Art His 21 Vocab

Battle of Milvian Bridge, 312

A battle outside of Rome where Constantine had a dream with the Christian chi-rho symbol, carried it into battle, and then won the battle and reunified the Roman Empire

Edict of Milan, 313

Constantine legalized Christianity because he believes the chi-rho symbol caused him to win the Battle of Milvian Bridge

Catacomb

Early Christian burials outside Rome

Loculus/i

A shelf like space designed to hold a body in a catacomb

Cubiculum/i

A burial chamber excavated in a catacomb

Epitath

An inscription on a tombstone

Iconography

Study of the identification, description, and interpretation of the content of images

Acrolyth

A composite sculpture made of stone together with other materials such as wood or inferior stone

Colossus

Statue that is larger than life-size

Soul Portrait

Portrait where a person is looking up, as if towards heaven

Spolia

materials taken from an old structure and repurposed for new construction and decorative purposes

Syncretism

blending of different cultural styles, forms, and ideas

Chi-Rho

A Christian symbol with the Chi symbol (X) and Rho (P)

Ichthys

A fish representing Jesus Christ

Basilica

Large roofed public buildings in ancient Rome and pre-Christian Italy

Martyrium

A church or shrine built over the tomb of a Christian martyr

Nave

Central part of the church extending from the main entrance to the transepts

Aisles

Lengthwise division of a church that runs parallel to the central nave

Apse

A semicircular or polygonal recess at the end of a church

Transept

A rectangular area which cuts across the main access of a church, creating a cross

Crossing

the junctions of the four arms of a cross-shaped church

Narthex

Long, enclosed porch crossing the entire width of a church at its entrance

Atrium

Open courtyard at the entrance of a church

Axial plan

church whose plan is organized along a longitudinal axis

Orans

A figure in a posture of prayer

Colonnade/arcade

Arcade: succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns

Gallery

Room or building where visual art is displayed

Clerestory

A fenestrated (windowed) wall of a room that is carried higher than the surrounding roofs to light the interior space

Necropolis

Extensive and elaborate burial place of an ancient city

Pendentive

A triangular segment of a spherical surface, filling in the upper corners of a room, in order to form, at the top, a circular support for a dome

Icon (Greek eikon)

Representation of sacred personages or events in art

Mosaic

made of individual pieces of stone or glass (tessera) put together on a surface

Tessera/ae

individual tile, usually square, used in creating a mosaic

Hieratic scale

artist’s method of indicating the importance of individuals through relative size

Hieratic plan

size of figures detrmined by importance rather than actual size

Old Testament

Part 1 of the Bible, based on the Hebrew, first five books are the Torah

New Testament

Part 2 of the Bible, 27 books (first 4 are the Gospels - Jesus’s life told by the Evangelists)

Four Evangelists

Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John - authors of the New Testament Gospels

Traditio legis

(passing of the law) Iconographic motif in Early Christian art of Jesus delivering a scroll, representing the New Law or Christian doctrine, to St Peter

Book cut marble

Technique where a single slab of marble is cut along its central plane to create two slabs mirroring each other, resembling the pages of an open book

Encaustic

Ancient technique using wax and colored pigment to make paint

Isocephaly

Art where the heads of figures are aligned at the same horizontal level, regardless of their pose

Low relief, high relief

How far a sculpted figure stands out from the flat background

Abstraction

style of art that is not realistic; the idea of something

Naturalism

detailed, looks realistic

Realism

so hyper detailed that it might not be authentic/realistic

Niello

black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal, especially silver

Pelta/ae

a crescent shaped or shield like design used in mosaics and ornaments

Torc

ancient Celtic form of thick, twisted neck ring with an opening at the front

Cloisonné

a technique of creating designs on metal vessels w/colored glass paste placed within enclosures made of copper or bronze wires bent into the desired pattern

Filigree

delicate, lace-like metalwork composed of intertwined wire threads of gold or silver

Ashlar

finely cut and squared stone block

Historiated capital

a column decorated with figures of animals or humans

Corinthian capital

topmost, decorative member of a Corinthian order column

Hypostyle Hall

interior space whose roof rests on pillars or columns

Kaaba

cube-shaped shrine located in the Great Mosque of Mecca

Qibla

direction of prayer, toward the Kaaba in Mecca, that Muslims face when praying

Mihrab

prayer niche, focal point in the interior of a mosque, located in the qibla wall that faces Mecca

Minaret

tower from which Muslims are called to prayer five times per day by a muezzin

Aniconic

cultural absence of artistic representations (icons)

Iconoclasm

deliberate destruction of religious images and icons

Iconoclast

person who believes in the destruction of artistic images

Inconodule

person who supports and defends the use of religious images

Iconomachy

struggle/debate over images

Westwork

monumental, west facing entrance of a Carolingian, Ottonian, or Romanesque church

Apotropaic

with the purpose of warding off evil

Crux gemmata

cross decorated with jewels, often engraved with images

Illusionism

the attempt to represent physical appearances, or art that appears to share physical space with the viewer

Expressionism

art style depicting emotions and experiences as opposed to objective reality