ap art history Roman vocab

ashlar masonry

carefully cut and grooved stones that support a building without the use of concrete or other kinds of masonary

Atrium (plural : atria)

a courtyard in a Roman house or before Christian church

basilica

in Roman architecture, a large axially planned building with a nave, side aisles, and apses

Bust

A sculpture depicting a head, neck, and upper chest of a figure

coffer

In architecture, sunken panel in a ceiling

composite column

one that contains a combination of volutes from Ionic order and acanthus leaves from Corinthian order

continuous narrative

a work of art that contains several scenes of the same story painted or sculpted in continuous succession

cubiculum

(plural: cubicula) A roman bedroom flanking an atrium; in early Christian art, a mortuary chapel in a catacomb

Cupola

a small dome rising over the roof of a building; in architecture, a cupola is achieved by rotating an arch on its axis

encaustic

an ancient method of painting that uses colored waxes burned into wooden surfaces

foreshortening

a visual effect in which an object is shortened and turned deeper into the picture plane to give the effect of receding in space

Forum (plural: fora)

a public square in a Roman city

fresco

a painting technique that involves applying water based paint onto freshly plastered wall. the paint forms a bond with the plaster that is durable and long-lasting

horror vacui

a type of artwork in which the entire surface is filled with objects, people, designs, and ornaments in a crowded, sometimes congested way

impluvium

a rectangular basin in a Roman house that is placed in the open-air atrium in order to collect rainwater

oculus

a circular window in a church, or a round opening at the top of a dome

perspective

depth and recession in a painting or a relief-sculpture

linear perspective

achieves three dimensionality in the two dimensional world of the picture plane

orthogonals

lines that draw the viewer back in space to a common point, called the vanishing point (used in perspective)

atmospheric and ariel perspective

Give the illusion of distance

pier

a vertical support that holds up an arch or vault

spandrel

a triangular enclosed by the curves of arches

vault

a roof constructed with arches

barrel vault

when an arch is extended into space, forming a tunnel

groin vault

when two barrel vaults intersect at right angles

veristic

sculptures from the Roman Republic characterized by extreme realism of facial features