Aah Test 1

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Annunciation

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A common theme in religious works of art that depicts the moment when the angel informs the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to Jesus

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cartoon

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A preliminary drawing for a painting or fresco

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chiaroscuro

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The term chiaroscuro refers to the modeling effect of using a strong contrast between light and dark to give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality. It comes from the Italian words chiaro (light) and scuro (dark). Artists who are famed for the use of chiaroscuro include Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt. Leonardo used chiaroscuro to enhance the three-dimensionality of his figures, Caravaggio used it for drama, and Rembrandt used it for both reasons.

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contrapposto ("opposite", "anti-thesis", "placed against")

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This word, primarily used in sculpture, is the principle of weight shift in the visual arts. It is commonly used to depict a figure in a relaxed stance, one leg bearing weight, the other bent, and the torso slightly shifted off axis. The human form is also posed so that head and shoulders are twisted in a different direction from hips and legs.

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disegno

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Literally, “drawing” or “design”, this term meant both the making of sketches and the importance of design. Disegno represented an artist’s conception and intention. During the late 15th century, the introduction of fibrous pulp-based paper made the great development of drawing as an art form possible.

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foreshorten

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To “shorten” parts of an object to create the illusion of depth. (An example is Andrea Mantegna’s Dead Christ, ca. 1501.)

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Fresco

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This is a painting technique in which pigment suspended in water is applied to wet plaster, typically on a wall. It is sometimes called “buon fresco” (which means true fresco) to distinguish it from painting “a secco” on dried plaster.

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Iconography

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The study and implementation of recognizable motifs and symbols in works of art

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Humanism

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Humanism is the movement of the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries when all branches of learning, literary, scientific and intellectual, were based on the culture and Literature of classical Greco-Roman antiquity. This movement emphasized human beings, their achievements, interests, and capabilities.

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Oil paint

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A medium where pigments are mixed with drying oils, such as linseed, walnut, or poppy seed. Popularized during the 15th century in Northern Europe (whose climate did not favor fresco works), this kind of paint was valued due to its brilliance of detail, its rich color, and its wider tonal range. Foremost pioneers of oil paint techniques included (in Holland) Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, and (in Italy) Leonardo Da Vinci.

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Perspective

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A term which refers to the "depth" of a picture—that is, the illusion of three-dimensional space on the picture's two-dimensional surface, whereby forms in the background appear smaller than those in the foreground. Two techniques of representing three-dimensional space on a flat surface are linear perspective and aerial perspective.

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Linear Perspective

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A mathematical method of indicating spatial recession in a picture by placing objects in a series of receding planes. All receding parallel lines (called orthogonals) appear to converge towards each other, eventually meeting at a single point (called the vanishing point). This system was developed by Filippo Brunelleschi in Florence in relation to his architecture. Pioneers included Renaissance painters Masaccio and Andrea Mantegna.

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Orthogonals

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Converging diagonal lines imagined to be behind and perpendicular to the picture plane

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Vanishing point

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The point at which the orthogonals in a painting appear to converge

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Atmospheric Perspective

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This method is based on contrasts of color and shade, which are stronger in the foreground and fainter in the background. This blurring or fading of objects in the distance makes them appear farther away.

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Pieta

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Representation of the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Christ

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Printmaking

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A term which applies to fine art printing processes, such as etching, engraving, lithography, woodcut, and silkscreen, in which multiple images are replicated from the same metal plate, stone, wood or linoleum block, or silkscreen, with monochrome or color printing inks. By the second half of the 15th century, the printmaking method of intaglio (which involved metal engraving) began to replace the process of relief printing, used in creating woodcuts.

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Relief Sculpture

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Refers to sculpting in such a way that forms project and depth is hollowed out. The type of relief is determined by the degree to which the design stands out. Alto rilievo is high relief, while bas relief is low relief (where the projection of forms is slight).

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Renaissance (“rebirth”)

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The period of Renaissance art runs from c.1400 to 1600, divided into Early Renaissance (c.1400-90), High Renaissance (c.1490-1530), and Mannerism (c. 1530-1600). As a whole, it was characterized by the rediscovery of Classical art, a greater emphasis on realism, a mastery of linear perspective, and Humanism. North of the Alps, this movement is known as the Northern Renaissance.

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Schiacciato

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Donatello invented this relief technique, which means “flattened out.” It looks as if the carving was painted on by using a chisel. (An example of this technique can be seen in Feast of Herod by Donatello.)

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sfumato

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The term sfumato was coined by Italian Renaissance artist, Leonardo da Vinci, and refers to the technique of blurring or softening sharp outlines by subtle and gradual blending of one tone into another through the use of thin glazes to give the illusion of depth or three-dimensionality.

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tempera

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A type of paint that is mixed with egg yolks (plus sometimes glue or milk) instead of oil. It was widely used in Italian art in the 14th and 15th centuries for both panel painting and fresco.

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Topics

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Also, think about the big concepts, ideas, & topics we’ve talked about last few weeks: patronage in art (such as donor portraits); Humanism; the revival of Greco-Roman Antiquity; new techniques; the Northern European approach to oil painting vs. the Italian; the Protestant Reformation & the Catholic Counter-Reformation; the revival of the nude in its male & female forms; and the representation of women in portraiture and in the nude. The revival of mythology in art; the shift to secular subject matter rather than all art being religious. Think about the differences between Early Renaissance, High Renaissance, & Mannerist art.