14th-Century Europe: Vocab

Question 1

What is an Altar Piece ? Please Provide an example.

Answer 1

A painting or sculpture place above or behind a altar table
EX: Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Annunciation, 1333, Late medieval/ International gothic

Question 2

What is a Fresco? Please Provide an example.

Answer 2

Wall or ceiling painting on wet plaster (also called true fresco or Buon fresco)–the wet pigment merges with the plaster and, once hardened, the painting becomes part of the wall.
EX: Ambrigo Lorenzetti, the Effects of Good Government in the city and the country, c. 1338-39, Fresco, Proto-Renaissance

Question 3

What is a Grisalle?

Answer 3

Method of painting in gray tones, typically to imitate sculpture.

Question 4

What is Hierarchical scale? Please provide an example.

Answer 4

Use of size to denote the relative importance of subjects in an artwork
EX: Cimabue, Virgin and Child Enthroned, c.1280, Tempera on Gold Wooden Panels, Late Medieval/ Proto-Renaissance

Question 5

What is International Gothic? Please provide an example.

Answer 5

Late medieval style characterized by opulence and elegant figures, developed in royal courts across Western Europe.
EX: Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Annunciation, c. 1333, Late Medieval/ International Gothic

Question 6

What is Pieta? Please provide an example.

Answer 6

Italian for “pity,” an artwork depicting the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Christ.
EX: Rotten Pieta (Vesperbild), c.1380, wood and polychromy, Late Medieval.