Art Hist. Test 1 - Sumerians - Etruscans - Terms

Relief

Sculptural figures projected from their background.

High Relief

The figures in these reliefs protrude outwards so much so that they look almost in the round, and cast long shadows.

Low Relief

These figures don’t protrude as much but there is still some 3D aspect to them.

Planar Relief

The figures in this relief are carved into the surface of the wall and don’t protrude at all, sometimes called a sunken relief.

Register

A liner section of an artwork that shows a story in its progression.

Heraldic Composition

The figures on either side of the central figure are symmetrical.

Ziggurat

an earthen mound on which a temple sits with an axial approach (not straight but at an angle), built in ancient Mesopotamia

Stylized

 an intentionally simplified portrayal of a figure

Idealized

showing a figure as it looked in its prime or as the artist thinks it should be shown to convey what it is but also with an artistic flare

Stele

a monument depicting a scene, usually to commemorate an important figure or event, and it’s taller than it is wide

Mastaba

a subterranean Egyptian tomb with a rectangular structure built on top of it to protect the burial chamber from grave robbers, to allow the ka to join the living world, and to house a statue of the person buried there

Rosetta Stone

a stone with Greek and Egyptian writing discovered by Napoleon

Fresco

painted plaster narratively depicting a scene

Hierarchical Scale

showing more important figures near the top of an artwork, and bigger and taller than all other figures

Peripteral Colonnade

columns that line the perimeter of a structure

Frieze

a still for a scene usually depicted as a relief

Metope

individual friezes that together tell a story

Stylobate

the tiered base of a structure forming stairs

Delian League

the group or artists in charge of rebuilding the Parthenon after the sacking of the Acropolis

Gigantomachy

the war between the Greek gods and the giants, a metaphor for the war between the Greeks and the Persians

Centauromachy

a fight between Lapiths and Centaurs at a Lapith wedding after the Lapiths invite the Centaurs as a show of friendship, the Centaurs then try to kidnap all the Lapith women, also a metaphor for the war between the Greeks and the Persians as the Greeks saw the Persians as barbarians

Chryselephantine

coating a statue in ivory and gold

Necropolis

city of the dead, a collection of tombs built in clusters to mimic a town

Arcuated

a curved structure such as an arch that was used by the Etruscans