Art history final study guide PDF

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Description

Term

Definition

Example

Rotulus

A roll of parchment or papyrus that was written on to make a permanent record

Codex

an early manuscript

Mandorla

a pointed oval figure used as an architectural feature and as an aureole enclosing figures such as Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary in medieval art

Pendentive

a curved triangle of vaulting formed by the intersection of a dome with its supporting arches

Squinch

a straight or arched structure across an interior angle of a square tower to carry a superstructure such as a dome

Impost Block

in architecture, an impost is a projecting block resting on top of a column or embedded in a wall, serving as the base for the springer or lowest voussoir of an arch

Chi-rho

a monogram of chi (X) and rho (P) as the first two letters of Greek Khristos Christ used as a Christian symbol

Caesaropapism

a political theory in which the head of state, notably the Emperor (‘Caesar’ by extension an ‘equal’ King), is also the supreme head of the church (‘papa’, pope or analogous religious leader).

Theotokos

Mother of God (virgin mary)

Icon

a painting of Jesus Christ or another holy figure, typically in a traditional style on wood, venerated and used as an aid to devotion in the Byzantine and other Eastern Churches

Iconoclasm

the action of attacking or assertively rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices

Iconoclast

a destroyer of images used in religious worship

Iconophile

someone who espouses iconodulist, i.e., who supports or is in favor of religious images or icons and their veneration, and is in opposition to an iconoclast, someone against the use of religious images.

Animal Style

is characterized by its emphasis on animal motifs, the term describing an approach to decoration from China to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migration Period.

Cloisonne

decorative work in which enamel, glass, or gemstones are separated by strips of flattened wire placed edgeways on a metal backing

Cloison

(French, "cell") The compartment made by wire or strips of gold soldered onto a metal plaque, to be filled with glass paste. See cloisonné enamel in part 3 for its use.

Hiberno-Saxon

insular art, is the style of art produced in the post-Roman history of the British Isles.

Carolingian

of or relating to the Frankish dynasty, founded by Charlemagne’s father (Pepin III), that ruled in western Europe from

750 - 987.

Ottonian

characteristic of reigns (936-1002) of the first three Ottos of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire or of the arts that flourished in Germany in this period -Ottonian bronze doors in Hildesheim and Augsburg

Scriptoria

a place for writing, a room in a monastery that is set aside for writing

Westwork

is the monumental, west-facing entrance section of a Carolingian, Ottonian, or Romanesque church. The exterior consists of multiple stories between two towers.

Alternate support system

The use of alternating wall support in the nave, usually piers and columns

Pilgrimage

a religious expedition, journey

Crusades

a medieval military expedition, one of a

series made by Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries

Relic

an object surviving from an earlier time, especially one of historical or sentimental interest. A part of a deceased holy person’s body or belongings kept as an object of reverence.

Reliquary

a container of holy relics

Romanesque

of or relating to a style of architecture that prevailed in Europe circa 900-1200, although sometimes dated back to the end of the Roman Empire (5th century)

Gislebertus

was a French Romanesque sculptor, whose decoration of the Cathedral of Saint Lazare at Autun, France consisting of numerous doorways

Hildegarde of Bingen

Saint Hildegard of Bingen, O.S.B., also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath.

Bishop Odo

Odo, Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, was the half-brother of William the Conqueror, and was, for a time, second in power after the King of England.

Facade

the face of a building, especially the principal front that looks onto a street or open space. An outward appearance that is maintained to conceal a less pleasant or creditable reality.

Nave

the central part of a church building, intended to accommodate most of the congregation. In traditional Western churches it is rectangular, separated from the chancel by a step or rail, and from adjacent aisles by pillars.

Apse

a large semicircular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof, typically at the eastern end and usually containing the altar.

Transept

in a cross-shaped church either of the two parts forming the arms of the cross shape projecting at right angles from the nave

Ambulatory

a place for walking, especially an aisle around the apse or a cloister in a church or monastery

Tympanum

a vertical recessed triangular space forming the center of a pediment, typically decorated.

Trumeau

a section of wall or a pillar between two openings, especially a pillar dividing a large doorway in a church

Voussoir

a wedge-shaped or tapered stone used to construct an arch

William the Conqueror

Was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. After the Battle of Hastings, in 1066, he was crowned king of England. He never spoke English and was illiterate but he had more influence on the evolution of the English language than anyone before or since.

Portal

a doorway, gate, or other entrance, especially a large and elaborate one.

Gothic

The style of architecture prevalent in western Europe in the 12th-16th centuries, characterized by pointed arches, rib vaults, and flying buttresses. together with large windows and elaborate tracery.

Tribune Gallery

an area within a vaulted or semi-domed apse in a room or church. These features were particularly common in Roman and Byzantine church architecture. In these Christian basilicas the term is often retained for the semicircular recess behind the choir, as at San Clemente in Rome.

Flying Buttress

a buttress slanting from a separate pier, typically forming an arch with the wall it supports.

Triforium

a gallery or arcade above the arches of the nave, choir, and transepts of a church

Clerestory

the upper part of the nave, choir, and transepts of a large church, containing a series of windows. It is clear of the roofs of the aisles and admits light to the central parts of the building. The windows in the clerestory of a church or similar windows in another building. A raised section of roof running down the center of a railroad car, with a small window or ventilator.

Abbot Suger

Sugar was a French abbot, statesman, historian and one of the earliest patrons of Gothic architecture.

Summa Theologica

is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas. Although unfurnished, the Summa is “one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature.” It

was intended as an instructional guide for moderate theologians and compendium of all the main theological teachings of the Catholic Church. It presents the reasoning for almost all points of Christian theology in the West. The Summa’s topics follow a cycle: the existence of God, Creation, Man; Man’s purpose; Christ; the Sacraments; and back to God.

Scholasticism

the system of theology and philosophy taught in medieval European universities, based on Aristotelian logic and the writings of the early Church Fathers and having a strong emphasis on tradition and dogma. Narrow-minded insistence on traditional doctrine.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Was an Italian Dominican friar and priest and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the “Doctor Angelicus.”

Rayonnant

In French Gothic architecture, Rayonnant was the period between c.1240 - 1350, characterized by a shift in focus away from the High Gothic mode of utilizing great scale and spatial rationalism towards a greater concern for two dimensional surfaces and the repetition of decorative motifs at different scales.

Tracery

ornamental stone openwork, typically in the upper part of a Gothic window. A delicate branching pattern.

Mullion

a vertical bar between the panes of glass in a window

Court Style

The earliest phase of the Rayonnant style of French Gothic, closely associated with the reign of King Louis IX (1227-70). It was characterized by the dissolution of walls in favor of huge areas of windows subdivided by thin, wire-like tracery, the piercing of the wall of the triforium-gallery with windows, and the introduction of masses of colonnettes corresponding to the ribs in the vault. The most glorious example of the Court style are Ste-Chapelle, Paris (1243-8), the Collegiate Church of St. Urbain, Troyes (begun 1262), and the east end of Sees Cathedral, Normandy (c. 1270).

s-curve

The s curve is a traditional art concept in Ancient Greek sculpture and Roman sculpture where the figure’s body and posture is depicted like a sinuous or serpentine “S”.

Louis IX (St. Louis)

King of France from 1226 - 1270, the most popular of the Capetian monarchy. He led the Seventh Crusade to the Holy Land in 1248-50 and died on another Crusade to Tunisia.

Ars de Geometria

art of geometry

Breviary

a book containing the service for each day, to be recited by those in orders in the Roman Catholic Church

Flamboyant

a style of French Gothic architecture marked by wavy flamelike tracery and ornate decoration.

Maniera Greca

describes the Greek or Byzantine mode of painting adopted in Italy by artists of the Proto-Renaissance era. It is characterized by the heavy use of gilding, brilliant colors, striations to denote the folds of fabric, and segments for the figures’ anatomical details. Giotto is the first master to have rejected the Maniera Greca mode in favor of greater naturalism and convincing emotive content, thereby revolutionizing the art of painting.

Italo-Byzantine

characterized by a strict formality, a linear flatness, a shallow space, and emphasis on the spiritual.

Trefoil

a small European plant of the pea family with yellow flowers and three-lobed clover like leaves. An ornamental design of three rounded lobes like a clover leaf, used typically in architectural tracery.

Quatrefoil

an ornamental design of four lobes or leaves as used in architectural tracery, resembling a flower or four-leaf clover

Altarpiece

a work of art, especially a painting on wood, set above and behind an altar.

Predella

a step or platform on which an altar is placed, a raised shelf above an altar

Punchwork

an openwork embroidery with patterns of holes from by separating threads of the cloth and stitching them in place. A tufted embroidery of cut or uncut loops made by pushing a heavy thread through cloth and used especially for bedspreads.

International Style

a style in art during the late 14th and early 15th centuries characterized by elegant stylization of illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, stained glass, etc and by increased interest in secular themes. Major contributors were Simone Martini, Giotto, and Pisanello.

Chapter 9 - Byzantium Chapter

Figure

Image/title

Culture / Time period

Artist

Location

Material

9

9-2

Saint Michael The Archangel

Early Byzantium Early 6th century

N/A

Now located in British Museum, London

Ivory 1’ 5” x 5 ½ “

The sculptor who carved this largest extant Byzantine ivory panel modeled Saint Michael on a classical winged Victory, but the archangel seems to float in front of the architecture rather than stand on it. 9

9-5

Hagia Sophia

Early Byzantium 532 - 537

Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Milletus

Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey

N/A

Early Byzantium 532 - 537

Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Milletus

Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey

N/A

Justinian’s reign was the first golden age of Byzantine art and architecture. Hagia Sophia was the most magnificent of the more than 30 churches Justinian built or restored in Constantinople alone. 9

9-8

Interior of Hagia Sophia

Pendentive construction made possible Hagia Sophia’s lofty dome, which seems to ride on a halo of light. A contemporary said the dome

seemed to be suspended by “a golden chain from Heaven.” 9

9-10

San Vitale

Early Byzantium 526 - 547

N/A

Ravenna, Italy

N/A

Early Byzantium - ca. 547

N/A

Inside the north wall of apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

apse Mosaic

Early Byzantium - ca. 547

N/A

Inside the south wall of apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

apse Mosaic

Justinian’s general Belisarius captured Ravenna from the Ostrogoths. The city became the seat of Byzantine dominion in Italy. San Vitale honored Saint Vitalis, a second-century Ravenna martyr 9

9-13

Justinian, Bishop Maximianus, and attendants

San Vitale’s mosaics reveal the new Byzantine aesthetic. Justinian is foremost among the weightless and speechless frontal figures hovering before the viewer, their positions in space uncertain 9

9-14

Theodora and attendants

Justinian’s counterpart on the opposite wall is the powerful Empress Theodora.

Neither she nor Justinian ever visited Ravenna. San Vitale’s mosaics are proxies for the absent sovereigns. 9

9-16

Transfiguration of Jesus

Early Byzantium - ca. 548 - 565

N/A

Church of the Virgin, monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt

apse mosaic

Early Byzantium sixth or early 7th century

N/A

Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount sinai, Egypt.

Encaustic on wood

Middle Byzantium 867

N/A

Hagia, Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey

Apse mosaic

In this apse mosaic, the artist swept away all traces of landscape fro a depthless field of gold. The prophets and disciples cast no shadows even though bathed in divine light 9

9-18

Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George, Icon

Byzantine icons are the heirs to the Roman tradition of portrait painting on small wood panels, but their Christian subjects and function as devotional objects broke sharply from classical models 9

9-19

Virgin (Theotokos) and Child enthroned

After the repeal of iconoclasm, Basil I dedicated a huge new mosaic in the apse of Hagia Sophia depicting the Virgin and Child enthroned. An inscription says it replaced one the iconoclasts destroyed. 9

9-27

Pantokrator, Theotokos and Child, angels, and saints

Middle Byzantine 1180 - 1190

N/A

Cathedral, Monreale, Italy

Apse Mosaic

Middle Byzantine - ca. 950 - 970

N/A

Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

Tempera on Vellum

In centrally planned Byzantine churches, the image of the Pantokrator usually appears in the main dome, but Monreale’s cathedral is a longitudinal basillica. The semidome of the apse is its only vault 9

9-30

David composing the Psalms, folio 1 verso of the Paris Psalter

During the

Macedonian Renaissance, Byzantine artists revived the classical style. This painter portrayed David as if a Greek hero, accompanied by personifications of Melody, Echo, and Bethlehem. 9

9-35

Three angels (Old Testament Trinity)

Late Byzantine - ca. 1410

Andrei Rublyev

Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Tempera on wood

This exceptionally large icon feature subtle line and vivid colors is one of the masterworks of Russian painting. It depicts the three angels who appeared to Abraham, prefiguring the Trinity. Early Byzantine Art (324 - 726) ● Constantine founded Constantinople on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium in 324 and dedicated this “New Rome” to the Christian God in 330. ● The first golden age of Byzantine art was the result of the lavish patronage of Justinian (r. 527 - 565). In Constantinople alone, Justinian built or restored more than 30 churches. The greatest was Hagia Sophia, which rivaled the architectural wonders of Old Rome. A brilliant fusion of central and longitudinal plans, its 180-foot-high dome rests on pendentives but seemed to contemporaries to be suspended “by a gold chain from Heaven.” ● The seat of Byzantine power in Italy was Ravenna, which also prospered under Justinian. San Vitale is Ravenna’s greatest church. Its mosaics, with their weightless, hovering, frontal figures against a gold background, reveal the new Byzantine aesthetic. ● Justinian also rebuilt the monastery at Mount Sinai in Egypt. The preserved Sinai icons - portable devotional paintings depicting Christ, the Virgin, and saints - are the finest of the Early Byzantine period ● In 726, Leo (r. 717 - 741) enacted a ban against picturing the divine, initiating the era of iconoclasm (726 - 843) and the desctruction of countless Early Byzantine artworks. Middle Byzantine Art (843 - 1204) ● Empress Theodora repealed iconoclasm in 843, and in 867, Basil I (r. 867 - 886) dedicated a new mosaic depicting the Theotokos (Mother of God) in Hagia Sophia. It marked the triumph of the iconophiles over the iconoclasts. ● Ivory carving and manuscript painting flourished during the Middle Byzantine period, as during the preceding era. Hinged ivory shrines, such as the Harbaville Triptych, were popular for use in private prayer. The Paris Psalter is noteworthy for

●

the conscious revival of classical naturalism. Middle Byzantine churches, such as those at Hosios Loukas and Daphni, have highly decorative exterior walls and feature domes that rest on drums above the center of a Greek cross. The climax of the interior mosaic programs was often an image of Christ as Pantokrator in the dome.

Chapter 10

Chapter

Figu...