Art History Glossary Terms

Enlightenment

In the 17th and 18th centuries. Included a range of ideas centered on the value of human happiness, the pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the senses, and ideas.

Academie

1. educational institutions in which artistic techniques and principles were taught in accordance with the prevailing rules of aesthetics and taste

2. institutions formed by specialists in a given subject, with restricted access and a limited number of members, in order to generate, present, and share knowledge

Salon

a gathering of people held by an inspiring host, during whcih they amuse one another and increase their knowledge through conversation

Rococo

art in the early 18th century - elaborate and profuse ornamentation, asymmetrical forms, motifs imitating rockwork, scrolls, shells, plants and ribbons

Neoclassicism

The 18th century to early 19th century inspired classical art in ancient Greece and Rome. A reaction against the Rococo style - characterized by an inclination for the linear and for the mythological topics

Sublime

quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual, or artistic.

During the 18th century and became one of the most important concepts in Romantic aesthetics and theory of art.

refers to greatness beyond all possibility of calculation.

Romanticism

18th century until the mid-19th century

reaction to neoclassicism

known for its nostalgia for the past, its tendency for spontaneity, lyricism, individualism, the importance granted to feeling and imagination, color, and movement.

Barbizon school

most realistic possible search for the reflection of Nature, mainly the countryside surrounding the village of Barbizon

Orientalism

Imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world.

19th century specialty

Realism

The artists of this were French painters, H. Daumier and G. Courbet

Impressionism

originated in France at the end of the 19th century.

The name of this movement derives from a painting by Monet entitled Impression

sought to depict through the vividness and proximity of nature plus the natural light of the open air, the impression made by the subjects on the artists.

Luminism

technique of the importance of light and its effects in a painting.

characterized by the Mediterranean light that baths his landscape and genre paintings

Avant-garde

military parlance and refers to the infantry who occupied the front line

during the 19th century

applied to revolutionaries who sought to change society in a profound way

Art manifesto

public declaration of the intentions of an artist or their movement

a standard feature of the various movements in the modernist avant-garde, and are still written today

sometimes rhetoric that are intended for shock value, to achieve a revolutionary effect

Cubism

represent the permanent, reduce nature to a simple geometric volume.

range of colors was narrowed, as the importance lay in form and volume

Analytical cubism

The first expression of cubism, with neutral, uniform tones and a great multiplicity of points of view that dissolve the figures

reality is viewed through a prism that breaks the object down into a thousand parts

Synthetic cubism

Second expression of cubism - richer colors and more figuration, within the decomposition into facets characteristic of the movement, reduced to the essential

Blue Period

between 1903 and 1904 (between Barcelona and Paris)

the personal and economic difficulties of these years were reflected in a palette dominated by different shades of blue, a color symbolically associated with sadness

Pink Period

between 1904 and 1906

a new sense of graceful, less stylized and more serene forms

range of colors is pinks, oranges and other warm colors combined, sometimes, light blue

popular - Family of Saltimbanques (1995)

Return to order

European art movement that followed the First World War - rejecting the extreme avant-garde art of the years up to 1918 and taking its inspiration from classical art instead

reaction to the war

associated with revival of classicism and realistic painting

Expressionism

developed from 1905 onwards

1. First expressionist group - main aim was to show inner anguish. Believed art should not reflect the perfection of forms, but rather the artist’s way of feeling

2. Second expressionist group - more oriented towards abstract painting. Led by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky

Abstraction

nonrepresentational art

emerged around 1910, reaching its height during the 20s.

Dadaism (Dada movement)

emerged in Zurich

sought an open attack on everything that implied order, highlighting the absurd and calling for the desacralisation of art

Surrealism

avant-garde tendency - brought together the painters who sought to express the dreamlike and fanastic world of the subconscious mind

expressed through the creation of his own language or through the unusual association of objects

no formal unity, ranging from a very marked figuration to an almost cubist abstraction

Aerial perspective

A pictorial device that attempts to achieve a sensation of depth by means of gradations of distinctness and color.

Allegory

symbolic representation of abstract ideas in a painting or sculpture

Bodegone

originated from bodegón

means a pantry or a tavern

Baroque

style of art and architecture that spread through Europe

17th century to the early 18th century

characterized by a dynamic and complicated style, a great expressiveness, predominance of curves, asymmetry of design, and a great ornamental and decoration richness

Break of glory

Blends terrestrial events with an open sky, showing angels and divinity

Canon

Model, rule, especially the Greek ideal about the proportions of the human body

Canvas

piece of cloth, generally made of linen, cotton or hemp, on which a painting is done.

Chiaroscuro

distribution of lights and shades in a painting, so that the illuminated figures stand out on an obscure background

Contrapposto

asymmetrical arrangement of the different parts of the human body, placed in different planes, avoiding symmetry and stiffness

Counter-Reformation

Roman Catholic efforts directed in the 16th and early 17th centuries both against the Protestant Reformation and toward internal renewal

Donor

provides the funds for the execution of a work

Equestrian portrait

pictorial representation of a person, normally a member of the monarchy or the aristocracy, riding a horse

Foreshortening

represents elements or bodies totally or partially perpendicular to the plane in such a way that gives depth

Fresco

painting performed on walls and ceilings with colors dissolved in lime water and spread on a layer of wet lime

used during the 15th and 16th centuries

Genre painting

painting that depicts domestic scenes of everyday life

Golfillos

scene in Murillo’s genre painting

He portrays the dirty environment of poor children living in the streets of Seville

Herrerian style

characteristic style in Spain during the reign of King Philip II

created by the architect Juan de Herrera

iconography

study and interpretation of paintings, sculptures, portraits, and their symbolic meanings

inmaculada (inmaculate conception)

The most important subjects in Murillo’s production

based on the belief that Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception

linear perspective

uses parallel lines and a vanishing point towards which they converge to establish depth of planes in a pictorial work

mannerism

this style imitates Michelangelo’s style of painting and is considered a precursor of the Baroque

renaissance

beginning with the humanism, the national literatures go through an important development, arts flourish amidst a new interest for the Classical past, leading the painting and sculpture to a greater naturalism and concern for perspective and anatomy

sfumato

developed by Leonardo Da Vinci that blurred the contours of the figures and combined with aerial perspective, provides naturalness and realism

spanish inquisition

judicial institution ostensibly established to combat heresy in Spain

it was led by the Spanish Catholic Church, and it served to consolidate power in the monarchy of the newly unified Spanish Kingdom but achieved that end through infamously brutal methods

spanish golden age

The period of Spanish literature and arts extending from the early 16th century to the late 17th century

generally considered the high point in Spain’s literary and artistic history

still life

depicting inanimate beings such as flowers, fruits, lifeless animals, objects, etc

tapestry

heavy woven fabric, generally of wool or silk which design is formed while it is woven

tempera

technique that uses an emulsion obtained by mixing pigments, oil egg and water

can be applied on wood panels, or on walls and was widely used in the Renaissance

tenebrism

stresses light and shadows and strongly highlights the figures of a subject

terribilitá

contained tension that manifests itself in the face, muscles, even veins, and gives movement and expressiveness