Western Art History - First test study guide

Vocabulary and major artwork flashcards created from lecture slides covering the Early Italian Renaissance, 15th-Century Italian Renaissance, Early Northern Renaissance, and High Italian Renaissance.

Tempera

A fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually egg yolk, commonly used on wood panel paintings in the Early Italian Renaissance.

Fresco

A technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid, or wet, lime plaster, allowing the pigments to fuse with the plaster as it sets.

High Relief vs. Low Relief

Relief sculpture techniques where high relief features figures that project substantially from the background surface, whereas low relief (bas-relief) features shallow figure projections.

Continuous Narrative

A visual storytelling method where multiple events or sequential scenes of a narrative are depicted within a single, unified frame or backdrop without division.

Contrapposto

A classical pose in sculpture where the human figure stands with weight shifted primarily onto one leg, creating an asymmetrical and naturalistic alignment of hips and shoulders.

Linear Perspective

A mathematical system used to create the illusion of three-dimensional depth on a two-dimensional surface using orthogonal lines that converge at a single vanishing point on the horizon line.

Atmospheric Perspective

A painting technique that simulates depth by diminishing color intensity, contrast, and clarity for distant background objects to mimic atmospheric haze.

Lost Wax Casting

A process of metal casting in which a hollow metal sculpture is created by pouring molten bronze into a mold prepared around a wax model that is melted away.

Diptych

An artwork made up of two hinged panels that can open and close, such as Piero della Francesca's portraits of Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro.

Vanishing Point

The single point in linear perspective on the horizon line where parallel lines (orthogonals) appear to converge.

Sacra Conversazione

Literally 'sacred conversation'; an altarpiece genre depicting the Virgin Mary and Child sitting in a unified space alongside various saints from different historical eras.

Engraving

A printmaking technique in which a design is carved into a metal plate (typically copper) using a sharp tool called a burin, then inked and printed onto paper.

Woodcut

A relief printmaking method where negative space is carved away from a wooden block, leaving raised lines to receive ink and transfer the image.

Chiaroscuro

The dramatic contrast between light and shade in drawing and painting used to model forms and create an illusion of three-dimensional volume.

Sfumato

A painting technique famously used by Leonardo da Vinci that blends colors and tones without perceptible transitions or hard outlines, producing a smoky, soft effect.

Memento Mori

An artistic motif or inscription functioning as a symbolic warning of mortality, such as the skeleton beneath the inscription in Masaccio's Holy Trinity.

Madonna and Child Enthroned (Cimabue)

A tempera on wood panel painted by Cimabue in 1280, representing Late Gothic / Early Italian Renaissance style with Byzantine stylistic influences.

Madonna and Child Enthroned (Giotto)

A tempera on panel artwork created by Giotto in 1305-10, displaying heightened naturalism, physical weight, and spatial depth compared to earlier traditions.

Arena Chapel in Padua

A chapel painted in fresco by Giotto between 1302 and 1305, featuring narrative cycles including the Last Judgment, Kiss of Judas, and Lamentation over the dead Christ.

Dome of Florence Cathedral

A double-shelled dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, constructed between 1420 and 1436 (cathedral built 1296-1470) utilizing major and minor ribs, lateral supports, and herringbone brickwork.

Gates of Paradise

Gilded bronze doors created by Lorenzo Ghiberti for the Florence Baptistery (1425-52), featuring ten panels depicting Old Testament Genesis scenes in relief.

Holy Trinity (Masaccio)

A 1425-27 fresco by Masaccio in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, famous for its strict implementation of linear perspective, classical architecture, portraits of donors, and a memento mori inscription.

David (Donatello)

A 1440 bronze sculpture by Donatello, representing the first freestanding nude bronze statue produced since antiquity, posed in contrapposto with Goliath's head at his feet.

Birth of Venus

A 1482 tempera on canvas painting by Sandro Botticelli depicting the myth of the goddess Venus arriving on shore atop a floating seashell.

Portraits of Battista Sforza and Frederico da Montefeltro

An oil and tempera diptych painted by Piero della Francesca between 1465 and 1472, featuring profile portraits on the front and allegorical carriage scenes with Virtues on the back.

Christ Delivering the Keys to St. Peter

A 1481-83 fresco painted by Perugino in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, showcasing linear perspective through a broad plaza grid, central vanishing point, and symmetric classical temples.

Equestrian portrait of Bartolommeo Colleoni

A bronze sculpture created by Andrea del Verrocchio (1481-95) depicting a condottiere leader on horseback, reviving classical military monuments.

San Giobbe Altarpiece

An 1487 oil on wood altarpiece painted by Giovanni Bellini illustrating a sacra conversazione with the Virgin, Child, angel musicians, and various saints.

Merode Altarpiece

An oil on wood Annunciation triptych produced in 1427-32 by the Workshop of Robert Campin, depicting biblical events inside a contemporaneous 15th-century Northern interior.

Ghent Altarpiece

An oil on wood polyptych completed in 1432 by Jan and Hubert van Eyck, featuring the Annunciation on its exterior panels and the Adoration of the Holy Lamb on its interior panels.

Arnolfini Portrait

A 1434 oil on wood painting by Jan van Eyck depicting an Italian merchant and his wife in a domestic interior, celebrated for its exquisite detail, symbolic iconography, and central convex mirror reflection.

The Tribulations of St. Anthony

A 1469-73 engraving by Martin Schongauer portraying St. Anthony levitated and tormented by fantastical demons.

Vitruvian Man

A 1480 pen and ink drawing by Leonardo da Vinci illustrating ideal human body proportions inscribed within a circle and a square.

Last Supper (Leonardo)

A 1495-98 fresco by Leonardo da Vinci in Sta. Maria della Grazie in Milan, capturing the emotional reactions of the twelve Apostles at the moment Jesus announces his betrayal.

Mona Lisa

A 1503 oil on panel portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, famed for its innovative composition, soft sfumato shading, and enigmatic expression set against a fantastical landscape.

Madonna of the Meadow

A 1506 oil on wood painting by Raphael depicting the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus and John the Baptist in a harmonious, pyramidal composition.

School of Athens

A 1509-11 High Renaissance fresco by Raphael in the Vatican Palace, gathering classical thinkers and philosophers centered around Plato and Aristotle within an idealized vaulted structure.

David (Michelangelo)

A 1501-4 marble sculpture by Michelangelo standing over 17 feet tall, depicting David focused and poised prior to engaging Goliath.

Pietà (Michelangelo)

A 1497-1500 marble sculpture by Michelangelo located in St. Peter's Basilica, showing the Virgin Mary cradling the body of Christ following his crucifixion.

Sistine Chapel Ceiling

A fresco cycle executed by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512 for Pope Julius II, featuring scenes from Genesis including the Creation of Adam and the Temptation and Expulsion.

Last Judgment (Michelangelo)

A 1536-41 fresco painted by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, portraying Christ judging souls at the apocalypse.