Italian Renaissance Terms

SIUE Art 449

Linear Perspective

a type of perspective used by artists in which the relative size, shape, and position of objects are determined by drawn or imagined lines converging at a point on the horizon.

Atmospheric Perspective

a kind of perspective in which objects that are further away are increasingly visually affected by the atmosphere with the goal of creating the illusion of depth in the artwork

Foreshortening

the technique of depicting an object or human body in a picture so as to produce an illusion of projection or extension in space.

Coffers

a square or polygonal ornamental sunken panel used in a series as decoration for a ceiling or vault.

Fluting

A molding of convex section formed in the flutes of a column

Column Types

columns (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Tuscan), arcades (series of arched columns) and intricate tracery (or carvings)

Levels of Holiness

Seen in Massacio’s Trinity, dead people, patrons, St. John the Baptist & the Virgin Mary, Jesus & God & Holy Spirit all in a pyramid.

Disegno

the Italian word for drawing or design

Tabernacle Eucharist

a fixed, locked box in which the Eucharist (consecrated communion hosts) is stored as part of the "reserved sacrament" rite

Rustification

a style of masonry giving stones a deliberately rough finish

Cenotaph

a monument to someone buried elsewhere, especially one commemorating people who died in a war.

Avelli

pulpits and tombs

Neo-Platonism

“the individual soul, considered as intellect, is divine” Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion.

Cassone

Marriage chest brought with a women from her families home to her husbands home to teach her how to be a wife and the husband how to lead.

“ALOE” Angel, Lion, Ox, & Eagle

Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John

The Medicis

Cosimo, Piero, Lorenzo

Court Cities

Mantua- Gonzaga Family,

Ferrara- Este Family,

Urbino- Montefeltro family,

Naples- House of Aragon 

Contrapposto

stance of marble statues where weight is shifted to one side on a leg.