Final Vocab Terms

staffage

figures in a painting that set the mood, tone, character, or theme of a painting, used especially in relation to landscapes

tenebrism

used to describe a certain type of painting in which significant details such as faces and hands are illuminated by highlights which are contrasted with a predominantly dark setting

engraving

a printmaking process of inscribing an image, design, or letters onto a metal or wood surface from which a print is made; engravings are typically made with sharp instruments directly on the surface of the plate

etching

a printmaking process in which a metal plate is coated with acid-resistant resin and then inscribed with a stylus in a design, revealing the plate below The plate is then immersed in acid, which eats away the exposed metal. The resin is removed, leaving the design etched permanently into the metal and the plate ready to be inked, wiped, and printed. Also: the print made from this process.

drypoint

a printmaking process by which a metal plate is directly inscribed with a pointed instrument; resulting design of scratched lines is inked, wiped, and printed

vanitas

images that refer to the transience of life, to its brevity and the vanity of engagement with things of this world

momento mori

an object, often found in vanitas paintings, that refers to the transience of life such as a skull, watch, hourglass, extinguished candle, flower (or an arrangement of flowers) in full bloom

genre painting

a term used to loosely categorize paintings depicting scenes of everyday life, including domestic interiors, parties, inn scenes, and street scenes

mudra

a symbolic hand gesture used in Hindu and Buddhist statuary and ceremonies

moksha

escape from samsara (the Hindu equivalent of nirvana)

Nirvana

escape from samsara, i.e., from the cycle of birth and rebirth, the highest state of enlightenment

bodhisattva

someone who has achieved enlightenment and who delays their entry into nirvana in order to help others to reach Nirvana

gopura

the towering gateway to an Indian Hindu temple complex

gopis

cowherd-women

bhakti

the path of union with god (or universal truth) by means of total, selfless devotion to Krishna

lacquer

a type of hard, glossy surface varnish, originally developed for use on objects in East Asian cultures, made from the sap of the Asian sumac or from shellac, a resinous secretion from the lac insect

chi yün

cosmic consonance

shunya

emptiness

mono-no-aware

an acute sense of melancholy

ukiyo-e

a Japanese term for a type of popular art that was favored from the sixteenth century, particularly in the form of color woodblock prints; often depicted the world of the common people in Japan, such as courtesans and actors, as well as landscapes and myths

japonisme

a style in French and American nineteenth-century art that was highly influenced by Japanese art, especially prints

avant-garde

term derived from the French military word meaning «before the group,» or «vanguard.» Denotes those artists or concepts of a strikingly new, experimental, or radical nature for their time

picturesque

of the taste for the familiar, the pleasant, and the agreeable, popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe; originally used to describe the «picture like» qualities of some landscape scenes

atelier

the studio or workshop of a master artist or craftsperson, often including junior associates and apprentices

veduta

Italian for «vista» or «view.» Paintings, drawings, or prints often of expansive city scenes or of harbors

capriccio

a painting or print of a fantastic, imaginary landscape, usually with architecture

sublime

of a concept, thing, or state of greatness or vastness with high spiritual, moral, intellectual, or emotional value; or something awe-inspiring

fête galante

a subject in painting depicting well-dressed people at leisure in a park or country setting

Grand Tour

Popular during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, an extended tour of cultural sites in France and Italy intended to finish the education of a young upper-class person primarily from Britain or North America

realism

accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or of contemporary life; rejects imaginative idealization in favor of close observation

complementary color

the primary and secondary colors across from each other on the color wheel; when juxtaposed, the intensity of both colors increases; when mixed together, they negate each other to make a neutral gray-brown

painterly

a paintings style characterized by qualities of color, stroke, and texture rather than of line