Classical Painting Quiz

Armature

a metal framework for a stained-glass window; a fixed inner framework supporting a sculpture made of a more flexible material.

Base

that on which something rests; the lowest part of a wall or column, considered as a separate architectural feature.

Capital

the decorated top of a column or pilaster, providing a transition from the shaft to the entablature.

Cella

the main inner room of a temple, often containing the cult image of a diety.

Column

a cylindrical support, usually with three parts—base, shart, and capital.

Convention

a custom, practice, or principle that is generally recognized and accepted.

Cuneiform

a form of writing, consisting of wedge-shaped characters, used in ancient Mesopotamia.

Facing

an outdoor covering or sheathing.

Glaze

in oil painting, a layer of translucent paint or varnish; in pottery, a material applied in a thin layer that, when fired, fuses with the surface to produce a glossy, nonporous effect.

Glyphic art:

the art of carving or engraving, especially on small objects such as seals or precious stones.

Heirarchical proportion:

the representation of more important figures as larger than less important ones.

Intaglio

a printmaking process in which lines are incised into the surface of a plate or print form.

Lamassu

 in Assyrian art, figures and bulls or with wings and human heads.

Lapis lazuli

a semiprecious blue stone, used to prepare the blue pigment known as ultramarine.

Load-bearing construction

a system of construction in which solid forms are superimposed on one another to form a tapering structure.

Pillar

a large vertical architectural element, usually freestanding and load bearing.

Provenience

origin; the act of coming from a particular source.

Register

a range or row, especially one of a series.

Shaft

the vertical, cylindrical part of a column that supports the enablature.

Stele

an upright stone slab or pillar, usually carved or inscribed for commemorative purposes.

Ziggurat

a trapezoidal stepped structure representing a mountain in ancient Mesopotamia.