Vocabulary

Question 1

abbey

Answer 1

a monastery for monks, or a convent for nuns, and the church that is connected to it

Question 2

abstract

Answer 2

works of art that may have form, but have little to no attempt at pictorial representation

Question 3

academy

Answer 3

an institution whose main objects include training artists in an academic tradition, ennobling the profession, and holding exhibitions

Question 4

acropolis

Answer 4

literally, a “high city,” a Greek temple complex built on a hill over a city

Question 5

action painting

Answer 5

an abstract painting in which the artist drips or splatters paint onto a surface like a canvas in order to create the work

Question 6

adobe

Answer 6

a building material made from earth, straw, or clay dried in the sun

Question 7

agora

Answer 7

a public plaza in a Greek city where commercial, religious, and societal activities are conducted

Question 8

‘Ahu’ula

Answer 8

Hawaiian feather cloaks

Question 9

Aka

Answer 9

an elephant make of the Bamileke people of Cameroon

Question 10

Altarpiece

Answer 10

a painted or sculpted panel set atop an altar of a church

Question 11

ambulatory

Answer 11

a passageway around the apse or an altar of a church

Question 12

amphirostyle

Answer 12

having four columns in the front and rear of a temple

Question 13

amphora

Answer 13

a two-handled ancient Greek storage jar

Question 14

anamorphic image

Answer 14

an image that must be viewed by a special means, such as a mirror, in order to be recognized

Question 15

andachtsbild

Answer 15

an image used for private contemplation and devotion

Question 16

animal style

Answer 16

a medieval art form in which animals are depicted in a stylized and often complicated pattern, usually seen fighting one or another

Question 17

ankh

Answer 17

an Egyptian symbol of life

Question 18

annunciation

Answer 18

in Christianity, an episode in the Book of Luke 1:26-38 in which Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she would be the Virgin Mother of Jesus

Question 19

anthropomorphic

Answer 19

having characteristics of the human form, although the form itself is not human

Question 20

apadana

Answer 20

an audience hall in a Persian palace

Question 21

apocalypse

Answer 21

last book of the Christian Bible, sometimes called Revelations, which details God’s destruction of evil and consequent rising to heaven of the righteous

Question 22

apotheosis

Answer 22

a type of painting in which the figures are rising heavenward

Question 23

apotropaic

Answer 23

having the power to ward off evil or bad luck

Question 24

apse

Answer 24

the end point of a church where the altar is

Question 25

aquatint

Answer 25

a kind of print that achieves a watercolor effect by using acids to dissolve onto a copper plate

Question 26

arabesque

Answer 26

a flowing, intricate, and symmetrical pattern deriving from floral motifs

Question 27

arcade

Answer 27

a series of arches supported by columns; when the arches face a wall and are not self-supporting, they are called a blind arcade

Question 28

arcadian

Answer 28

a simple rural and rustic setting used especially in Venetian paintings of the High Renaissance; it is named after arcadia, a district in Greece to which poets and painters have attributed a rural simplicity and an idyllically untroubled world

Question 29

archaeology

Answer 29

the scientific study of ancient people and cultures principally revealed through excavation

Question 30

architrave

Answer 30

a plain nonornamented lintel on the entablature

Question 31

archivolt

Answer 31

a series of concentric moldings around an arch

Question 32

ashlar masonry

Answer 32

carefully cut and grooved stones that support a building without the use of concrete or other kinds of masonry

Question 33

assemblage

Answer 33

a three dimensional work made of various materials such as wood, cloth, paper, and miscellaneous objects

Question 34

athena

Answer 34

greek goddess of war and wisdom; patron of Athens

Question 35

atrium

Answer 35

a courtyard in a Roman house or before a christian church

Question 36

avant-garde

Answer 36

an innovative group of artists who generally reject traditional approaches in favor of a more experimental technique

Question 37

axial plan

Answer 37

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