Terms

Aerial perspective / atmospheric perspective - a method of rendering the effect of spatial distance on a two-dimensional plane by subtle variations in color and clarity of representation.

Altarpiece - a painted or carved panel or winged structure placed at the back of or behind and above. The religious imagery is often specific to the place of worship for which it was made.

Annunciation - the announcement of the Incarnation by the angel Gabriel to Mary

Baroque - of, relating to, or characteristic of a style in art and architecture developed in Europe from the early 17th to mid-18th century, emphasizing dramatic, often strained effect and typified by bold, curving forms, elaborate ornamentation, and overall balance of disparate parts.

Chiaroscuro - an Italian word designating the contrast of dark and light in a painting, drawing, or print. Spatial depth and volumetric form through slight gradiations in the intensity of light and shadow are used to indicate three dimensions.

Contrapposto (weight shift) - a way of representing the human body so that its weight appears to be borne on one leg. Also: a twisting body position. Contrapposto first appears in sculpture from ancient Greece.

Counter Reformation - A reform movement within the Roman Catholic Church that arose in 16th-century Europe in response to the Protestant Reformation. Also: the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Reformation reaffirming the veneration of saints and the authority of the Pope (to which Protestants objected); many leaders were Jesuits.

Diptych - two panels of equal size (usually decorated with paintings or reliefs) hinged together.

Disguised symbolism -

Donor / patron - One that supports, protects, or champions someone or something, such as an institution, event, or cause; a sponsor or benefactor: a patron of the arts. Also: A customer, especially a regular customer.

Engraving - an intaglio printmaking process of inscribing an image, design, or letters onto a metal or wood surface from which a print is made. And engraving is usually drawn with a sharp implement (burin) directly onto the surface of the plate. Also: the print made from this process.

Foreshortening - the illusion created on a flat painted or drawn surface in which figures and objects appear to recede or project sharply into space. Accomplished according to the rules of linear perspective. Fresco.

Idealization - a process in art through which artists strive to make their forms and figures attain perfection, based on pervading cultural values and their own mental image of beauty.

Illumination / illuminated manuscript - a painting on paper or parchment used as an illustration and/or decoration for manuscripts or albums. Usually done in rich colors, often supplemented by gold and other precious materials. The illustrators are referred to as illuminators. Also: the technique of decoration manuscripts with such paintings.

Intuitive perspective - a method of representing three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface by the use of formal elements that act to give the impression of recession. This impression, however, is achieved by visual instinct, not by the use of an overall system or program involving scientific principles or mathematics for depicting the appearance of spatial depth.

Last Judgement -

Late Renaissance -

Oil on canvas -

Oil on panel -

Oil painting - any painting executed with the pigments floating in a medium of oil. Oil paint has particular properties that allow for greater ease of working (among others, a slow drying time, which allows for corrections, and a great range of opaqueness of paint layers, which permits a high degree of detail and luminescence).

Parterre - an ornaments, highly regimented flowerbed. And element of the ornate gardens of seventeenth-century palaces and châteaux.

Picture plane - the theoretical spatial plane corresponding with with the actual surface of a painting.

Polyptych - an altarpiece constructed from multiple panels, sometimes with hinges to allow for movable wings.

Protestant Reformation - a religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.

Register - a device used in systems of spatial definition. In painting and sculpture, a register indicates the use of differing groundlines, self-contained bands in a vertical arrangement, to differentiate distance within an image. In printmaking, the marks at the edges used to align the print correctly on the page, especially in multiple-block color printing; also called registration marks.

Renaissance - A rebirth or revival. The humanistic revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning that originated in Italy in the 14th century and later spread throughout Europe. Also: the period of this revival, roughly the 14th through the 16th century, marking the transition from medieval to modern times.

Sfumato - Italian term meaning “smoky,” soft, and mellow. In painting, the effect of haze in an image. Resembling the color of the atmosphere at dusk, sfumato give a smoky effect.

Sinopia - the preparatory design or underdrawing of a fresco. Also: a reddish chalklike earth pigment.

Tempera - a painting medium made by blending egg yolks with water, pigments, and occasionally other materials, such as glue. The technique was often used during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to paint murals and panel paintings.

Tenebrism - a term signifying the use of strong chiaroscuro and artificially illuminated areas to create a dramatic contrast of light and dark in a painting.

Triptych - an artwork made up of three panels. The panels are often hinged together so the side segments (wings) fold over and protect the central area.

Trompe l’oeil - a manner or representation in which the appearance of natural space and objects is re-created with the express intention of fooling the eye of the viewer, who may be convinced that the subject actually exists as three-dimensional reality.

Vanishing point - in a perspective system, the point on the horizon line at which orthogonals meet. A complex system can have multiple vanishing points.

Wing - a side panel of a triptych or polyptych (usually found in pairs), which was hinged to fold over the central panel. Wings often held the depiction of the donors and/or subsidiary scenes related to the central image.

Woodcut - a type of print made by carving a design into a wooden block. The ink is applied to the plate with a roller. As the ink remains only on the raised areas between the carved-away lines, these carved-away areas and lines provide the white areas of the print. Also: the process by which the woodcut is made.