Art History Quiz 1

Front 1

Foreshortened/Foreshortening

Back 1

The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight.

Front 2

Naturalism

Back 2

The style of painted/sculptured representation based on close observation of the natural world that was at the core of the classical tradition.

Front 3

Pulpit

Back 3

a raised platform in a church/mosque on which a priest/imam stands while leading the religious service.

Front 4

Monastic Order

Back 4

an organization of monks living according to the same rules (Benedictine, Franciscan, Dominican, etc.).

Front 5

Mendicants

Back 5

In medieval Europe, friars belonging to the Franciscan or Dominican orders, who renounced all worldly goods, lived by contributions of laypersons (the word mendicant means beggar), and devoted themselves to preaching, teaching, and doing good works.

Front 6

Tempera

Back 6

a technique of painting using pigment mixed with egg yolk, glue, or casein; also, the medium itself.

Front 7

Altarpiece

Back 7

a panel, painted or sculpted, situated above and behind an altar.

Front 8

Stigmata

Back 8

in Christian art, the wounds Christ received at his crucifixion that miraculously appear on the body of a saint.

Front 9

Icon

Back 9

a portrait or image; especially in Byzantine churches, a panel with a painting of sacred personages that are objects of veneration. In the visual arts, a painting, a piece of a sculpture, or even a building regarded as an object of veneration.

Front 10

Humanism

Back 10

in the Renaissance, an emphasis on education and on expanding knowledge (especially of classical antiquity), the exploration of individual potential and a desire to excel, and a commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty.

Front 11

Fresco

Back 11

painting on lime plaster, either dry (dry fresco, or fresco secco) or wet (true, or buon, fresco). In the latter method, the pigments are mixed with water and become chemically bound to the freshly laid lime plaster. Also a painting executed in either method.

Front 12

Grisaille

Back 12

a monochrome painting done mainly in neutral grays to simulate sculpture.

Front 13

Chiaroscuro

Back 13

in drawing/painting, the treatment and use of light and dark, especially the gradations of light that produce the effect of modeling.

Front 14

Guild

Back 14

an association of merchants, craftspersons, or scholars in medieval and Renaissance Europe.

Front 15

Triptych

Back 15

a three-paneled painting, ivory plaque, or altarpiece. Also, a small, portable shrine with hinged wings used for private devotion.

Front 16

Landscape

Back 16

a picture showing natural scenery, without narrative content.

Front 17

Quatrefoil

Back 17

a shape/plan in which the parts assume the form of a cloverleaf.

Front 18

Donor Portraits

Back 18

a portrait of the individual(s) who commissioned (donated) a religious work, for example, an altarpiece, as evidence of devotion.

Front 19

Monastery

Back 19

a group of buildings in which monks live together, set apart from the secular community of a town.

Front 20

Sfumato

Back 20

Italian, "smoky." A smoke-like haziness that subtly softens outlines in paintings; particularly applied to the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci and Correggio.

Front 21

Diptych

Back 21

a two-paneled painting/altarpiece; also, an ancient Roman, Early Christian, or Byzantine hinged writing tablet, often of ivory and carved on the external sides.

Front 22

Linear Perspective

Back 22

the most common type of perspective, all parallel lines/surface edges converge on one, two, or three vanishing points located with reference to the eye level of the viewer (the horizon line of the picture), and associated objects are rendered smaller the farther from the viewer they are intended to seem.

Front 23

Attribute

Back 23

the distinctive identifying aspect of a person (an object held, an associated animal, or a mark on the body)

Front 24

Orthogonals

Back 24

a line imagined to be behind and perpendicular to the picture plane; the orthogonals in a painting appear to recede toward a vanishing point on the horizon.

Front 25

Cherubs

Back 25

a chubby winged child angel.

Front 26

Woodcut

Back 26

a wooden block on the surface of which parts not intended to print are cut away to a slight depth, leaving the design raised; also, the printed impression made with such a block.

Front 27

Engraving

Back 27

the process of incising a design in hard material, often a metal plate (usually copper); also, the print or impression made from such a plate.

Front 28

Print

Back 28

an artwork on paper, usually produced in multiple impressions.

Front 29

Intaglio

Back 29

a graphic technique in which the design is incised/scratched on a metal plate, either manually (engraving, drypoint) or chemically (etching). The incised lines of the design take the ink, making this the reverse of the woodcut technique.

Front 30

Relief

Back 30

in sculpture, figures projecting from a background of which that are part. The degree of relief is designated high, low (bas), or sunken. In the last, the artist cuts the design into the surface so that the highest projecting parts of the image are no higher than the surface itself.

Front 31

Etching

Back 31

a kind of engraving in which the design in incised in a layer of wax/varnish on a metal plate. the parts of the plate left exposed are then etched (slightly eaten away) by the acid in which the plate is immersed after incising.

Front 32

Burin

Back 32

a pointed tool used for engraving/incising.

Front 33

Quattrocento

Back 33

Italian, "400," that is, the 1400s or the 15th century.

Front 34

Contrapposto

Back 34

the disposition of the human figure in which one part is turned in opposition to another (usually hips and legs one way, shoulders and chest another), creating a counter positioning of the body about its central axis. Sometimes called "weight shift" because the weight of the body tends to be thrown to one foot, creating tension on one side and relaxation on the other.

Front 35

Atmospheric/Aerial Perspective

Back 35

this creates the illusion of distance by the greater diminution of color intensity, the shift in color toward an almost neutral blue, and the blurring of contours as the intended distance between eye and object increases.

Front 36

Horizon Line

Back 36

the eye level of the viewer

Front 37

Putti

Back 37

a cherubic young boy.

Front 38

Rustication

Back 38

to give a rustic appearance by roughening the surfaces and beveling the edges of stone blocks to emphasize the joints between them. This is a technique employed by ancient Roman architecture, and was also popular during the Renaissance, especially for stone courses at the ground-floor level.

Front 39

Trompe l'oeil

Back 39

French, "fools the eye." A form of illusionistic painting that aims to deceive viewers into believing they are seeing real objects rather than a representation of those objects.

Front 40

Poesia

Back 40

a term describing "poetic" art, notably Venetian Renaissance painting, which emphasizes the lyrical and sensual.

Front 41

Maniera

Back 41

Italian, "style" or "manner"

Front 42

Iconoclasm

Back 42

the destruction of religious/sacred images. In Byzantium, the period from 726-843 when there was an imperial ban on such images. The destroyers of images were known as iconoclasts. Those who opposed such a ban were known as iconophiles.

Front 43

Genre (scene)

Back 43

a style/category of art; also, a kind of painting that realistically depicts scenes from everyday life.

Front 44

Pieta

Back 44

a painted/sculpted representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the body of the dead Christ.