Master Vocab List Flashcards
Acropolis
Literally, “a high city”, a Greek temple complex built on a hill over a city.
Adobe
A building material made from earth, straw, or clay dried in the sun.
Agora
- A public plaza in a Greek city where commercial, religious, and societal activities are conducted.
- A public square or market place in a Roman city.
Amarna style
Art created during the reign of Akhenaton, which features a more relaxed figure style than in Old and Middle Kingdom art.
Amphiprostyle
Having four columns in the front and rear of a temple.
Amphora
A two-handled Greek storage jar.
Ankh
An Egyptian symbol of life.
Anthropomorphic
Having characteristics of the human form, although the form itself is not human.
Apadana
An audience hall in a Persian palace.
Apotropaic
Having the power to ward off evil or bad luck.
Arabesque
A flowing, intricate, and symmetrical pattern deriving from floral motifs.
Ashlar masonry
Carefully cut and grooved stones that support a building without the use of concrete or other kinds of masonry.
Athena
Greek goddess of war and wisdom; patron of Athens.
Atmospheric or Aerial Perspective
Landscapes that give the illusion of distance are done in this perspective.
Atrium
A courtyard in a Roman house or before a Christian church.
Axial plan
A building with an elongated ground plan.
Votive
Offered in fulfillment of a vow or pledge.
Stylized
A schematic, non-realistic manner of representing the visible world and its contents, abstracted from the way they appear in nature.
Hierarchy of scale
A system of representation that expresses a person’s importance by the size of his or her representation in a work of art.
Isocephalism
The tradition of depicting heads of figures on the same level.
In situ
A Latin expression that means that something is in its original location.
Spoila
The reuse of architectural or sculptural pieces in a building(s) generally different from their original location.
Canon
A body of rules or laws; in Greek art, the ideal mathematical proportion of a figure.
Contrapposto
A graceful arrangement of the body based on tilted shoulders and a bent knee.
Foreshortening
A visual effect in which an object is shortened and turned deeper into the picture plane to give the effect of receding in space.
Perspective
Depth and recession in a painting or a relief sculpture.
Linear perspective
Objects in this perspective achieve 3D in the two-dimensional world of the picture plane.
Orthogonals
All the lines within a linear perspective; draw the view back in space to the vanishing point.
Vanishing point
A common point within perspective (particularly linear perspective) drawings/paintings.
Stucco
A fine plaster used for wall decorations or molding.
Mosaic
A decoration using pieces of stone, marble, or colored glass, tesserae, called that are cemented to a wall or a floor (or another surface).
Kiln
An oven used for making pottery.
Terra-cotta
A hard ceramic clay used for building or making pottery.
Tufa
A porous rock similar to limestone.
Torons
Wooden beams projecting from the walls of adobe buildings.
Encaustic
An ancient method of painting that uses colored waxes burned into a wooden surface.
Fresco
A painting technique that involves applying water-based paint onto a freshly plastered wall. The paint forms a bond with the plaster that is durable and long-lasting.
Calligraphy
Decorative or beautiful handwriting.
Kufic
A highly ornamental Islamic script.
Tessellation
Decoration using polygonal shapes with no gaps.
Muqarna
A honeycomb-like decoration often applied in Islamic buildings to domes, niches, capitals, or vaults. The surface resembles intricate stalactites.
Cire perdue
The lost wax method.
Cong
A tubular object with a circular hole cut into a square-like cross section.
Lamassu
A colossal winged human-headed bull in Assyrian art.
Henge
A Neolithic monument, characterized by a circular ground plan. Used for rituals and marking astronomical events.
Menhir
A large uncut stone erected as a monument in the pre-historical era; a standing stone (ie. Stonehenge)
Stele
An upright stone lab used to mark a grave or a site.
Ziggurat
A pyramid-like building made of several stories that indent as the building gets taller; thus creating terraces at each level.
Necropolis
Literally, a “city of the dead”, a large burial area.
Cella
The main room of a temple where the God is housed.
Mastaba
Arabic for “bench”, a low, flat-roofed Egyptian tomb with sides sloping down to the ground.
Hypostyle
A hall in an Egyptian temple (and others) that has a roof supported by a dense thicket of columns.
Pylon
A monumental gateway to an Egyptian temple marked by two flat, sloping walls between which is a smaller entrance.
Sarcophagus
A stone coffin (ie. Sarcophagus of spouses).
Kore (Kouros)
An archaic Greek sculpture of a standing youth.
Krater
A large ancient Greek bowl used for mixing water and wine.
Panathenaic way
A ceremonial road for a procession built to honor Athena during a festival.
Shamanism
A religion in which good and evil are brought about by spirits which can be influenced by shamans, who have access to these spirits.
Cuneiform
A system of writing in which the strokes are formed in a wedge or arrowhead shape.
Hieroglyphics
Egyptian writing using symbols or pictures as characters.
Ka
The soul, or spiritual essence, of a human being that either ascends to heaven or can live in an Egyptian statue of itself.
Papyrus
A tall aquatic plant whose fiber is used as a writing surface in ancient Egypt.
Pharoah
A king of ancient Egypt
Gigantomachy
A mythical ancient Greek war between the giants and the Olympian gods.
Nike
Ancient Greek goddess of victory.
Niobe
The model of a grieving mother; after boasting of her twelve children, jealous gods killed them.
Peplos
A garment worn by women in ancient Greece, usually full length and tied at the waist.
Zeus
King of the ancient Greek gods, known as Jupiter to the Romans, god of the sky and weather.
Triclinium
A dining table in ancient Rome that has a couch on three sides for reclining at meals.
Gospels
The first four books of the New Testament that chronicle the life of Jesus.
Propylaeum
A gateway to a Greek temple.
Stoa
An ancient Greek covered walkway having columns on one side and a wall on the other.
Tholos
An ancient Greek circular shrine.
Cubiculum
A Roman bedroom flanking an Atrium; in Early Christian art, a small room serving as a mortuary chapel in a catacomb.
Bust
A sculpture depicting a head, neck, and upper chest of a figure.
Impluvium
A rectangular basin in a Roman house that is placed in the open-air atrium in order to collect rainwater.
Veristic
Sculptures from the Roman Republic characterized by extreme realism of facial features (ie. Head of a Roman Patrician).
Basilica
In Christian architecture, am axially planned church with a long nave, side aisles, and an apse for the alter (based on the Roman version).
Catacomb
An underground passageway used for burial.
Loculi
Openings in the walls of the catacombs to receive the dead.
Orant figure
A figure with its hands raised in prayer.
Codex (codices)
A manuscript book.
Icon
A devotional panel depicting a sacred image.
Pyxis
A small cylinder-shaped container with a detachable lid used to contain cosmetics or jewelry.
Jali
Perforated ornamental stone screens in Islamic art.
Mausoleum
A building, usually large, that contains tombs.
Cathedral
The principal church of a diocese, where a bishop sits.
Chalice
A cup containing wine, used during Christian services.
Eucharist
The bread sanctified by the priest at the Christian ceremony commemorating the Last Supper.
Genesis
First book of the Bible.
Iconostasis
A screen decorated with icons, which separates the apse from the transept of a church.
Martyrium
A shrine built over a place of martyrdom of a grave of a martyred Christian saint.
Paten
A plate, dish, or bowl used to hold the Eucharist at a Christian ceremony.
Theotokos
The Virgin Mary in her role as the mother of God.
Hajj
One of the five pillars of Islam; Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.
Mecca, Medina
Islamic holy cities; Medina was where Muhammad was first accepted as the prophet, and where his tomb is located.
Muezzin
An Islamic official who calls people to prayer traditionally from a minaret.
Muhammad
The only prophet of Islam; his teachings and revelations form the foundation of Islam.
Qiblah
The direction toward Mecca, which Muslims face during prayer.
Qur’an
Islamic sacred text; believed to be the words of God.
Register
A horizontal band, often on top of another, that tells a narrative story.
Ground line
A base line upon which figures stand.
Negative space
Empty space around an object or a person.
Continuous narrative
A work of art that contains several scenes of the same story painted or sculpture in a single frame.
Relief sculpture
Sculpture that projects from a flat background.
Bas-relief
A very shallow relief sculpture.
Sunken relief
A carving in which the outlines of the figures are deeply carved into a surface so that the figures seem to project forward.
Lintel
A horizontal beam over an opening.
Megalith
A stone of great size used in the construction of a pre-historic structure.
Facade
The front of a building often used as the rear or side.
Clerestory
A roof that rises above tower roofs and thus has window space beneath.
Cornice
A projecting ledge over a wall.
Entablature
The upper story of a Greek temple (and others).
Frieze
A horizontal band of sculpture.
Metope
A small relief sculpture on the facade of a Greek temple.
Pediment
The triangular top of a temple that contains sculpture.
Triglyph
A projecting grooved element alternating with a metope on a Greek temple.
Capital
The top element of a column
Shaft
The body of a column.
Engaged column
A column that is not freestanding but attached to a wall.
Reserve column
A column that is cut away from rock but has no support function.
Caryatid
A building column that is shaped like a female figure.
Composite column
A column that contains a combination of volutes from ionic order and the acanthus leaves from the Corinthian order.
Doric
Top part of ancient Greek column that is boring/plainish.
Ionic
Top part of ancient Greek column that is 2nd most elaborate; loops off to the sides.
Corinthian
Top part of ancient Greek column that is the most elaborate; the capitals are carved in tiers of leaves.
Tuscan order
An order of ancient architecture featuring slender, smooth columns that sit on simple bases; no carvings on the frieze or in the capitals.
Mortise and tenon
A groove cut into stone, called a mortise, that is shaped to receive a tenon, or projection, of the same dimensions.
Peristyle
A colonnade surrounding a building or enclosing a courtyard.
Portico
An entrance way to a building having columns supporting a roof.
Coffer
In architecture, a sunken panel in a ceiling.
Cupola
A small dome rising over the roof of a building; in architecture, a cupola is achieved by rotating an arch on its axis.
Grand plan
The map of a floor of a building.
Central plan
A church (or other building) having a circular plan with the altar in the middle.
Keystone
The center stone of an arch that holds the others in place.
Voussoirs
A wedge-shaped stone that forms the curved parts of an arch; the central stone is called the keystone.
Oculi
A circular window in a church, or a round opening at the top of a dome.
Pier
A vertical support that holds up an arch of vault.
Spandrel
A triangular space enclosed by the curves of the arches.
Pendentive
A construction shaped like a triangle that transitions the space between flat walls and the base of a round dome.
Squinch
The polygonal base of a dome that makes a transition from the round dome to a flat wall.
Vault
Roof constructed with arches.
Barrel vault
When an arch is extended in space, forming a tunnel.
Groin vault
When two barrel vaults intersect at right angles.
Ambulatory
A passageway around the apse or alter of a church.
Apse
The endpoint of a church where the alter is located.
Basilicas/longitudinal plan
A church with a long nave whose focus is the apse, so called because it is designed along an axis.
Lynette
A crescent-shaped space, sometimes over a doorway, that contains a sculpture or painting.
Nave
The main aisle of a church.
Transcriptr
An aisle in a church perpendicular to the nave, where the clergy originally stood.
Ambulatory
A passageway around the apse or an alter of a church
Apandana
An audience hall in a Persian palace
Apotropaic
Having the power to ward off evil or bad luck
Assemblage
A 3D work made of various materials such as wood, cloth, paper, and miscellaneous objects
Biombos
Folding free-standing screens
Chiaroscuro/sfumato
A gradual transition from light to dark in a painting; forms are not determined by sharp outlines, but by the meeting of lighter and darker areas`
Casta painting
Paintings from New Spain showing people of mixed races
Cloissonne
Enamel work in which colored areas are separated by thin bands of metal, usually gold or bronze
Contrapposto
A graceful arrangement of the body based on tilted shoulders and hips and bent knees
Enconchados
Shell-inlay paintings; tiny fragments of mother-of-pearl placed onto a wooden support and canvas and covered with a yellowish tint and thin glazes of paint
Escudo
A framed painting worn below the neck in a colonial Spanish painting
Daguerreotype
A type of early photograph, developed by Daguerre, which is characterized by a shiny surface, meticulous finish, and clarity of detail. Daguerreotypes are unique photographs; they have no negative
Embroidery
A woven product in which the design is stitched into a pre-made fabric
Fresco
A painting done rapidly in watercolor on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling, so that the colors penetrate the plaster and become fixed as it dries.
verb
Fibula
A clasp used to fasten garments
Gigantomachy
A mythical ancient Greek war between the giants and the Olympian gods
Haboku
A monochrome Japanese ink painting done in a free style in which ink seems to be splashed on a surface
Horror vacui
A type of artwork in which the entire surface is filled with objects, people, designs, and ornaments in a crowded and sometimes congested way
