Barron's: Chapter 7 - Late Antique Art

Question 1

Time Period

Answer 1

• 200-500 B.C.E.

Question 2

Essential Knowledge

Answer 2

• there is no uniform medieval style. some periods revive ancient classicism; other use geometric and natural designs
• medieval artists are influenced by contemporaries in other parts of Europe, as well as ancient traditions
• learning was centered on specific fields that were transmitted throughout Europe through trade, pilgrimage, and military activity
• medieval architecture is mostly religious
• medieval painting and sculpture avoids naturalistic depictions
• at times medieval religions will reject images

Question 3

The Annunciation

Answer 3

• the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will be the virgin mother of Jesus

Question 4

The Visitation

Answer 4

• Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth to tell her the news that she is pregnant with Jesus. Because she is elderly, Elizabeth’s announcement of her own pregnancy is greeted as a miracle. Elizabeth gives birth to Saint John the Baptist.

Question 5

Christmas or the Nativity

Answer 5

• the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Mary gives birth in a stable; her husband, Joseph, is her sole companion. Soon after, angels announce the birth to shepherds

Question 6

Adoration of the Magi

Answer 6

• traditionally, three kings, who are also astrologers, are attracted by a star that shines over Jesus’s manger. They come to worship him and present gifts

Question 7

Massacre of the Innocents

Answer 7

• After Jesus is born, King Herod issues an order to execute all male infants in the hope of killing him. His family takes him to safety in an episode called the Flight into Egypt.

Question 8

Baptism of Jesus

Answer 8

• John the Baptist, Jesus’s cousin, baptizes him in the Jordan River. Jesus’s ministry officially begins.

Question 9

Calling of the Apostles

Answer 9

• Jesus gathers his followers, including St. Matthew and St. Peter, as he proceeds in his ministry

Question 10

Miracles

Answer 10

• to prove his divinity, Jesus performs a number of miracles, like multiplying loaves and fishes, resurrecting the deceased Lazarus, and changing water into wine at the Wedding at Cana.

Question 11

Giving the Keys

Answer 11

• sensing his own death, Jesus gives St. Peter the keys to the kingdom of Heaven, in effect installing him as his leader when he is gone, and therefore the first pope

Question 12

Transfiguration

Answer 12

• Jesus transfigures himself into God before the eyes of his apostles; this is the high point of his ministry

Question 13

Palm Sunday

Answer 13

• Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph, greeted by throngs with palm branches

Question 14

Last Supper

Answer 14

• before Jesus is arrested he has a final meal with his disciples in which he institutes the Eucharist - that is, his body and blood int he form of bread and wine; at his meal he reveals that he knows that one of his apostles, Judas, has betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver

Question 15

Crucifixion

Answer 15

• after a brief series of trails, Jesus is sentenced to death for sedition. He is crowned with thorns, whipped with lashes, and forced to carry his cross through the streets of Jerusalem. At the top of a hill Golgotha he is nailed tot he cross and left to die

Question 16

Deposition/Lamentation/Entombment

Answer 16

• Jesus’s body is removed form the cross by his relatives, cleaned, mourned over, and buried

Question 17

Resurrection

Answer 17

• On Easter Sunday, three days later, Jesus rises from the dead. On Ascension Day he goes to heaven

Question 18

Four Evangelists

Answer 18

• Matthew: angel or a man
• Mark: lion
• Luke: ox or calf
• John: eagle

Question 19

Catacomb of Priscilla

Answer 19

• 200-400
• tufa and fresco
• Rome, Italy
• catacombs beneath Rome have 4 million dead and extend for about 100 miles
• Cross-Cultural Comparisons: Ceiling paintings
  
  • Sistine Chapel Ceiling
  • Arena Chapel
  • Gaulli, Triumph of the Name of Jesus

Question 20

Santa Sabina

Answer 20

• 422-432
• brick, stone, and wooden roof
• Rome, Italy
• Cross-Cultural Comparisons: ground plans
  
  • Angkor Wat
  • Great Stupa
  • Great Mosque at Cordoba

Question 21

ambulatory

Answer 21

• a passageway around the apse or altar of a church

Question 22

apse

Answer 22

• the endpoint of a church where the altar is located

Question 23

atrium

Answer 23

• a courtyard in a Roman house or before a Christian church

Question 24

axial plan

Answer 24

• a church with a long nave whose focus the apse, so-called because it is designed along an axis

Question 25

basilica

Answer 25

• in Christian architecture, an axially planned church with a long nave, side aisles, and an apse for the altar

Question 26

catacomb

Answer 26

• an underground passageway used for burial

Question 27

central plan

Answer 27

• a church having a circular plan with the altar in the middle

Question 28

clerestory

Answer 28

• the third, or window, story of a church

Question 29

coffer

Answer 29

• in architecture, a sunken panel in a ceiling

Question 30

cubicula

Answer 30

• small underground rooms in catacombs serving as mortuary chapels

Question 31

gosples

Answer 31

• the first four books oft he New Testament that chronicle the life of Jesus

Question 32

loculi

Answer 32

• openings in the walls of catacombs to receive the dead

Question 33

lunette

Answer 33

• a crescent-shaped space, sometimes over a doorway, that contains sculpture or painting

Question 34

narthex

Answer 34

• the closest part of the atrium to the basilica, it serves as vestibule, or lobby, of a church

Question 35

nave

Answer 35

• the main aisle of a church

Question 36

orant figure

Answer 36

• a figure with its hands raised in prayer

Question 37

spolia

Answer 37

• in art history, the reuse of architectural or sculptural pieces in buildings generally different from their original contexts

Question 38

transept

Answer 38

• an aisle in a church perpendicular to the nave, where the clergy originally stood