High renaissance and mannerism definitions

arcadian

A simple rural and rustic setting and especially in Venetian paintings of the high renaissance; named after arcadia, a district in Greece to which poets and painters have attributed a rural simplicity and an idyllically untroubled world

Canvas

a heavy woven material used as the surface of a painting first widely used in Venice

Cassone

A trunk intended for storage of clothing for a wife’s trousseau

chiaroscuro

a gradual transition from light to dark in a painting. forms are not determined by sharp outlines, but by the meeting of lighter and darker areas

entombment

a painting or sculpture depicting Jesus Christ’s burial after his crucifixion

flood story

as told in Genesis 7 of the bible, Noah and his family escape rising waters by building an ark and placing two of every animal on board

genre painting

painting in which area of everyday life are depicted

Glazes

thin transparent layers put over a painting to alter the color and build up a rich sonorous effect

ignudi

nude corner figures on the Sistine chapel ceiling

last supper

a meal shared by Jesus Christ with his apostles the night before his death by crucifixion

Neoplatonism

A school of ancient Greek philosophy that was revived by Italian humanists of the renaissance

Sfumato

a smoke-light or hazy effect that distances the viewer from the subject of a painting

sibyl

a Greco-Roman prophetess whom Christians saw as prefiguring the coming of Jesus Christ

still life

a painting of a grouping of inanimate objects, such as flowers or fruit