Final Term Definitions

Atrium

An unroofed interior courtyard or room in a Roman house, sometimes having a pool or garden, sometimes surrounded by columns. The courtyard in front of a Christian church or an entrance area in modern architecture

Nave

The central space of a basilica, two or three stories high and usually flanked by aisles

Transept

The arm of a cruciform church, perpendicular to the nave. The point where the nave and transept cross is called the crossing. Beyond the crossing lies the sanctuary, wether apse, choir or chevet

Colonnade

Separate the side isles from the apse

Apse, apsidal

A large semicircular or polygonal (and usually vaulted) niche protruding from the end wall of a building. in the Christian Church, it contains the altar. Apsidal is an adjective describing the condition of having such a place

Barrel vault

An arched masonry structure that spans an interior space. Barrel or tunnel vaults are an elongated or continuous semicircular vault, shaped like a half-cylinder

Groin vault

A vault created by the intersection of two barrel vaults of equal size which creates four side compartments of identical size and shape

Aisle

Passage or open corridor of a church, hall or other building that parallels the main space. usually on both sides, and is delineated by a row, or arcade of columns or piers. Called side aisles when they flank the nave of a church

Ambulatory

The passage (walkway) around the apse in a basilican church or around the central space in a central plan building

Arcade

A series of arches, carried by columns or piers and supporting a common wall of lintel. In a blind arcade, the arches and supports are engaged (attached to the wall) and have a decorative function

Capital

The sculpted block that tops a columnf, According to the conventions of the orders, capitals include decorative elements. Historical capitals display fa figural composition of a narrative scene.

catacomb

A subterranean burial ground consisting of tunnels on different levels, having niches for urns and sarcophagi and often incorporating rooms (cubiculae)

Clerestory

The topmost zone of a wall with windows in a basilica extending above the aisle roofs. Provides direct light into the central interior space (the nave)

Column

An architectural element used for support and/or decoration. Consists of a rounded or polygonal vertical shaft placed on a base and topped by a decorative capital.

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In classical architecture, built in accordance with the rules of one of the architectural orders.

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Can be fee standing or attached to a background wall (engaged)

Dome

A rounded vault, usually over a circular space. Consists of curved masonry and can very in shape from hemispherical to bulbous to ovoidal. Many use a supporting vertical wall (drum) from which the vault springs.

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When built ovver a square space, an intermediate element is required to make the transition to a circular drum. Two systems” a dome on pendentives (spherical triangles) or one on squinches

Gallery

In church architecture, the story found above the side aisles of a church, usually open to and overlooking the nave

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In secular architecture, a long room, usually above the ground floor in a private house or public building used for entertaining, exhibiting pictures or promenading.

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A building or hall in which art is displayed or sold

Hieratic Scale

The use of different sizes for powerful or holy figures and for ordinary people to indicate relative importance. The larger the figure, the greater the importance

Hue

Pure color. The saturation or intensity of the hue depends on the purity of the color. It’s value depends on its lightness or darkness

Lintel

A horizontal element of any material carried by two or more vertical supports to form an opening

Martyrium

In Christian architecture, a church, chapel or shrine built over the grave of a martyr or the site of a great miracle

Mosaic

Images formed by small colored stone or glass pieces (tesserae), affixed to a hard, stable surface

Orant

The representation of a standing figure praying with outstretched and upraised arms

Pendentive

The concave triangular section of a vault that forms the transition between a square or polygonal space and the circular base of a dome

Rotunda

Any building (or part thereof) constructed in a circular (or sometimes polygonal) shape, usually producing a large open space crowned by a dome

Sarcophagus

A stone coffin, Often rectangular and decorated with frelief sculpture

Shaft

The main vertical section of a column between the capital and the base, usually circular in cross section

Spandrel

The area of wall adjoining the exterior curve of an arch between its springing and the keystone, or the area between two arches (the arcade)

Spolia

Latin for ‘hide stripped from an animal’. Term used for fragments of older architecture or sculpture reused in secondary context

Syncretism

A process whereby artists assimilate images and ideas from other traditions or cultures and give them new meanings

Modeling

In painting, the process of creating the illusion of three-dimensionality on a two-dimensional surface by use of light and shade

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In sculpture, the process of molding a three-dimensional form out of a malleable substance

Naos

The principle room in a temple or church. In ancient architecture, the cella. in a Byzantine church, the nave and sanctuary

Round Arch

An arch that displaces most of its weight, or downward thrust along its curving sides, transmitting that weight to adjacent supporting uprights (door or window jams, columns or piers)

Idealization

The process through which artists strive to create images that approach perfection, according to the ideals of their culture and time.

Iconography

Identifying and studying the subject mater and conventional motifs or symbols in works of art

Iconoclasm

The banning or destruction of images, especially icons and religious art

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In 8th and 9th century Byzantium and 16th and 17th century Protestant territories it arose from differing beliefs about the power, meaning, function and purpose of imagery in religion

Icon

A typical of medieval painting with religious themes and purposes.

Individual pictorial compositions that were originally executed by the encaustic method or with mosaic.

Abstract, Abstraction

Any art that does not represent observed aspects of nature or transforms visible forms into a stylized image, the formal qualities of this process

aniconic

A symbolic representation without images of human figures, very often found in Islamic art

Arch

A curved structural element that spans an open space. Built from wedge shaped stone blocks called voussoirs, which, when placed together and held at the top by a trapezoidal keystone have an effective space-spanning and weight-bearing unit.

Basilica

A large rectangular building. Often built with a clerestory, side aisles separated fro m the center nave by colonnades, an apse at one or both ens, Roman centers for administration, later adapted by Christian use

Colonnade

A row of column, supporting a straight lintel (as in a porch or portico) or a series of arches (an arcade)

Diptych

Two panels of equal size (usually decorated with painting s or reliefs) hinged together

Eucharist

The central rite of the Christian Church, from the Greek word ‘thanksgiving’

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Known as the Mass or Holy Communion, is based on the Last Supper

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According to traditional Catholic Christian belief, consecrated bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, in Protestant belief, bread and wine symbolize the body and blood

Iconic Image

A picture that expresses or embodies an intangible concept or idea

Idealization

A process in art through which artists strive to make their forms and figures attain perfection, based on pervading cultural values and/or their own personal beliefs

Menorah

A Jewish lamp=stand with seven or nine branches (used during the celebration of Hanukkah).

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Representations of the seven branched menorah, once used in the Temple of Jerusalem, became a symbol of Judaism

Putto (putti)

A plump, naked little boy, often winged

In Classical, art, called a cupid. in Christian art, a cherub

Reoussé

A technique of hammering metal from the back to create a protruding image

Elaborate reliefs are created with wooden armatures against which the metal sheets are pressed and hammered

Byzantine

4th-15th century CE, generally characterized as a move away from naturalism of the Classical tradition, towards more abstract and universal themes

834-1204

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Architecturally, it is a style from Constantinople, and was inspired by Roman temple features. Churches often followed a basilica central plan.

Carolingian

Founded by Charlemagne’s farther, (768) - late 9th century, and characterized by the Frank empire and

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Illustrated by a dream to revive the Roman empire, art took inspiration from Early Christian, and Byzantine styles, a return to Roman classicism, includes work such as the San Vitale.

Crucifixion

Concerned with symbolic afformations of salvation and eternal life. Present in byzantine art,

Evangelists

The four writers of the Gospels in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Often represented in art by their conventional symbols, an angel, lion, ox and eagle

Gospel

Any of the four biblical narratives covering the life and death of Christ. Prominent examples include the illuminated gospel and the Lndisfarne gospel

Idolatry

The worship of an image or idol as god.

Pantocrator

An image of Jesus Christ as the ruler of the universe, in Greek it translates to “all ruler”

Appropriation

Used to describe the practice of some postmodern artists of adopting images in their entirety from other works of art or from visual culture for the use of their own art.

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The act of recontextualizing the appropriated image allows the artist to critique both it and the time and place in which it was created

Chasing

Ornamentation made on metal by incising or hammering the surface

Cloister

An open space within a monastery, surrounded by an arcaded or colonnaded walkway, often having a fountain or garden.

The most important monastic buildings op off of it. Since members of a cloistered order do not leave the monastery or interact with outsiders, the cloister represent the center of their enclosed world.

Codex

A book, or group of manuscript pages (folios) held together by stitching or other binding on one side

Colophon

The data placed at the end of a book listing the author, publisher, illuminator and other information related to its production. in East Asian handscrolls, the inscriptions which follow the painting are also called colophons

Composition

The overall arrangement, organizing design, or structure of a work of art

Exedra

In architecture, a semicircular niche. On a small scale, used as a decoration, whereas larger exedra can form interior spaces (such as an apse)

Hypostyle hall

A large interior room characterized by many closely spaced columns that support its roof

Iconophile

From the Greek for “lovers of images”. In Byzantine art, iconophiles advocated for the continued use of iconic art in images

Illumination

A painting on paper or parchment used as an illustration and/or decoration in manuscripts or albums.

Usually richly colored, often supplemented by gold and other precious materials. The artists are referred to as illuminators,

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The technique of decorating manuscripts with such paintings

Incising

A technique in which a design or inscription is cut into a hard surface with a sharp instrument. Such a surface is said to be incised

Manuscript

A handwritten book or document

Mausoleum

A monumental building used as a tomb. Named after the tomb of Mausolos erected at Halikarnassos around 350 BCE

Mihrab

A recess or niche that distinguishes the wall oriented toward Mecca (qibla) in a mosque

Millefiori

A term derived from he Italian for “a thousand flowers” that refers to.a glass-making technique in which rods of differently colored class are fused in a long bundle that is subsequently sliced to produce disks or beads with small-scale, multi colored patterns

Miniature

Anything small. in painting, miniatures may be illustrations within albums or manuscripts or intimate portraits

Mosque

An edifice used for communal Islamic worship

Pier

A masonry support made up of many stones, or rubble and concrete (in contrast to a column shaft which is formed from a single stone or series of drums), often square or rectangular in plan, and capable of carrying very heavy architectural loads

Plychrome/polychromy

The multi-colored painting decoration applied to any part of a building, sculpture or piece of architecture

Post-and-lintel

An architectural system of construction with two or more vertical elements (posts) supporting a horizontal element (lintel)

Psalter

In Jewish and Christian scripture, a book containing the psalms, or songs, attributed to King David

Qibla wall

The mosque wall oriented toward Mecca indicated by the mihrab

Register

A device used in systems of spatial definition. In painting, a register indicates the use of differing groundlines to differentiate layers of space within an image. in sculpture, the placement of self-contained bands of reliefs in a vertical arrangement

Scriptorium

A room in a monastery for writing or copying manuscripts

Scroll

A painting executed on a rolled support. Rollers at each end permit the horizontal scroll to be unrolled as it is studied or the vertical scroll to be hung for contemplation or decoration

Tessera (tesserae)

The small piece of stone, glass or other object that is pieced together with many others to create a mosaic

Triptych

An artwork made up of three panels. The panels may be hinged together so the side segments (wings) fold over the central area

Vault

An arched masonry structure that spans an interior space

Vellum/parchment

A fine animal skin prepared for writing and painting

Westwork

The monumental, west-facing enterence section of a Carolingian, Ottonian or Romanesque church. The exterior consists of multiple. stories between two towers, the interior includes an enterence vestibule, a chapel, and a series of galleries overlooking the nave.

Narthax

The vestibule or enterence porch of a church

Rose Window

Common in gothic architecture, a circular window often glazed with stained glass, primarily appeared at the west end of the nave

Side Aisle

One of the lateral isles of a building, as distinguished from the central aisle or nave

Archevolt

A molded band framing an arch, or a series of stone blocks that rest directly on the columns

Bar tracery

Stonework or woodwork applied to the wall surfaces or filling the opening spaces of a window Mullions divide the the space into vertical segments and form decorative patterns at the top of the opening or panel

Bay

A unit of space defined by architectural elements such as columns, piers and walls

Book of Hours

A private prayer book, containing a calendar, services for the canonical hours, and sometimes special prayers

Buttress, buttressing

A projecting support built against an external wall, usually to counteract the lateral thrust of a vault or arch within

Flying buttress

In gothic architecture, an arched bridge above the aisle roof that extends from the upper nave wall, where the lateral thrust of the main vault is greatest, down to a solid pier

Cathedral

The principle Christian church in a diocese, the bishops administrative center and housing his throne (cathedra)

Contrapposto

An Italian term meaning ‘set against,’ used to describe the pose that results from setting parts of the body in opposition to each other around a central axis

Crenellation

Alternating higher and lower sections along the top of a defensive wall, giving a stepped appearance and forming a permanent shield for defenders on the top of a fortified building

Drum

The wall that supports a dome

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A segment of the circular shaft of a column

Embroidery

Stitches applied on top of of an already woven fabric ground

Engaged Column

A column attached to a wall