art history correct test question examples

Which pharaoh abandoned the worship of the multitude of Egyptian gods in favor of Aton?

Akhenaton

The development of what building material enabled the Romans to revolutionize architecture?

Concrete

Which emperor founded the "New Rome on the Bosporus" in the East in 324?

Constantine

Which group occupied and sacked Constantinople in 1204, carting away much of its material wealth?

Crusaders

What is the term for the pronounced swelling at the middle of the column shaft?

Entasis

Which figure did not appear in the synagogue paintings of Dura-Europos?

God

Whose reign marks the golden age of Early Byzantine art?

Justinian

Which color was associated with the Roman emperor?

Purple

Etruscan art and iconography had a great influence on which culture?

Roman

Dura-Europos is a town overlooking the Euphrates River in which modern country?

Syria

Rome is located on which river?

Tiber

Which ancient author provides information about Etruscan architecture?

Vitruvius

What earlier architectural form does the stepped pyramid resemble in form but not purpose?

Ziggurat

When did the New Palace (Late Minoan) period begin on Crete?

a. 1700 BCE

In what year did the Persians sack the Athenian Acropolis?

a. 480 BCE

Which of the following is not an example of the interdisciplinary nature of 21st-century art historical inquiry?

a. A costume designer replicates the garments seen in a painting for a play.

How was the sole god of Akhenaton represented in Egyptian art?

a. As a sun disk

What innovative aspect of Hellenistic art does this statue convey?

a. Cosmopolitan realism

Which of the following is an important convention for the organization of forms in a pictorial space?

a. Perspective

What metalworking technique was used to make the Vapheio cup and the Mycenaean gold mask?

a. Repoussé

What is the name of the chancellor/architect-engineer who served during the reign of Hatshepsut?

a. Senenmut

What symbol is found on architectural elements throughout the palatial center at Knossos?

a. The double ax

What Middle Kingdom form took on the function of the Old Kingdom mastabas?

a. The rock-cut tomb

How do the materials of the paintings from Çatal Höyük differ from Paleolithic paintings?

a. They are made using brushes on a prepared surface.

Why was foreign trade such an important activity for the Sumerians?

a. They had few natural resources.

Why did the Byzantine emperors call themselves Romans and their empire Rome?

a. They saw themselves as the legitimate successors to ancient Rome.

How do art historians know so much about the liturgical ceremonies that took place inside Hagia Sophia during the period that church was built?

a. Writings of Procopius

How long did the Eastern Christian Empire (Byzantium) remain a cultural and political entity?

b. A millennium

What is the most likely function of the Neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe?

b. A religious center

Which building did Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus build for Justinian?

b. Church of Holy Wisdom

The decoration of the Ficoroni Cista is most likely an adaptation of what art type?

b. Greek panel painting

After fire destroyed the earlier church during the Middle Byzantine period, the new Saint Mark's was modeled after which of the following churches?

b. Holy Apostles, Constantinople

The reliefs from the palace at Ninevah show Ashurbanipal hunting which creature?

b. Lion

Which component is lacking from large Neolithic fortifications and megalithic structures?

b. Mortar

The synagogue at Dura-Europos has an extensive program of decoration in what medium?

b. Painting on plaster

What architectural technique is used at the far-flung Neolithic sites of Hagar Qim and Stonehenge?

b. Post and lintel

What was the purpose of the Assyrian lamassu?

b. Protection

Which two rivers defined the territory of the Etruscan cities?

b. The Tiber and the Arno

What architectural form makes this temple at Hagar Qim especially noteworthy?

b. The combination of straight and curved forms

Why are the man and woman on the Cerveteri sarcophagus shown in a reclining position?

b. They are shown at a banquet.

What was the purpose of Egyptian royal portraiture?

b. To highlight the divinity of the pharaoh

Which manuscript contains the earliest known illustrated dedication page?

b. Vienna Dioskorides

What was the date and purpose of the Edict of Milan?

c. 313, recognized Christianity as a legal religion equal to the cults of the traditional gods

When did the eruption of Mount Vesuvius cover Pompeii and the other cities surrounding the Bay of Naples?

c. 79 CE

At Persepolis, the style of the processional reliefs depicting representatives of many nations is highly reminiscent of which contemporaneous culture?

c. Archaic Greece

What is the central feature of the plan of the palace of Knossos, shown here?

c. Courtyard

What pictorial narrative convention is not present on the Warka Vase?

c. Descriptive inscriptions

What vase painter is the acknowledged master of the black-figure technique?

c. Exekias

Cycladic figurines share which subject with Paleolithic art?

c. Female human

What is the theme of the mosaic program of San Vitale in Ravenna?

c. Holy ratification of the emperor Justinian's right to rule

Which of the following is not thought to be the function of the megalithic monument at Stonehenge?

d. A historical memorial

Which of the following is a Late Byzantine church?

d. Christ in Chora, Constantinople

In their construction, catacombs most resembled which earlier funerary structures?

d. Etruscan tomb chambers

Which vase painter utilized the potential of the red-figure technique to break away from the conventional composite profile for human figures?

d. Euphronios

Which 19th-century person first uncovered the cities of Troy, Mycenae, and Tiryns?

d. Heinrich Schliemann

Which falcon-headed god was the son of Osiris and hunted down his father's murderer, Seth?

d. Horus

What does the provenance of an artwork tell the art historian?

d. Its place of origin

Which aspect of this mosaic from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is no longer rooted in the naturalist classical tradition?

d. Jesus carries a cross-scepter and wears purple.

Which dynasty was in power for much of the Middle Byzantine period?

d. Macedonian

Which critical raw material can be found in abundance on the mainland and many islands of Greece?

d. Marble

What was the source of the Etruscan accumulation of wealth and luxury goods in the seventh century BCE?

d. Mining and trade

What was the purpose of the three-cella plan of Etruscan temples?

d. One chamber each for Tinia, Uni, and Menrva

What was the primary focus of much Classical art?

d. Portraying ideal beauty in human form

Which of the following is NOT a component of a Greek theater such as the one at Epidauros?

d. Pylon

What legendary figures founded Rome as a modest village of huts on April 21, 753 BCE?

d. Romulus and Remus

What is the contemporary name of the monastery in Egypt that Justinian had expanded and fortified by his builders?

d. Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai

Which early church had a mosaic program that included many subjects common to Roman funerary art—such as putti and wine—that could be given a Christian interpretation?

d. Santa Costanza

Which millennium witnessed the high points of the ancient Aegean civilizations?

d. Second millennium BCE

Which two objects share decorative technique and materials?

d. The bull-headed harp and the Standard of Ur

The mixing of peoples that resulted in the Etruscan culture occurred when?

d. Villanovan period, first millennium BCE

What do art historians call an element such as the winged man, eagle, lion, and ox accompanying the pictures of the four Gospel authors?

Attribute

What was the primary objective of mummification?

Immortality

What is the name of the sculptural element in the form of a bull shown here?

Protome

The Eshnunna votive statuettes and the statue of Napir-Asu share what formal characteristics?

a. Frontality and cylindrical volume

Constantine XI died in 1453 vainly defending Constantinople against which group?

a. Ottoman Turks

Which Middle Byzantine object type best demonstrates the complete rejection of iconoclasm?

a. Painted icon

Which of the following statements does NOT accurately describe the pool and grotto of Hadrian's villa at Tivoli?

c. It included typical Greek arcuated colonnades.

What is the most salient feature of the climatic environment of northern Europe around 9000 BCE?

c. Melting ice

What transitional period occurred just before Europe became climatically, geographically, and biologically much as it is today?

c. Mesolithic era

Which Old Testament figure is highlighted alongside Christ in the mosaic program of the church at Mount Sinai?

c. Moses

Which culture was both heir and imitator of the art and architecture of Greece?

c. Romans

In clarifying the importance of the Old Testament to Christians, who claimed "the New Testament is hidden in the Old; the Old is clarified by the New"?

c. Saint Augustine

What does the inscription on the statue of Queen Napir-Asu tell us?

c. That her statue was intended as a permanent votive offering

What great human advance accounts for the Neolithic origins of metalwork, weaving, pottery, and simple clay records?

c. The settlement into organized societies around agriculture