Art History 1701 Mcad Terms

Front 1

Style

Back 1

an artist’s distinctive manner of producing an object, the way it looks

Front 2

canon of proportions

Back 2

a rule of what is considered “correct” proportions.

Front 3

composition

Back 3

the way in which an artist organized forms in an artwork, either by placing shapes on a flat surface or arranging forms in space

Front 4

form

Back 4

an object’s shape and structure, either in two dimensions or in three dimensionsan object’s shape and structure, either in two dimensions or in three dimensions

Front 5

hierarchy of scale / hieratic scale

Back 5

an artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance

Front 6

line

Back 6

the extension of a point along a path, made by drawing on or chiseling into a plane

Front 7

medium

Back 7

the material in which an artist works

Front 8

space

Back 8

both the actual area an object occupies or building encloses, or the illusion of space in a painting/sculpture

Front 9

technique

Back 9

the process artists employ to create form, as well as the distinctive, personal ways in which they handle their materials and tools

Front 10

texture

Back 10

the quality of a surface, such as rough or shiny

Front 11

perspective

Back 11

a method of presenting an illusion of the three dimensional world on a two dimensional surface

Front 12

foreshortening

Back 12

the use of perspective to represent the apparent visual contraction of a subject.

Front 13

additive sculpture

Back 13

a kind of sculpture technique in which the materials are built up or added to create form

Front 14

high relief

Back 14

figures project a good deal from the background which they are a part of

Front 15

low-relief (bas relief)

Back 15

where the figures are carved into the stone so that the highest part of the sculpture is no higher then the stone itself

Front 16

subtractive sculpture

Back 16

a kind of sculpture technique where the materials are built up or added to create form

Front 17

elevation

Back 17

architecture - head on view of external or internal wall

Front 18

plan

Back 18

architecture - horizontal arrangements of the parts of a building or a city

Front 19

section

Back 19

architecture - diagram or representation of a part of a structure or building

Front 20

patrons

Back 20

the person or entity that commissions an artist to create artwork

Front 21

in situ

Back 21

a work of art made specifically for a host site or takes into account the site where it will be displayed

Front 22

causality

Back 22

the relationship between cause and effect

Front 23

iconography

Back 23

the writing of images in an artwork/ the study of symbolic content in an artwork

Front 24

Twisted Perspective

Back 24

A convention of representation in which part of afigure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally

Front 25

Narrative

Back 25

A story

Front 26

Megalith

Back 26

Greek, “great stone.” A large, roughly hewn stone used in the construction of monumental prehistoric structures.

Front 27

Post and Lintel System

Back 27

A system of construction in which twoposts support a lintel.

Front 28

Sumerian

Front 29

Akkadian

Front 30

Babylonian

Front 31

Assyrian

Front 32

Neo-Babylonian

Front 33

Persian

Front 34

Fresco

Back 34

Painting on lime plaster, either dry or wet

Front 35

Megaron

Back 35

The great hall of the Grecian palace complexes

Comunal Hall/ Feast/ Religious Events

Front 36

Cella

Back 36

The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classicaltemple, the room (Greek, naos) in which the cult statue usuallystood.

Front 37

Classical Period

Back 37

The art and culture of ancient Greece between480 and 323 bce.

Front 38

Hellenistic Period

Back 38

The term given to the art and culture of the roughlythree centuries between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 bce and the death of Queen Cleopatra in 30 bce, when Egypt became a Roman province.

Front 39

Tuscan Columns

Back 39

The standard type of Etruscan column. It resemblesancient Greek Doric columns but is made of wood, is unfluted, and has a base

Front 40

Sarcophagus

Back 40

Greek, “consumer of flesh.” A coffin,usually of stone.

Front 41

Forum

Back 41

The public square of an ancient Roman city.

Front 42

Basilica

Back 42

In Roman architecture, a public buildingfor legal and other civic proceedings, rectangular in plan, with an entrance usually on a long side

Front 43

Pilaster

Back 43

A flat, rectangular, vertical member projecting from a wallof which it forms a part

Front 44

Arch

Back 44

A curved structural member that spans an opening and is generally composed of wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs) that transmitthe downward pressure laterally

Front 45

Triumphal Arch

Back 45

In Roman architecture, a freestanding arch commemorating an important event, such as a military victory or theopening of a new road.

Front 46

Coffer

Back 46

A sunken panel, often ornamental, in a vault or a ceiling.

Front 47

Dome

Back 47

A hemispherical vault; theoretically, an arch rotated on its vertical axis. In Mycenaean architecture, domes are beehive-shaped.

Front 48

Catacombs

Back 48

Subterranean networks of rock-cut galleries and chambers designed as cemeteries for the burial of the dead.

Front 49

Orant Figures

Back 49

A figure with both arms raised in theancient gesture of prayer

Front 50

Cubicula

Back 50

A small cubicle or bedroom that openedonto the atrium of a Roman domus

Front 51

Nave

Back 51

The central area of an ancient Roman basilica or of a church,demarcated from aisles by piers or columns.

Front 52

Aisle

Back 52

The portion of a basilica flanking the nave and separated fromit by a row of columns or piers

Front 53

Apse

Back 53

A recess, usually semicircular, in the wall of a building, commonly found at the east end of a church.

Front 54

Transept

Back 54

The part of a church with an axis that crosses the nave at a right angle.

Front 55

Longitudinal Plan

Back 55

In an axial plan, the parts of a building are organized longitudinally, or along a given axis

Front 56

Central Plan

Back 56

The parts of the structure are of equal or almost equaldimensions around the center.

Front 57

Mosaic

Back 57

Patterns or pictures made by embedding small pieces (tesserae) of stone or glass in cement on surfaces such as walls andfloors

Front 58

Pendentive

Back 58

A concave, triangular section of a hemisphere, four ofwhich provide the transition from a square area to the circular base of a covering dome.

Front 59

Mosque

Back 59

The Islamic building for collective worship. From the Arabic word masjid, meaning a “place for bowing down.

Front 60

Minbar

Back 60

In a mosque, the pulpit on which the imam stands

Front 61

Koran

Back 61

Islam’s sacred book, composed of surahs (chapters) dividedinto verses.

Front 62

Mihrab

Back 62

A semicircular niche set into the qibla wall of a mosque.

Front 63

Carpet Pages

Back 63

In early medieval manuscripts, a decorative pageresembling a textile.

Front 64

Scriptorium

Back 64

The writing studio of a monastery.

Front 65

Illuminated Manuscripts

Back 65

A luxurious handmade book with paintedillustrations and decorations.

Front 66

Monastery

Back 66

A group of buildings in which monks live together, setapart from the secular community of a town

Front 67

Cloister

Back 67

A monastery courtyard, usually with covered walks or ambulatories along its sides.

Front 68

Relics

Back 68

The body parts, clothing, or objects associated with a holy figure, such as the Buddha or Christ or a Christian saint.

Front 69

Parchment

Back 69

Lambskin prepared as a surface for painting or writing

Front 70

Hiberno-Saxon Art

Back 70

An art style that flourished in the monasteries of the British Isles in the early Middle Ages

Front 71

Carolingian

Back 71

Pertaining to the empire of Charlemagne (Latin, “Carolus Magnus”) and his successors

Front 72

Ottonian

Back 72

Pertaining to the empire of Otto I and his successors

Front 73

Pilgrimage

Back 73

A journey to a place associated with someone or something well known or respected.

Front 74

Tympanum

Back 74

The space enclosed by a lintel and an archover a doorway.

Front 75

Radiating Chapels

Back 75

In medieval churches, chapels for the display ofrelics that opened directly onto the ambulatory and the transept.

Front 76

Barrel Vault

Back 76

semicylindrical in cross-section, is in effect a deep arch or an uninterrupted series of arches, one behind the other, over an oblong space

Front 77

Groin Vault

Back 77

formed at the point at which two barrel vaults inter- sect at right angles

Front 78

Lux Nova

Back 78

Latin, “new light.” Abbot Suger’s term for the light thatenters a Gothic church through stained-glass windows.

Front 79

Rib Vault

Back 79

framework of ribs or arches under the intersections of the vaulting sections

Front 80

Flying Buttress

Back 80

A flying buttress consists typically of an inclined member carried on an arch or a series of arches and a solid buttress to which it transmits lateral thrust.

Buttress- exterior masonry structure that opposes the lateral thrust of an arch or a vault. A pier buttress is a solid mass of masonry.

Front 81

Rose window

Back 81

A circular stained-glass window.

Back 82

Venus of Willendorf,ca. 25,000 BCE. Limestone. (Paleolithic)

Back 83

Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux, France,ca. 15,000 BCE.(Paleolithic)

Back 84

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain,England, ca. 2000 BCE. (Neolithic)

Back 85

Zigguratof Ur-Nammu, Iraq, c. 2100 B.C.E. (Sumerian)

Back 86

Akkadian ruler, Iraq, ca. 2300 BCE.Copper. (Akkadian)

Back 87

Victory stele of Naram-Sin,Iran, ca. 2254 BCE. Limestone. (Akkadian)

Back 88

Great Pyramids, Giza, Egypt,ca. 2575 BCE. (Egyptian)

Back 89

Khafre Enthroned, ca. 2520 BCE. Diorite. (Egyptian)

Back 90

Akhenaton, ca. 1353 BCE. Sandstone.(Egyptian)

Back 91

Figure of a Woman, ca. 2600 BCE.Marble. (Cycladic)

Back 92

Bull-leaping, from Palace atKnossos, ca. 1450 BCE. Fresco.(Minoan)

Back 93

Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece, ca.1300 BCE. Limestone. (Mycenaean)

Back 94

Polykleitos, Doryphoros. Original ca. 450 BCE. Marble.(Greece: Classical Period)

Back 95

Iktinos and Kallikrates, Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 447 BCE. (Greece: Classical Period)

Back 96

Three goddesses, East pediment ofthe Parthenon, Athens, Greece, ca. 432 BCE. Marble.(Greece: Classical Period)

Back 97

Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos, ca. 350 BCE. Marble.(Greece: Classical Period)

Back 98

6th-century BCE Etruscan temple(Etruscan).

Back 99

Apulu, Portonaccio temple, Veii, Italy, ca. 500 BCE.Painted terracotta.(Etruscan)

Back 100

Tomb of the Leopards, Tarquinia, Italy, ca. 480 BCE. (Etruscan)

Back 101

Fourth Style wall paintings, Houseof the Vettii, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 70 CE.(Rome: The Empire)

Back 102

Portrait of Augustus as General,ca. 20 BCE. Marble. (Rome: The Empire)

Back 103

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy, 70 CE. (Rome:The Empire)

Back 104

Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118 CE.(Rome: The Empire)

Back 105

The Good Shepherd, the Story ofJonah, and Orants, Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, Rome, Italy, early 4th century. Fresco. (Early Christian)

Back 106

Justinian, Bishop Maximianus, and attendants, San Vitale,Ravenna, Italy, ca. 547. Mosaic. (Byzantine)

Back 107

Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey, 532 CE.(Byzantine)

Back 108

Koran page, 9th century. Ink and gold on vellum. (Islamic)

Back 109

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 687.(Islamic)

Back 110

Great Mosque, Isfahan, Iran, begun11th century. (Islamic)

Back 111

Book of Kells, late 8th century. Tempera on vellum.(Early Medieval)

Back 112

Doors, Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim, Germany, 1015. Bronze.(Early Medieval)

Back 113

Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca.1070.(Romanesque)

Back 114

Pentecost and Mission of theApostles, La Madeleine, Vézelay, France, 1120.(Romanesque)

Back 115

Chartres Cathedral, Chartres,France, ca. 1145. (Gothic)

Back 116

Rose window, Chartres Cathedral,ca. 1220. Stained glass.(Gothic)

Back 117

Virgin of Jeanne d’Evreux, 1339. Silver gilt andenamel.(Gothic)

Back 118

Taj Mahal, Agra, India, 1647.

Back 119

Army of the First Emperor of Qin, Lintong, China, ca. 210 BCE. Painted terracotta.

Back 120

Fan Kuan, Travelers among Mountains andStreams, early 11th century. Hangingscroll, ink and colors on silk. (Chinese)

Back 121

Hokusai, The Great Wave at Kanagawa,1830. Woodblock print. (Japanese)