AH Important Terms

Contrapposto

A sculptural pose in which a human figure rests the weight on one leg the other is bent a the knee 

Lost wax 

Method for casting bronze using a wax model (which melts and is "lost" during the process. 

Antiquity 

The ancient past. The period before the middle ages. Before Constantine 

Renaissance 

Takes place generally between the 14^th and 17^th century. Known as a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political, and economic "rebirth" following the middle ages. Starts around 1420

Pilaster Shaft

Vertical supports used in architecture. Has the appearance of a column that is on the wall. Unlike a column its does not go all the way around. You could walk a circle around it, like a real column because it is fused onto the wall. 

Capitals (Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian) 

The capitals were more like their own city states, in the form of a republic

Architrave 

A main beam resting across the tops of columns, specifically lower third entablature 

Pediment 

A triangular gable, reminiscent of ancient Greek or roman architecture. Renaissance artists grew a general distain for the triangular pediment and thought the rounded arch or dome to be much more elegant.

Gothic 

An older architectural style that grew out of fashion during the renaissance. 

Key features: 

• Pointed arches (instead of rounded arches) 

• Ribbed vaults (instead of domes) 

International Gothic 

A period of gothic art from the late 14^th and early 15^th century.

Chiaroscuro 

Use of light and shadow in an art piece to give the illusion of a 3D form.

Siena 

• Rivals with the city of Florence 

• Would compete through works of art and architecture. Palazzo Pubblico (Siena vs Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Siena Cathedral vs Florence Cathedral 

Florence 

• Rivals with the city of Siena 

• Creating the Florence Cathedral because of its rivalry to Siena (domed by Brunelleschi) 

Altarpiece 

Triptych 

• Part of the altar piece 

• It is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections and can be folded shut if needed. 

Predella 

• Part of the Altar 

• Is the lowest part of the altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step. 

• Often the image is of a smaller part of the story tangentially related to the larger main scene above it. 

Fresco 

• Method of painting on freshly applied plaster.  

• Painters must work fast because it drys within a day 

• Ideal for murals because it durable and matte

Intonaco 

• The final smooth coat of plaster that is applied onto a fresco and is painted on while still wet.  

• Artists only apply as much intonaco as they think they can finish within a day (before it dries) 

Arricio 

The second rough coat of plaster in a fresco where the underdrawing is applied.    

Sinopia 

A reddish brown pigment, often used in the rough initial layer of plaster for the underdrawings of a fresco 

Giornate 

• Each finished section of fresco making up the whole work 

• Giornate means "a days work" 

• The amount of Giornate can be tracked to figure out approximately how many days it took for the artist to finish the piece, as each section needed to be done within a day. 

Secco 

• Fresco secco ("dry fresco" or ""false" fresco) 

• Dry finished plaster plaster walls are soaked with limewater and painted while wet. The colors do not penetrate into the plaster but form a surface film, like any other paint. 

• Not as durable

Buon (true) fresco 

The most durable technique for painting frescoes 

Seen as the best and superior way for artists to paint fresco 

• The process: 

• 3 successive coats of prepared plaster 

• The first two rough coats are applied and allowed to dry, and underpainting is drawn 

• The final smooth coat (intonaco) of plaster is then troweled onto as much of the wall as can be painted in one session.  

• Each "section" are called giornate, "a day's work." 

Line Snapping 

• How renaissance fresco artist drew straight lines on the wall.  

• They did this by immersing string in chalk dust, stretching it taught against the wall or surface, then snapping the line so that the string will leave behind a straight line. 

Egg tempera 

• Main method of painting before oil paint became popular 

• Unable to blend wet into wet. 

• Achieved the illusion of blending by using very tiny brushstrokes 

• Use by mixing pigments with egg yolk 

Gilding 

Applying a very thin sheet of gold to a surface with an adhesive 

Stamping 

A method of gilding 

Underdrawing 

He drawing before the final layer of plaster of a fresco. Meant to be the "blueprint" for the finished piece. 

Linear one-point perspective 

A mathematical system of creating an illusion of depth on a flat surface. All parallel lines converge on a single vanishing point on the horizon line 

Three components: 

• Orthogonal (parallel lines) 

• Horizon line 

• Vanishing point 

Purgatory 

Sacraments 

Eucharist/Mass/Communion 

Transubstantiation/Real Presence

That the wine and bread broken and blessed at mass is literally turned into the body and blood of christ through a miracle. 

Preparatory drawing

The initial sketches or studies artists create before producing a final artwork

Study/Sketch/Cartoon 

Pouncing 

Also known as Spolvero. Is an art technique used for transferring an image from one surface to another using a fine powder called pounce. Similar to tracing and is useful for creating copies of a sketch outline to product finished works.

Dissection 

Atmospheric perspective 

How artists display how the properties of the atmosphere alter the appearance of distant object. Closely related to sfumato. Ex. How mountains get lighter the further along the horizon they are.

Fictive architecture

Architectual designs that do not exist in reality. Give an illusion of 3D space

Ex. A fresco of columns or rounded arches on a flat wall that give the illusion that they are actually part of the physical structure.  

Refectory 

A long elongated table usually seen in last supper paintings.

Festaiuolo/chloric figure 

A figure in a painting looking directly at the viewer. Meant to add interest, dynamism and engage the viewer. 

Sacra conversazione

Genre of religious painting, Depicting the Virgin and Child amidst a group of saints. The saints are in a relatively informal grouping compared to the rigid hierarchical compositions  of earlier periods. 

Donor figures/ Votive figures 

A portrait in a larger painting or other medium showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her family.  

An example of:

• Self-commemoration

• Paying off Purgatory

"New Rome"

The name given to the new imperium capital by Roman Emperor Constantine. This was not actually in Rome but in the city of Byzantium. 

Trompe l'oeil

The highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two dimensional space. (like the painted ceiling "skylight" in Mantegna's camera picta.)

Putti 

Chubby sometimes winged, and often naked childlike figures used as motifs in Renaissance Art.  

Intarsia 

Using inlaid wood to create the illusion of depth. 

Foreshortening 

Compressing long objection to appear shorter, given and illusion of depth. Seen in Mantegna's "Dead Christ" 

Pieta 

“The Virgin of Pity" A theme in christian art that depicts the Virgin Mary supporting the body of the dead Christ.  

Coffering 

A coffered ceiling is a pattern of sunken panel in a cieling.

Example of Ornate

Barrel vault 

An Architectual element formed by an extrusion of a single curve along a given distance, Essentially it is a series of arched placed one after another.  

Triumphs 

Were monument structures such as triumph arches, and were erected to honor important figures  or significant events. 

Quadratic capitals

Also known as roman square capitals are an ancient roman form of writing. They were used as inscriptions on public monuments. 

Vitruvian Man 

Leonardo's depiction of the "Perfect Man." Meant to show renaissance notions of the geometry of "perfect" idealized human proportions that those artists sought after.  

Chasing 

The final stage of polishing and sanding bronze artwork 

Sfumato 

The technique of allowing tones and colors to shade gradually into one another, softening outline and producing hazy forms. Ex. Mountains fading back into the horizon. 

Enclosed garden/hortus conclusus

The renaissance motif of an enclosed garden symbolizing Mary's virginity. The full symbolism being that despite being enclosed, the garden thrives inside, just like how despite Mary's virginity remaining intact she was able to conceive a child.  

Loggia 

a roofed open gallery/corridor especially at an upper story at an upper story overlooking an open court.  

Usury 

The illegal action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest. Considered a big sin in the renaissance era that motivated many donors to fund religious works to “pay off“ their sin and get time off of purgatory.

Intercession 

The act of praying on behalf of others or asking a saint in heaven to pray on behalf of oneself or for others.