Art History II
Chapter 19, Italy 1200-1400
Definitions

Western Art - art from the European tradition, and by extension American art.

Non-Western Art - African, Asian, Native American, and Oceanic art.

Formal Analysis - analyzing a work of art by it's physical properties, size dimensions, materials, color.

Composition - the artists choice in how items are arranged in a work of art.

Patron - person who pays for art. Roman times it was patricians; medieval the church; end of Ren the wealthy; mid 19th century upper class.

Provenance - the history of the ownership or location of an object, especially a work of art.

Medium - materials used in a work of art.

Technique -

Medieval -

Classical - generally refers to Greek and Roman art. More specifically Greece at 450 BC, was the epitome of Western Art.

Gothic - Originally a derogatory term named after the Goths, used to describe the history, culture, and art of western Europe in the 12th to 14th centuries.

Byzantine - From the East (Byzantium), gold leaf background, flat halos, patterns on wings. In 320 Constantine was the first emperor to convert to Christianity, moved the capital to Constantinople, (Istanbul) traditions from the local artists.

Renaissance - French, "rebirth." The term used to describe the history, culture, and art of 14th- through 16th-century western Europe during which artists consciously revived the classical style. The artists were looking back to Greek and Roman art for inspiration.

International Style - A style of 14th- and 15th-century painting begun by Simone Martini, who adapted the French Gothic manner to Sienese art fused with influences from the North. This style appealed to the aristocracy because of its brilliant color, lavish costume, intricate ornament, and themes involving splendid processions.

Humanism - In the Renaissance, an emphasis on education and on expanding knowledge (especially of classical antiquity), the exploration of individual potential and a desire to excel, and a commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty. Man is the center of all things, man is made in God's image. This is when modern man took hold of the idea of personal expression.

Naturalism - The style of painted or sculptured representation based on close observation of the natural world that was at the core of the classical tradition.

Icon - A portrait or image; especially in Byzantine churches, a panel with a painting of sacred personages that are objects of veneration. In the visual arts, a painting, a piece of sculpture, or even a building regarded as an object of veneration.

Iconography - Symbolism

Guild - An association of master craftspeople, apprentices, and tradespeople.

Continuous Narrative - A compositional technique that shows earlier and later parts of a story together in one scene.

Bas Relief - low relief, still attached to background

Tempera - A technique of painting using pigment mixed with egg yolk. Used before oils paints were popular. 1) easy to obtain eggs, 2) gave paintings a shiny gloss. Downside, could only mix in small amounts.

Buon Fresco (True Fresco) - Wet painting on lime plaster. The pigments are mixed with water and become chemically bound to the freshly laid lime plaster.

Fresco Secco (Dry Fresco) - Dry painting on lime plaster.

Atmospheric Perspective - A method of presenting an illusion of the three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional surface. In linear perspective, all parallel lines or surface edges converge on one, two, or three vanishing points located with reference to the eye level of the viewer (the horizon line of the picture), and associated objects are rendered smaller the farther from the viewer they are intended to seem. Atmospheric, or aerial, perspective creates the illusion of distance by the greater diminution of color intensity, the shift in color toward an almost neutral blue, and the blurring of contours as the intended distance between eye and object increases.

Linear Perspective - all parallel lines or surface edges converge on one, two, or three vanishing points located with reference to the eye level of the viewer (the horizon line of the picture), and associated objects are rendered smaller the farther from the viewer they are intended to seem.

Foreshorten - 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.

Chiaroscuro - In drawing or painting, the treatment and use of light and dark, especially the gradations of light that produce the effect of modeling.