Essential Vocabulary Flashcards
Bas Relief
A bas-relief (“low relief”, French pronunciation: [baʁəljɛf], from the Italian basso rilievo) or low relief is a projecting image with a shallow overall depth, for example used on coins, on which all images are in low relief. In the lowest reliefs the relative depth of the elements shown is completely distorted, and if seen from the side the image makes no sense, but from the front the small variations in depth register as a three-dimensional image.
Contrapposto
Contrapposto is an Italian term that means counterpose. It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs.
Doric Column and Entablature - Doric Order
In their original Greek version, Doric columns stood directly on the flat pavement (the stylobate) of a temple without a base; their vertical shafts were fluted with 20 parallel concave grooves; and they were topped by a smooth capital that flared from the column to meet a square abacus at the intersection with the horizontal beam (architrave) that they carried. The Parthenon has the Doric design columns. It was most popular in the Archaic Period (750-480 BC) in mainland Greece.
Ionic Column and Entablture - Ionic Order
The Ionic capital is characterized by the use of volutes. The Ionic columns normally stand on a base which separates the shaft of the column from the stylobate or platform; The cap is usually enriched with egg-and-dart.
Corinthian Column and Entablature - Corinthian Order
The Corinthian order is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of ancientGreek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order which was the earliest, followed by the Ionic order. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order. The Corinthian, with its offshoot the Composite, is stated to be the most ornate of the orders, characterized by slender fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls. There are many variations.
Architrave
In classical entablature, it is the lowest part of the entablature consisting of architrave, frieze and cornice. The word is derived from the Greek and Latin words arche and trabs combined together to mean “main beam”.
Frieze
In architecture the frieze /ˈfriːz/ is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neithercolumns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon the architrave (‘main beam’) and is capped by the moldings of the cornice. A frieze can be found on many Greek and Roman buildings, the Parthenon Frieze being the most famous, and perhaps the most elaborate.
Cornice (Pediment)
A cornice (from the Italian cornice meaning “ledge”) is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture element— the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the top edge of a pedestal or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.
Atmospheric Perspective
Aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective refers to the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as it is viewed from a distance. As the distance between an object and a viewer increases, the contrast between the object and its background decreases, and the contrast of any markings or details within the object also decreases. The colours of the object also become lesssaturated and shift towards the background color, which is usually blue, but under some conditions may be some other color (for example, at sunrise or sunset distant colors may shift towards red).
Icon
An icon (from Greek εἰκών eikōn “image”) is generally a flat panel painting depicting Jesus, Mary, saints and angels, which is venerated amongEastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and in certain Eastern Catholic Churches.
Basilica and Central Plans - Nave, Apse, Aisles, Transept
The Latin word basilica (derived from Greek βασιλικὴ στοά, Royal Stoa, the tribunal chamber of a king), has three distinct applications in modern English. The word was originally used to describe an open, Roman, public court building, usually located adjacent to the forum of a Roman town. By extension it was applied to Christian buildings of the same form and continues to be used in an architectural sense to describe those buildings with a central nave and aisles. Later, the term came to refer specifically to a large and important church that has been given special ceremonial rights by the Pope.
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the main body of the church extending from the entrance (the narthex) to the transepts. It provides the central approach to the high altar. The term nave, from medieval Latin navis (ship), was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting.[1] The nave of a church, whether Romanesque, Gothic or Classical, extends from the entry—which may have a separate vestibule (the narthex)—to the chancel and may be flanked by lower side-aisles[2] separated from the nave by anarcade. If the aisles are high and of a width comparable to the central nave, the structure is sometimes said to have three naves.
In architecture, the apse (from Latin apsis: “arch, vault” from Greekἀψίς apsis “arch”; sometimes written apsis; plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an Exedra. In Romanesque, Byzantine and GothicChristian abbey, cathedral and church architecture, the term is applied to a semi-circular or polygonal termination of the main building at theliturgical east end (where the altar is), regardless of the shape of the roof, which may be flat, sloping, domed, or hemispherical.’’
In church architecture, an aisle (also known as an yle or alley) is more specifically a passageway to either side of the nave that is separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns.
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building.[1] In churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform (“cross-shaped”) building inRomanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture. Each half of a transept is known as a semitransept.[1]
Pendentives
The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points at the bottom and spread at the top to establish the continuous circular or elliptical base needed for the dome.
Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
Matthew: Angel/Man
Mark: Lion
Luke: Ox
John: Eagle
Putto/Putti (plural)
A putto (plural putti, /ˈpʊti/ or POO-tee, puttoes) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually nude and sometimes winged. Putti are commonly confused with, yet are completely unrelated to, cherubim.
