic building for legal and other civic proceedings, rectangular in plan with an entrance usually on a long side. In Christian architecture, a church somewhat resembling the Roman basilica, usually entered from one end and with an apse at the other.

buon fresco

A painting that involves applying wet paint to wet lime plaster. As both components dry, a chemical reaction causes them to fuse together, literally making the painting part of the wall.

bust

A sculptural or pictorial representation of the upper part of the human figure, including the head and neck (and sometimes part of the shoulders and chest).

buttress

An external architectural support that counteracts the lateral thrust of an arch or wall.

catacombs

Subterranean networks of rock-cut galleries and chambers designed as cemeteries for the burial of the dead.

cella

The main inner room of a temple, often containing the cult image of the deity.

centering

The temporary wooden framework used in the construction of arches, vaults, and domes. The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room (Greek, naos) in which the cult statue usually stood.

Chimera

A monster of Greek invention with the head and body of a lion and the tail of a serpent. A second head, that of a goat, grows out of one side of the body.

circus

In ancient Rome, an oblong space, surrounded by seats, used for chariot races, games, and other spectacles.

coffer, coffering

A recessed geometrical panel in a ceiling.

colossus

A statue of gigantic proportions. The name was especially applied to certain famous statues in antiquity, such as the Colossus of Nero in Rome, and the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Composite capital

A capital combining Ionic volutes and Corinthian acanthus leaves, first used by the ancient Romans.

concrete

A building material invented by the Romans and consisting of various proportions of lime mortar, volcanic sand, water, and small stones. Concrete strengthened by embedding an internal structure of wire mesh or rods.

continuous narration

In painting or sculpture, the convention of the same figure appearing more than once in the same space at different stages in a story.

dome

A vaulted (frequently hemispherical) roof or ceiling, erected on a circular base, which may be envisaged as the result of rotating an arch through 180 degrees about a central axis.

domus

A Roman private house.

Egyptomania

Roman fascination with all things related to Egypt following the death of Cleopatra in 31 BCE and the annexation of Egypt in 30 BCE.

encaustic

A painting technique in which pigment is mixed with wax and applied to the surface while hot.

First Style mural

The earliest style of Roman mural painting. Also called the Masonry Style, because the aim of the artist was to imitate, using painted stucco relief, the appearance of costly marble panels.

forum

The public square of an ancient Roman city. The civic center of an ancient Roman city, containing temple, marketplace, and official buildings.

Fourth Style mural

In Roman mural painting, the Fourth Style marks a return to architectural illusionism, but the architectural vistas of the Fourth Style are irrational fantasies.

fresco

In painting, the technique of applying water-based pigment to lime mortar or plaster.

granulation

The attachment of granules of precious metal to the underlying metal of jewelry.

groin vault, cross-vault

The ceiling configuration formed by the intersection of two-barrel vaults.

impluvium

In a Roman house, the basin located in the atrium that collected rainwater.

insula

In Roman architecture, a multistory apartment house, usually made of brick-faced concrete; also refers to an entire city block. An Ancient Roman building or group of buildings standing together and forming an apartment block.

keystone

The wedge-shaped stone at the center of an arch, rib, or vault that is inserted last, locking the other stones into place.

late antique

The style of art that covers the transition from the Classical world and the civilizations of Greece and Rome into the Middle Ages. In terms of artistic style, it covers the transition from Roman to Medieval and Byzantine art.

mausoleum

A large, stately tomb or a building that houses such a tomb or several tombs.

menorah

In antiquity, the Jewish sacred seven-branched candelabrum.

nave

In basilicas and churches, the long, narrow central area used to house the congregation.

necropolis

Greek, "city of the dead"; a large burial area or cemetery.

oculus (pl. oculi)

Latin, "eye." The round central opening of a dome. Also, a small round window in a Gothic cathedral. A round opening in a wall or at the apex of a dome.

patricians

Originally, a member of any of the families constituting the populus Romanus, or body of Roman citizens, before the development of the plebeian order; later, one who, by right of birth or by special privilege conferred, belonged to the senior class of Romans, who, with certain property, had by right a seat in the Roman Senate. A member of a hereditary ruling-class family.

peripteral

Surrounded by a row of columns or peristyle.

peristyle

In ancient Greek architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porch(es). A peripteral colonnade consists of a single row of columns on all sides; a dipteral colonnade has a double row all around.

plebeian

The Roman social class that included small farmers, merchants, and freed slaves.

podium

(a) the masonry forming the base of a temple; (b) a raised platform or pedestal.

portico

(a) a colonnade; (b) a porch with a roof supported by columns, usually at the entrance to a building.

pseudo-peripteral

In Roman architecture, a pseudo-peripteral temple has a series of engaged columns all around the sides and back of the cella to give the appearance of a peripteral colonnade.

repoussé

Formed in relief by beating a metal plate from the back, leaving the impression on the face. The metal is hammered into a hollow mold of wood or some other pliable material and finished with a graver.

rotunda

A circular building, usually covered by a dome.

Second Style mural

The style of Roman mural painting in which the aim was to dissolve the confining walls of a room and replace them with the illusion of a three-dimensional world constructed in the artist's imagination.

spandrel

The roughly triangular space enclosed by the curves of adjacent arches and a horizontal member connecting their vertexes; also, the space enclosed by the curve of an arch and an enclosing right angle. The area between the arch proper and the framing columns and entablature. The triangular area between (a) the side of an arch and the right angle that encloses it or (b) two adjacent arches.

springing

(a) the architectural member of an arch that is the first to curve inward from the vertical; (b) the point at which this curvature begins.

stylus

A pointed instrument used in antiquity for writing on clay, wax, papyrus, and parchment; a pointed metal instrument used to scratch an image on the plate used to produce an etching.

terracotta

Hard-baked clay, used for sculpture and as a building material. It may be glazed or painted.

tessera, tesserae

A small piece of colored glass, marble, or stone used in a mosaic.

Third Style mural

In Roman mural painting, the style in which delicate linear fantasies were sketched on predominantly monochromatic backgrounds.

tracery

A decorative, interlaced design (as in the stonework in Gothic windows).

travertine

A hard limestone used as a building material by the Etruscans and Romans.

triumphal arch

In Roman architecture, a freestanding arch commemorating an important event, such as a military victory or the opening of a new road. In Christian architecture, the arch framing the apse at the end of a church nave.

Tuscan column

The standard type of Etruscan column. Resembles ancient Greek Doric columns, but is made of wood, is unfluted, and has a base.

vault, vaulting

A roof or ceiling of masonry constructed on the arch principle; see also barrel vault, groin vault, quadrant vaulting, ribbed vault.

veristic, verism

The style of portraiture favored during the Roman Republic in which the subjects were portrayed in a super-realistic likeness; from the Latin word for true. True to natural appearance.

villa

(a) in antiquity and the Renaissance, a large country house; (b) in modern times, a detached house in the country or suburbs.

voussoir

One of the individual, wedge-shaped blocks of stone that make up an arch.

wattle-and-daub

A composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips are coated with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw.