Art History Exam 1 Flashcards
Naturalism
art depicting the world in a realistic way
optical view
you see it with your eyes, replicate it in art, realistic
composite view
artist is truer to the object, conveys more than just what the essence of the object is, more complete view/more abstract (people have their face in profile and their body straight on)
hand dots
hand prints made with the palm of the hand
Pigment
natural resources used to act as a color in paints
Abstract
non-objective art form that doesn’t depict reality, but instead uses shapes, colors, forms, and gestural marks to create an effect
Polychrome
the art of practice of combining different colors, especially brilliant ones, in an artistic way/ charcoal, ochre, haematite
Megaliths
big rock monuments
trilithic
three stones arrangements common (post and lintel)
dolem
megalithic tomb
cromlen
circles of stones, often around a tomb or place of worship
menhir
marked by rows/lines of megaliths
post-and-lintel
two posts with a crossbeam
cuneiform
earliest writings, pictograms pressed into clay
mud brick
common building material, doesn’t last long
ziggurats
squat, stepped pyramids that served as a foundation for a temple (a platform)
cella
room at the center of the temple
lamassu
gateway figures, winged bulls with the heads of men, made from a single piece of stone, a relief carving, kind of a flex of power for the king
low relief scultpure
written cuneiform in the Akkadian language about about 300 laws and consequences to those laws (eye for an eye)
nebuchanezzar
warrior king. great military leader in the Neo-Babylonian empire
Orthostats
large stone slabs, have stories told through carved relief, colored. Part of a structure, wall, foundation, etc. (Military conquests, power)
glazed brick
ceramic bricks that have a glossy coating, often used in architecture to add color and shine to structures
Faience
how they colored the Ishtar gate blue, used glazed brick, put glass on brick and then fire them
Code of Hammurabi
Babylonian law code that is also an art piece. The code is inscribed on a black stone stele, or pillar, that depicts the king receiving the laws from the sun god
Frontality
representation of the front view of a figure or object
votive statues
figures of attentive viewers supposedly made to constantly make prayers to the gods
Registers
horizontal stacking story planes (found on Royal standard of Ur)
hieratic scale
Used to delineate who the most important is via Size to show that importance
cylinder seals
decorative objects that would be rolled up in clay to prevent unauthorized access to documents like a signature
Stele
tall carved object, has relief at the top
buttress technique
an architectural element used to reinforce walls
jambs
the vertical side posts of a doorway or window frame that can be decorated with sculptures or carvings
capitals
top of a colum, used for support and decor details
nomad’s gear
smaller items of artwork that can be transported (weapons, bridles, buckles)
Fibulae
a clasp/safety pin used to close cloaks
Iconography
the process of interpreting symbols in art
Blind arcades
row of arches but they are fake, you can not go through them
Book of the Dead
a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary texts and illustrations that were written on papyrus and used to guide the deceased into the afterlife, spells and incantations
Arch
curved structure in an opening for support
Obelisk
type of stele, four sided tower, pyramid on top, often has carvings in it
Glaze
thin layer of pigment
rhyton
ceramic cup
hypostle hall
hall/room full of columns
palette
used to mix pigments and makeup
sarcophagus
stone coffin, would often include objects for the next life in Egyptian culture
Imhotep
define high priest of RA, made first step pyramid
Hieroglyphs
writing revolving around pictorial characters, used for decorative or ceremonial purposes
Necropolis
a large cemetery, they would replicate the actual city for the dead
Pectoral
Jewelry from egyptian age, put them on people’s chest (mummies), were large pendants
triad statues
had three people
pictographs
images or drawings that represent words or ideas, often painted on rocks or in caves
Serdab
enclosed room w/o entrance, ka sealed in so it could live on (ka was like a statue of the soul)
Mastaba
egyptian tomb, burial chamber is underneath
Canon
guidelines for rendering a human figure, based on the size of a closed fist
papyrus
paper made from papyrus plants
nemes headdress
headdress used to protect from the sun
negative images
used a straw to blow pigment and make negative images
pylons
a monumental gateway or tower that marked the entrance to an egyptian temple
Apotropaic devices
device that can ward off evil (wide open eyes)
Block statue
a statue that has a head resting on a block, limbs included in the cubic body, used as a fuenraray monument, covered in hieroglyphs
Ka statue
used to hold the spirit of a person
