ARTH006 Exam 1
oculus
"Eye"
Buon Fresco
"True Fresco", permanent fresco. Time consuming, requires several layers of plaster. Must apply colors quickly, because dry plaster will no longer absorb pigment. - Ex. Giotto's *Lamentation* - The artist prepares the wall with a rough layer of lime plaster called arriccio (brown coat). Then draws onto the coat with a burnt-orange pigment, sinopia, or transferring a cartoon (full size prep drawing).
Fresco Secco
"dry fresco". Involves painting on dried lime plaster. The methods Egyptians used. The plaster wall doesn't absorb the pigments, so it is not as permanent as buon fresco.
Cosimo de Medici
(1389-1464) Florence - a great patron of art and of learning in the broadest sense. For example, Cosimo provided the equivalent of $20 million to establish the first public library since the ancient world.
Ludovico Gonzaga
(1412-1478), established Mantua - Commissioned redesign of Sant'Andrea
Federico da Montefeltro
(1422-1492), Urbino - Pierro della Francesca, 2nd greatest art patron.
Pope Sixtus IV
(1471-1484) - Played a key role in the Catholic Church's lengthy campaign to reestablish its preeminence - Employs leading painters to decorate the Sistine Chapel. Employed among the artists the pope employed were Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino, who painted Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter
Pope Julius II
(1503-1513) High Renaissance period - Commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. - An immensely ambitious man who sought to extend his spiritual authority into the temporal realm, as other medieval and Renaissance popes had done. - Named himself after Caesar, earned the nickname "The Warrior Pope" - He understood well the propagandistic value of visual imagery and upon his election immediately commissioned artworks that would present an authoritative image of his rule and reinforce the primacy of the Catholic Church. - Commissioned Raphael's School of Athens. The images present a balanced picture of the pope—as a cultured, knowledgeable individual and as a wise, divinely ordained religious authority. - When he died, Michelangelo carved his tomb. Not since Hellenistic times had a sculptor captured as much pent-up energy, both emotional and physical, in a seated statue as Michelangelo did in the over-life-size Moses he carved for Julius II's tomb.
Pope Paul III
(1534-1549) - Commissioned Michelangelo's The Last Judgement. - He launches the Counter- Reformation. Council of Trent dealt with issues of Church doctrine, including many the Protestants contested. Many papal commissions during this period can be viewed as an integral part of the Counter-Reformation effort. - Had pushed Michelangelo to work quick on the St. Peters and
Council of Trent
(1545-1563) Meeting for Catholic church to decide how to react to the reformation. They decide to pump more money into more art for the churches.
Vitruvius
(1st c. BCE) - Roman architect.
Lorenzo de Medici
(Il Magnifico) (1449-1492), Florence - Primavera commissioned for his wedding.
City-state
- Most of the city-states, such as Venice, Florence, and Siena, were republics—constitutional oligarchies governed by executive bodies, advisory councils, and special com- missions. - The humanist cult of fame emphasized the importance of creative individuals and their role in contributing to the renown of the city-state and of all Italy. - Among 14th-century Italian city-states, the Republics of Siena and Florence were the most powerful.
Giorgio Vasari
- The biographer and champion of Italian Renaissance artists who condemned Gothic art as "monstrous and barbarous," and considered medieval art in general a distortion of the noble art of the Greeks and Romans *Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects*: Despite inaccuracies, Vasari's Lives is an invaluable research tool. It is the major contemporaneous source of information about Italian Renaissance art and artists.
Chartreuse
A chartreuse ("charter house" in English) is a Carthusian monastery.
portico
A roofed colonnade; also an entrance porch
Arcade
A series of arches supported by piers or columns.
Sfumato
A smoky effect
Tempera
A technique of painting using pigment mixed with egg yolk, glue, or casein; also, the medium itself. - Egg tempera was the material of choice for most painters, both in Italy and northern Europe. - Images painted with tempera have a velvety sheen. Artists usually applied tempera to the painting surface with a light touch because thick application of the pigment mixture results in premature cracking and flaking. - Dries quickly, so work fast!
Retable
Altarpiece
Putto
Baby angels
Gold Leaf
Byzantine roots. Gold beaten into tissue-paper-thin sheets, then applied to surfaces), which emphasizes the image's flatness and spiritual nature.
Equestrian Portrait
Donatello based his gigantic portrait of a Venetian general on equestrian statues of ancient Roman emperors. Man and horse represent strength.
Humanism
Emerged during the 14th century and became a central component of Italian art and culture in the 15th and 16th centuries. Humanism was more a code of civil conduct, a theory of education, and a scholarly discipline than a philosophical system. As their name suggests, Italian humanists were concerned chiefly with human values and interests as distinct from—but not opposed to—religion's otherworldly values. Humanists pointed to classical cultures as particularly praiseworthy. - humanists sought no material reward for services rendered. The sole reward for heroes of civic virtue was fame, just as the reward for leaders of the holy life was sainthood. - The humanist cult of fame emphasized the importance of creative individuals and their role in contributing to the renown of the city-state and of all Italy.
Linear Perspective
Enables artists to determine mathematically the relative size of rendered objects to correlate them with the visual re- cession into space. The artist first must identify a horizontal line that marks, in the image, the horizon in the distance. The artist then selects a vanishing point on that horizontal line. By drawing orthogonals from the edges of the picture to the vanishing point, the artist creates a structural grid that organizes the image and determines the size of objects within the illusionistic space.
Sculpture in the Round
Freestanding sculptures
Venus (Aphrodite)
Goddess of Love
Sibyls
Greco-Roman mythological female prophets whose writings the Christian Church interpreted as prophecies of Christ.
Guild
Guilds controlled artistic production in Flanders. To pursue a craft, individuals had to belong to the guild controlling that craft. Painters, for example, sought admission to the Guild of Saint Luke, the patron saint of painters because Luke made a portrait of the Virgin Mary. - The path to eventual membership in the guild began, for men, at an early age, when the father apprenticed his son in boyhood to a master, with whom the young aspiring painter lived. The master taught the fundamentals of his craft —how to make implements, prepare panels with gesso. - Fees could be very high, especially if an artist was not a citizen of the same city. Sometimes, an artist seek- ing admission to a guild would marry the widow of a member. A woman could inherit her husband's workshop but not run it. Guild membership was essential for establishing an artist's reputation and for obtaining commissions. e guild inspected paintings to evaluate workmanship and ensure its members used quality materials. It also secured adequate payment for its artists' labor.
Pieta
Image of Mary mourning the death of her Son
Imitatio (imitation)
Imitation is the first step in a young artist's training is literally copying the masters' work.
Giornata
In buon fresco, these are the various sections that the painting is completed in, as the pigment doesn't stick when the plaster is dry. - Giotto's giornata are easy to distinguish.
Idealism
In certain times and places, artists have devised canons, or systems, of "correct" or "ideal" proportions for representing human figures, constituent parts of buildings, and so forth. In ancient Greece, many sculptors formulated canons of proportions so strict and all- encompassing that they calculated the size of every body part in ad- vance, even the fingers and toes, according to mathematical ratios. - DaVinci Vitruvian Man
Fresco
Italian word for "fresh". Is a mural painting technique involving the application of permanent lime-proof pigments diluted in water. - Because the surface of the wall absorbs the pig- ments as the plaster dries, fresco is one of the most durable painting techniques.
braccia
Italian, "arm." A unit of measurement; 1 braccia equals 23 inches. (
Maniera Greca
Italo-Byzantine style - In Siena, Duccio softens the maniera greca and humanizes religious subject matter - Used the gold embellishments common to Byzantine art
Ludovico Sforza
Milan, 1451-1508 - Patron of DaVinci - The political situation in Florence was uncertain, and Leonardo may have felt his particular skills would be in greater demand in Milan, providing him with the opportunity for increased financial security. He devoted most of a letter to Ludovico to advertising his competence and his qualifications as a military engineer, mentioning only at the end his abilities as a painter and sculptor. The letter illustrates the relationship between Renaissance artists and their patrons
Monochrome
One color
Glazes
Opaque layers that could allow painters to build up deep tones through repeated glazing.
Disegno
Popular in central Italy. Referred also to design, an integral component of good art. Design was the foundation of art, and drawing was the fundamental element of design.
Woodcut (relief printing)
Produced through a subtractive pro- cess (removing parts of the material), it is difficult to create very thin, fluid, and closely spaced lines. As a result, woodcut prints tend to exhibit stark contrasts and sharp edges.
Renaissance
Quattrocento Italy also enjoyed an abundance of artistic talent. e fortunate congruence of artistic genius, the spread of humanism, and economic prosperity nourished the Renaissance, forever changing the direction and perception of art in the Western world.
Mannerism
Roger Van Weiden's deposition painting is a good example. This very strange, short lived attempt at exaggerating forms. It can be identified by the use of really bright colors and unnatural appearance. Things like weirdly pink skin.
Classical
Roman and Greek tradition
rustication
Rough, unfinished masonry. Seen in MIchaelozzo's Palazzo Medici-Riccari, or Medici's palace.
Cupid (Eros)
Son of Aphrodite
Manuscript Illumination
The French produced exquisitely refined illuminated manuscripts. Among the most significant developments in French manuscript painting was a new conception and presentation of space. Paintings in manuscripts took on more pronounced characteristics as illusionistic scenes. Painted on vellum and put in front of a light source.
Colore (colorito)
The Venetians' instrument was color, that of the Florentines and Romans sculpturesque form. Scholars often distill the contrast between these two approaches down to colorito (colored or painted) versus disegno (drawing and design). Whereas most central Italian artists emphasized careful design preparation based on preliminary drawing, Venetian artists focused on color and the process of paint application.
Arch
The arch is one of several ways of spanning a passageway. The Romans preferred it to the post-and-lintel (column-and-architrave) system used in the Greek orders.
Vanishing point
The artist selects a vanishing point on that horizon line (often located at the exact center of the line).
Campanile
The bell tower of a church
Naturalism
The close observation of the natural world—the core of the classical tradition.
Oil Painting
The discovery of better drying components in the early 15th century enhanced the setting capabilities of oils. Rather than apply these oils in the light, flecked brushstrokes tempera encouraged, artists laid down the oils in transparent layers, or glazes, over opaque or semiopaque - In this manner, painters could build up deep tones through repeated glazing.
central plan
The domed central plan of classical antiquity dominated the architecture of the Byzantine Empire but with important modi cations. Because the dome covered the crossing of a Byzantine church, architects had to find a way to erect domes on square bases instead of on the circular bases (cylindrical drums) of Roman buildings.
Hierarchic Scale
The enlarging of elements considered the most important to the painting. Ex. Mary and Jesus being way bigger than other humans or angels
Patronage, patron
The patron contracting for the artist's services could be a civic group, religious entity, private individual, or even the artists' guild itself. - Patrons normally asked artists to submit drawings or models for approval, and they expected the artists they hired to adhere closely to the approved designs. e contracts usually stipulated certain conditions, such as the insistence on the artist's own hand in the production of the work, the quality of pigment and amount of gold or other precious items to be used, completion date, payment terms, and penalties for failure to meet the contract's terms.
Foreshortening
The representation of a figure or object at an angle to the picture plane—is a common device in Western art for creating the illusion of depth. Foreshortening is a type of perspective.
Relief Sculpture
The subjects project from the background but remain part of it.
pendentive
The top portion and four segments around the rim of the larger dome are omitted, creating four curved triangles, or pendentives. The pendentives join to form a ring and four arches whose planes bound a square.
Chiaroscuro
The use of contrasts of dark and light to produce modeling
Atmospheric perspective
Unlike linear perspective, which relies on a structured mathematical system, atmospheric perspective involves optical phenomena. Artists using atmospheric perspective (sometimes called aerial perspective) exploit the principle that the farther back the object is in space, the blurrier, less detailed, and bluer it appears. Further, color saturation and value contrast diminish as the image recedes into the distance. Leonardo da Vinci used atmospheric perspective in Mona Lisa and others.
Book of Hours
Used for reciting prayers. These books replaced traditional psalters (books of psalms), which were the only liturgical books in private hands until the mid 13th century. The centerpiece of the book was the "Prayer of the Blessed Virgin" which was said at the beginning and end of the day. It included an illustrated calendar with feast days. There are 12 pages representing a day of each month and their associated seasonal tasks.
basilica
Western Christendom, the typical medieval church had a this plan, which evolved from the Roman columnar hall
Fons Vitale
What the Carthusians called a fountain of everlasting life
Leon Battista Alberti
Wrote two treatises: FIrst to understand classical architecture in depth. Ideal proportions, believed the central plan was most idea. *On Painting* *On The Art of Building*
Horizon line
a horizon line identified by the artist that marks the horizon in the distance.
coffer
a series of sunken panels in ceilings and walls
Orthagonals
diagonal lines drawn from the edges of the picture to the vanishing point.
Emulatio (emulation)
e next step was emulation, which involved model- ing one's art a er that of another artist. Although imitation still provided the foundation for this practice, an artist used features of another's art only as a springboard for improvements or in- novations. us, developing artists went beyond previous artists and attempted to prove their own competence and skill by improving on established and recognized masters.
pilaster
like columns but stuck to the wall.
Barrel vault
look like tunnels
Indulgences
money in the church that paid for peoples' passages out of purgatory and into heaven in the Catholic church. Was used to fund big churches like St. Peter's Basilica.
Grisaille
monochrome grays, often used for modeling in paintings
Quattrocento
the 15th century (the '400s, or Quattrocento in Italian), - Quattrocento Italy witnessed constant fluctuations in its political and economic spheres, including shifting power relations among the numerous city-states and the rise of princely courts
Perspective
the depiction of three-dimensional objects in space on a two-dimensional surface
pediment
the triangle top of a capital structure
Clerestory
upper inside window area in a church
Neoplatonism
view that earthly love is compatible with Christian theology. Reflected in Botticelli's Primavera. - In their reinterpretation of classical mythology, Venus as the source of love provokes desire through Cupid. Desire can lead either to lust and violence (Zephyr) or, through reason and faith (Mercury), to the love of God. Primavera, read from right to le , served to urge the newlyweds to seek God through love.