Chapter 20 Northern Renaissance

Atmospheric or Aerial Perspective

a Renaissance technique gives a sense of distance. The further from the viewer the object was placed, the hazier and grayer it became. (due to dust particles and water vapor)

Deposition

placing of the body in the tomb

Diptych

two panel paintings

Disguised Symbolism

A Northern Renaissance technique of giving a spiritual meaning to ordinary objects in the painting, so these detail can carry the spiritual message

Dry Point

printmaking where the design is scratched into the steel plate with a hard, steel tool

Edition

a set of prints created from a single print surface

Egg Tempera

egg combined with a wet paste of ground pigment

Engraving

V-shaped grooves are cut into a metal plate with a tool balled a burin. The ink is then rubbed into the grooves, the surface of the plate is wiped then printed unto wet paper, which picks up the image.

Etching

an acid bath eats into the exposed parts of a plate where the where the artist has drawn through the acid resistant coating

Gesso

plaster mixed with a binding material

Glazes

a thin film of transparent oil

Graphic Art

is related to printmaking-engraving, etching, lithography, serigraphy and woodcut. All these images can produce multiple copies.

Hatching

fine lines are cute or drawn close together to create the effect of shading

Impasto

creamy, heavy bodied paint

Intaglio

the artist incises or scratches an image on a metal plate

Letterpress

printing with movable type

Linear Perspective

a technique which made it possible to represent three dimensional objects on a flat surface in a systematic way, so that all the lines receding at right angles on the picture plane converge at a vanishing point on the horizon

Medium

material

Oil paint

paint pigments mixed in a viscous, slow-drying oil medium which dries by oxidation and blends easily. It can be used as a glaze or a heavy impasto

Polyptychs

(usually hinged wood) multipaneled paintings

Relief

carving into the surface of a block and removing the negative space so the image is raised

Retablo

the Spanish word for altarpiece. A decorative screen set behind an altar

Rotunda

a round building usually with a dome

Triptych

three panel painting

Woodcut

the carving of a woodblock so the background is removed. The raised image is inked with a roller and then put through a press