Art History B - Exam One Terms

fresco

A painting done rapidly in watercolor on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling.

tempera

A method of painting with pigments dispersed in an emulsion miscible with water, typically egg yolk.

gold leaf

Gold that has been beaten into a very thin sheet, used in gilding.

sgraffito

A form of decoration made by scratching through a surface to reveal a lower layer of a contrasting color.

punch work

A design technique accomplished by indenting the gold leaf surface without breaking it.

warp and weft

The two types of thread used to create a finished woven product.

narrative cycle

A series of images or scenes that tell a story through a sequence of visual representations.

continuous narrative

A type of narrative that illustrates multiple scenes of a narrative within a single frame.

allegory

When the subject of the artwork symbolizes a deeper moral or spiritual meaning.

iconography

A particular range of types of image used by an artist to convey particular meanings.

triptych

An artwork formed as a trio, typically on altarpieces.

polyptych

A painting or work consisting of four or more separate panels that are hinged or held together.

illuminated manuscript

Hand-written books with painted decoration that generally includes precious metals.

Renaissance

The rebirth of classical thinking.

humanism

A cultural and intellectual movement that celebrated human potential, values, and classical antiquity.

Neoplatonism

A philosophical movement that reinterpret the ideas of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.

relief sculpture

Sculpture that projects in varying degrees from a two-dimensional background.

Italo-Byzantine

Style term for medieval paintings produced in Italy under heavy influence from Byzantine art.

International Gothic style

A type of courtly painting created across Europe from the late 14th to mid-15th centuries.

Classical antiquity

The art of ancient Greece and Rome, emphasizing proportion, balance, and humanism.

contrapposto

A sculptural pose where a figure stands with most weight on one leg, creating a natural stance.

guild

An association of artists, merchants, and craftsmen who regulated the production and training of art.

hierarchical scale

A technique that uses size to indicate importance.

one-point linear perspective

A drawing method showing how things appear to get smaller and converge towards a single vanishing point.

atmospheric perspective

How the atmosphere influences the appearance of distant objects.

lost wax method

The process by which a duplicate sculpture is cast from an original sculpture.

chiaroscuro

The use of light and shadow to create the illusion of light from a specific source.

trompe-l’oeil

An artistic term for the realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface.

millefleur

A type of background packed with flowering plants.

sfumato

The 'smoky' quality which blurs contours in art, allowing figures to emerge from a dark background.

colossus

A statue that is considerably larger than life-size.

Protestant Reformation

A religious movement that changed art in Europe in the 16th century.

Counter Reformation

A Catholic art style that developed in response to the Protestant Reformation.

martyrium

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

disegno

An Italian word that means drawing or design.

colore/colorito

A term applied to 16th-century Venetian painting emphasizing color for expressive purposes.

Mannerism

A European art style emphasizing complexity and artificiality over naturalism.

column

An architectural element consisting of a shaft used for structural support or decoration.

capital

The uppermost portion of a column, often featuring distinctive architectural elements.

Order

The various styles of columns such as Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite.

architrave

The lowest section of the entablature, immediately above the capital of a column.

frieze

A long horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration found on a wall or around a building.

cornice

Any projecting element that crowns an architectural feature.

entablature

A horizontal part in classical architecture that rests on columns.

pediment

A triangular gable found above the horizontal structure of the cornice or entablature.

temple-front facade

Element of a façade resembling the front of a Classical temple, often with columns.

pilaster

A shallow rectangular column that projects slightly beyond the wall.

spandrel

The area above and on either side of an arch, bounded by specific lines.

module

A standardized unit that can be combined to create larger works.

bay

Any division of a building between vertical lines or planes.

barrel vault

An elongated or continuous semicircular vault shaped like a half-cylinder.

basilica plan

A large public building, rectangular in plan, featuring a nave and aisles.

central plan

A plan in which the parts of a building radiate from a central point.