Art History: Classical Greece to the Baroque Era

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering classical Greek architecture and sculpture, medieval Islamic and Gothic sacred sites, Italian Renaissance and Baroque painting and sculpture, and 17th-century Dutch art and global trade networks.

The Delian League (478 - 431 BC)

An Athenian-led alliance of Greek city-states whose members provided ships or funds (totaling approximately 460 talents, ranging from under 3 to over 9-30 talents) to defend against the Persian Empire, effectively becoming an Athenian empire.

Pericles' Funeral Oration

A public oration recorded by Thucydides, delivered in the winter following the first campaign of the Peloponnesian War to honor fallen soldiers by praising Athens and urging citizens to 'day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens.'

Parthenon Pediments

The sculptural programs adorning the gables of the Parthenon; the West pediment depicted the competition between Athena and Poseidon for Attica, while the East pediment depicted the Birth of Athena.

Parthenon Doric Friezes

A series of 92 carved metopes alternating with triglyphs, measuring $1.35\,\text{m}$ in height and finished by 440 BC, illustrating four mythic conflicts: Centauromachy Gigantomachy, Trojan War, and Amazonomachy.

Parthenon Ionic Frieze

A continuous relief band carved from Pentelic marble between 442 and 438 BC (with work continuing up to 432 BC), measuring approximately $160\,\text{m}$ in length and $1\,\text{m}$ in height, with relief no deeper than $5\text{--}6\,\text{cm}$, featuring over 378 persons and 245 animals on 114 blocks.

The Temporary Elgin Room in 1819

An 1819 painting by Archibald Archer showing the Parthenon sculptures displayed in the British Museum alongside staff portraits, a trustee, and visitors.

"Cuirass-torso"

A marble sculpture of an archer or chariot driver from the Acropolis dating to ca. 470 BCE, notable for preserved evidence of elaborate polychromatic surface painting.

Terracotta Krater (Grave Marker)

A large ancient Greek vessel used as a monumental grave marker, ornamented with geometric bands and narrative scenes such as a soldier's funeral procession (prothesis).

The Four Pages of Usman’s Quran

A venerated relic of manuscript leaves from the Quran of the first Sunni caliph, Usman, who was martyred while reading it; paraded through the Great Mosque of Córdoba during prayer to demonstrate Umayyad authority and ancestral heritage as exiles of the Abbasids.

Phase I of the Mosque of Córdoba (785/86 CE)

The founding construction stage of the Great Mosque of Córdoba initiated by Abd al-Rahman I, built directly over the site of the former Church of St. Vincent.

Phase IV of the Mosque of Córdoba (962 CE)

The expansion campaign conducted under Caliph al-Hakam II, which added elaborate polylobed and interlacing arches denoting the maqsura and rich gold-mosaic ornamentation around the mihrab.

1523 CE Alteration of Córdoba Mosque

The architectural intervention following the fall of Granada (1492) wherein Christian masons and builders inserted a cruciform cathedral nave directly between the first and second qibla walls of the Islamic prayer hall.

Ambulatory of Saint-Denis (ca. 1140-1144 CE)

The innovative choir walkway designed under Abbot Suger featuring a circular string of radiating chapels that illuminated the interior with uninterrupted light filtered through sacred stained-glass windows.

Relic of the Face of John the Baptist

The prized sacred holy relic acquired and preserved in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Amiens, which served as a major destination for medieval pilgrims.

Last Judgment Portal (Amiens Cathedral)

The central western portal completed in the 1240s CE depicting Christ presiding over the Last Judgment with two swords, St. Michael weighing souls, St. Francis leading figures to heaven, and demons condemning souls to Hell.

Beau Dieu

The sculptural statue of Christ blessing the faithful located on the central trumeau of the Last Judgment Portal at Amiens Cathedral, framed by depictions of prophets, apostles, virtues, and vices.

Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (DISPUTA)

A theological fresco executed by Raphael ca. 1508–12 in the Stanza della Segnatura of the Vatican Papal Apartments, presenting the mystery of Transubstantiation through an assembly of heavenly figures and earthly theologians.

Cartoon for the School of Athens (ca. 1509)

Raphael's monumental preparatory drawing executed in charcoal on paper, measuring $285 \times 804\,\text{cm}$, preserved in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.

Sofonisba Anguissola (ca. 1532/35–1625)

A noblewoman painter from Cremona trained under Bernardino Campi and Bernardino Gatti who achieved international renown, served 14 years at the Spanish court of Philip II as lady-in-waiting to Isabel de Valois, and taught later masters such as Anthony van Dyck.

The Chess Game (ca. 1555)

An oil on canvas ($72 \times 97\,\text{cm}$) by Sofonisba Anguissola depicting her sisters Lucia, Europa, and Minerva; celebrated as the earliest group portrait of women in European and Renaissance art.

Boy Bitten by a Crayfish (ca. 1554)

A black chalk and charcoal drawing on paper ($38.5 \times 33.6\,\text{cm}$) by Sofonisba Anguissola depicting her weeping brother, created after Michelangelo challenged her to portray a crying child rather than a laughing girl.

Properzia de’ Rossi

A Renaissance sculptor who is the only female artist granted an independent, full-length biographical chapter in Giorgio Vasari's 'Lives of the Artists'.

David (Michelangelo, 1501–04)

A colossal marble statue measuring $5.17\,\text{m}$ in height, carved for Florence and housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia.

"Davitte cholla fromba e io choll’archo"

An inscription on Michelangelo's 1501 preparatory drawing translating to 'David with his sling and I with my bow,' where 'bow' (archo) refers to the sculptor's drill used to carve marble.

David (Donatello, 1408–09)

A marble statue of David measuring $191\,\text{cm}$ in height, sculpted by Donatello and housed in the Bargello Museum in Florence.

"Dying Prisoner" (ca. 1513–16)

A marble figure measuring $2.28\,\text{m}$ in height, carved by Michelangelo for the tomb of Pope Julius II, now housed in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

"Awakening Prisoner" (ca. 1520–23)

An unfinished marble sculpture by Michelangelo measuring $267\,\text{cm}$ in height, exemplifying his technique of freeing the dynamic form from the uncarved block, housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia.

The Ecstasy of St. Teresa (1647–51)

A Baroque theatrical marble group by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, set beneath gilded bronze rays in the Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome.

Dutch East India Company (1602)

A chartered mercantile powerhouse connected to the Amsterdam Stock Exchange that dominated the spice, silk, porcelain, and colonial maritime trade across Batavia, Galle, and Japan.

Clara Peeters

An early 17th-century painter prominent in the development of Northern still-life painting, known for meticulous tabletop arrangements of flowers, cheeses, sweetmeats, goblets, and pewter vessels.