art terms
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- cylinder seals
- small cylinders decorated with images that were rolled on damp clay for signatures
- adyton
- the back room of a greek temple
- attribute
- the symbolic object or objects that identify a particular deity, saint, or personifacation in art
- agora
- marketplace
- olpe
- any greek vase or jug without a spout
- rhyton
- any of various ornate drinking vessels of ancient times typically shaped in part like an animal or animal's head
- temple complexes
- a group of buildings dedicated to a religous purpose, usually located close to one another in a sanctuary
- orthogonal plan
- any line running back into the represented space of a picture perpendicular to the imagined picture plan
- running spirals
- a decorative motif based on the shape formed by a line making a continuous spiral
- capital
- the sculpted block that tops a column
- high relief
- Figures projecting from a background of which they are part. High relief images project boldly, sometimes to the point where they cast shadows on the background and some parts are actually fully detached from the background (in the round).
- megaron
- main hall or central room in an ancient Greek building
- architrave
- the bottom element in an entablature
- sanctuaries
- a sacred or holy enclosure used for worship in ancien greece and rome consisted of one or more temples
- archaic smile
- in Archaic Greek sculpture, the smile indicated that the person portrayed is alive
- rosettes
- a round or oval ornament resembling a rose
- oracle
- a person, usually a priest or priestess who acts as a condult for divine information
- pediment
- a triangular gable between a horizontal entablature and a sloping roof
- metopes
- the carved or painted rectangular panel between the triglphs of a doric frieze
- post-and-lintel construction
- an architectural system of construction with two or more vertical elements supporting a horizontal element
- composition
- the spatial property resulting from the arrangement of parts in relation to each other and to the whole
- chiton
- clothing for Greek Women
- abstract
- not representing or imitating external reality or the objects of nature
- lost wax casting or hollow-casting
- is the process by which a bronze is cast from an artist's sculpture; in industrial uses the modern process is called investment casting. An ancient practice, the process today varies from foundry to foundry, but the steps which are usually used in casting small bronze sculptures in a modern bronze foundry are generally quite standardized.
- pictographs
- a highly stylized depiction serving as a symbol for a person or object
- peristyle
- a colonnade surrounding a building or enclosing a court
- glazed
- an outermost layer of vitreos liquid that upon firing renders ceramics water proof
- mausoleum
- named after mausolos means a large burial structure
- repouss'e
- a techinque to create a relief by hammering a metal plate from the back
- cuneiform
- an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia and Persia
- porch
- a structure attached to the exterior of a building often forming a covered entrance
- wares
- pottery produced and decorated by the same technique
- antae
- a rectangular pillaster found at the ends of the framing walls of a recessed portico
- fresco
- a mural done with watercolors on wet plaster
- encaustic
- A method of painting using pigments with wax fixed onto the surface by heat.
- lamassus
- supernatural guardian-protector of ancient Near East palaces and throne rooms
- podium
- a raised platform raised that acts as the foundation for a building
- palace complex
- a group of buildings used for living and governing by a ruler and his or her supporters, usually fortified
- iconography
- the images and symbolic representations that are traditionally associated with a person or a subject
- entasis
- a slight convexity in the shaft of a column
- elevations
- the arrangement, proportions, and details of any vertical side or face of a building
- doric order
- the oldest and simplest of the Greek orders and the only one that normally has no base
- frieze
- an architectural ornament consisting of a horizontal sculptured band between the architrave and the cornice
- groundline
- in paintings and reliefs, a painted or carved baseline on which figures appear to stand
- blind
- no entrance to the cella
- gable
- the vertical triangular wall between the sloping ends of gable roof
- mosaics
- patterns or pictures made by embedding small pieces of stone or glass in cement on surfaces such as walls and floors
- cone mosaics
- an early type of surface decoration created by pressing colored cones of baked clay into prepared wet plaster
- papyrus
- paper made from the papyrus plant by cutting it in strips and pressing it flat
- black-figure
- a stlye or technique of ancient greek pottery in which black figures are painted on a red clay background
- himation
- A mantle worn over the chiton and draped in various ways
- triglyphs
- Vertically grooved blocks, separated by metopes, which form a distinguishing feature in a Doric frieze.
- pronaos
- The space, or porch, in front of the cella, or naos, of an ancient Greek temple
- echinus
- in the Doric or Tuscan order, the round cushion-like element between the top of the shaft and the abacus
- foreshortening
- The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight. The extended arm of the Virgin Mary in Virgin of the Rocks is a good example. [ Virgin of the Rocks ]
- slip
- thin, wet clay used in pottery for casting, decoration or as a cement
- cyclopean construction
- a method of building using huge blocks of rough-hewm stone often that only giant cyclops could construct
- roundel
- any element with a circular format, often placed as a decoration on the exterior of architecture
- dentils
- tooth-like blocks in Ionic and Corinthain cornices
- gloss
- a type of clay slip used in ceramics by ancient greeks and romans that when fired imparts a colorful sheen to the surface
- ziggurats
- a temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories
- abacus
- the flat slab at the top of a capital directly under the entablature
- entablature
- (architecture) the structure consisting of the part of a classical temple above the columns between a capital and the roof [(formerly also as intablature): from Italian intavolatura 'boarding' (partly via French entablement 'entablement' ), from intavolare 'board up' (based on tavola 'table' ).]
- chevrons
- inverted Vs
- temenos
- in ancient greece the sacred enclosure around a temple site
- incised
- cut or impressed into a surface
- halos
- an outdoor pavement used by ancient greeks for ceremonial dancing
- stucco
- plaster made of cement, sand, and lime for covering exterior walls of buildings
- peplos
- a loose outer garment worn by women
- hieratic scale
- size being assoiciated with importance
- pedestals
- an architectural support or base (as for a column or statue)
- citadel
- a fortress that overlooks and protects a city
- votive figures
- a figurine placed in shrine that expresses or symbolizes a wish, desire, or vow
- cornice
- the topmost projecting part of an entablature
- in antis
- term used to describe the position of columns set between two walls as in a portico or cella
- stylized
- to design in or cause to conform to a particular style, as of representation or treatment in art
- tholos
- temple with a circular plan
- ashlar or dressed stone
- square stones smoothly leaning inward and carefully calculated to meet in a single capstone at the peak
- stylus
- a pointed tool for writing or drawing or engraving
- terra cotta
- a hard unglazed brownish-red earthenware
- korous
- a male statue
- stadium
- in ancient greece, arace track with tiers of seats for spectators
- palmettes
- An artistic motif based on the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree.
- registers
- a device used in systems of spatial definition, in pointing it indicated the use of differing groundlines to differentiate layers of space within an image
- grid
- a system of regulary spaced horizontlly and vertically crossed lines that gives regularity to an architectual plan
- peripteral
- a term used to describe any buildiing that is surrounded by a single row of columns
- corinthian order
- Matches Ionic order completely except uses acanthus plants as decorative motif in capitals to solve Ionic corner problem. This capital has acanthus leaves all around it in two levels radiating outward, very fancy, more contrast, makes column taller/slenderer overall and looks same from all sides. Only problem is attitude toward it-much fancier than ionic order so not serious enough, didn't use.
- kore
- ancient Greek statue of a draped maiden
- buon fresco
- true or wet fresco; pigments are mixed with water and become chemically bound to the freshly laid lime plaster
- fluted
- having vertical parallel grooves(pillar)
- acanthus
- ornamental design motif representing leaves of the acanthus plant
- crenellations
- gap tooth-shaped configuration
- mural
- a very large painting; a painting on a wall
- red-figure
- a stlye and technique of ancient greek vase painting characterized by red clay-colored figures on a black background
- gold leaf
- a very thin form of gold foil
- acropolis
- city on a hill
- treasuries
- a building or room for keepimg valualbe objects
- necking
- the molding at the top of the shaft of the column
- high relief
- a sculptural relief in which forms extend out from the background to at least half their depth
- monumental
- great in importance, extent, or size
- stele
- A stone slab or pillar with carvings or inscriptions
- colonnade
- (n.) [neut.] a series of regularly spaced columns supporting an entablature and usuall one side of a roof
- shaft
- the main vertical section of a column between the capital and the base usually circular in cross section
- stylobate
- in classical architecture the stone foundations on which a temple colonnade stands
- caryatids
- a female figure that functions as a supporting column
- maenads
- female followers of Dionysus, usually possessed by thier god, also called Bacchae
- facade
- the face or front of a building
- naos or cella
- in a classical temple, this room is where the cult statue usually stood