Intro To Art

A rule, for example, of proportion. The ancient Greeks considered beauty to be a matter of "correct" proportion and sought a canon of proportion, for the human figure and for buildings.

The uppermost member of a column, serving as a transition from the shaft to the lintel. In classical architecture, the form of the capital varies with the order.

The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room (Greek, naos) in which the cult statue usually stood.

A vertical, weight-carrying architectural member, circular in cross-section and consisting of a base (sometimes omitted), a shaft, and a capital.

A convention of representation in which part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally; also called twisted perspective.

Latin, "wedge-shaped." A system of writing used in ancient Mesopotamia, in which wedge-shaped characters were produced by incising a soft clay tablet, which was then baked or otherwise allowed to harden.

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.

An arrangement of megalithic stones in a circle, often surrounded by a ditch

An artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance.

In ancient Egypt, the immortal human life force.

Arabic, "bench." An ancient Egyptian rectangular brick or stone structure with sloping sides erected over a subterranean tomb chamber connected with the outside by a shaft.

Greek, "great stone." A large, roughly hewn stone used in the construction of monumental prehistoric structures.

The "middle" Stone Age, between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic ages.

The "new" Stone Age.

The "old" Stone Age, during which humankind produced the first sculptures and paintings.

A thin board with a thumb hole at one end on which an artist lays and mixes colors; any surface so used. Also, the colors or kinds of colors characteristically used by an artist. In ancient Egypt, a slate slab used for preparing makeup.

A system of construction in which two posts support a lintel.

A gift of gratitude to a deity.

In ancient Mesopotamian architecture, a monumental platform for a temple.

The uppermost portion of the capital of a column, usually a thin slab

Greek, "high city." In ancient Greece, usually the site of the city's most important temple(s).

In Greek mythology, the battle between the Greeks and Amazons.

The artistic style of 600 480 BCE in Greece, characterized in part by the use of the composite view for painted and relief figures and of Egyptian stances for statues.

The smile that appears on all Archaic Greek statues from about 570 to 480 BCE. The smile is the Archaic sculptor's way of indicating that the person portrayed is alive.

The lintel or lowest division of the entablature. In classical architecture, the epistyle.

In ancient Greek architecture, the molded projecting lowest part of Ionic and Corinthian columns. (Doric columns do not have bases.)

In early Greek pottery, the silhouetting of dark figures against a light background of natural, reddish clay, with linear details incised through the silhouettes.

In ancient Greek mythology, the battle between the Greeks and centaurs.

Fashioned of gold and ivory.

A bronze-casting method in which a figure is modeled in wax and covered with clay; the whole is fired, melting away the wax (French, cire perdue) and hardening the clay, which then becomes a mold for molten metal.

The art and culture of ancient Greece between 480 and 323 BCE. Lower case classical refers more generally to Greco-Roman art and culture.

The disposition of the human figure in which one part is turned in opposition to another part (usually hips and legs one way, shoulders and chest another), creating a counterpositioning of the body about its central axis. Sometimes called "weight shift" because the weight of the body tends to be thrown to one foot, creating tension on one side and relaxation on the other.

A projecting wall member used as a support for some element in the superstructure. Also, courses of stone or brick in which each course projects beyond the one beneath it. Two such walls, meeting at the topmost course, create a corbeled arch or corbeled vault.

The projecting, crowning member of the entablature framing the pediment; also, any crowning projection.

A method of stone construction, named after the mythical Cyclopes, using massive, irregular blocks without mortar, characteristic of the Bronze Age fortifications of Tiryns and other Mycenaean sites.

A hemispherical vault; theoretically, an arch rotated on its vertical axis. In Mycenaean architecture, domes are beehive-shaped.

One of the two systems (or orders) invented in ancient Greece for articulating the three units of the elevation of a classical buildingthe platform, the colonnade, and the superstructure (entablature). The Doric order is characterized by, among other features, capitals with funnel-shaped echinuses, columns without bases, and a frieze of triglyphs and metopes. See also Ionic.

Painting on lime plaster, either dry (dry fresco or fresco secco) or wet (true or buon fresco). In the latter method, the pigments are mixed with water and become chemically bound to the freshly laid lime plaster. Also, a painting executed in either method.

The convex element of a capital directly below the abacus.

The part of a building above the columns and below the roof. The entablature has three parts: architrave, frieze, and pediment.

A low-fired opaque glasslike silicate.

The part of the entablature between the architrave and the cornice; also, any sculptured or painted band. See register.

In ancient Greek mythology, the battle between gods and giants.

The term given to the art and culture of the roughly three centuries between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 bce and the death of Queen Cleopatra in 30 bce, when Egypt became a Roman province.

One of the two systems (or orders) invented in ancient Greece for articulating the three units of the elevation of a classical building: the platform, the colonnade, and the superstructure (entablature). The Ionic order is characterized by, among other features, volutes, capitals, columns with bases, and an uninterrupted frieze.

Greek, "young woman." An Archaic Greek statue of a young woman.

Greek, "young man." An Archaic Greek statue of a young man.

The panel between the triglyphs in a Doric frieze, often sculpted in relief.

The second-millennium BCE art of Crete, named after the legendary king Minos.

The mythical beast, half man and half bull, that inhabited the Minoan palace at Knossos.

The prehistoric art of the Greek mainland, named after the city of Mycenae, although Mycenae was only one of the leading sites of the second millennium BCE.

Greek, virgin. The epithet of the goddess Athena.

In classical architecture, the triangular space (gable) at the end of a building, formed by the ends of the sloping roof above the colonnade; also, an ornamental feature having this shape.

In classical architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porch(es).

The space, or porch, in front of the cella, or naos, of an ancient Greek temple.

In later Greek pottery, the silhouetting of red figures against a black background, with painted linear details; the reverse of black-figure painting.

In Mycenaean architecture, the triangular opening above the lintel that serves to lighten the weight to be carried by the lintel itself.

The uppermost course of the platform of a classical temple, which supports the columns.

A temple with a circular plan. Also the burial chamber of a tholos tomb.

A triple projecting, grooved member of a Doric frieze that alternates with metopes.

A masonry roof or ceiling constructed on the arch principle. A barrel or tunnel vault, semicylindrical in cross-section, is in effect a deep arch or an uninterrupted series of arches, one behind the other, over an oblong space. A quadrant vault is a half-barrel vault. A groin or cross vault is formed at the point at which two barrel vaults intersect at right angles. In a ribbed vault, there is a framework of ribs or arches under the intersections of the vaulting sections. A sexpartite vault is a vault whose ribs divide the vault into six compartments. A fan vault is a vault characteristic of English Perpendicular Gothic, in which radiating ribs form a fanlike pattern.

In Roman architecture, a civic building for legal and other civic proceedings, rectangular in plan with an entrance usually on a long side. In Christian architecture, a church somewhat resembling the Roman basilica, usually entered from one end and with an aspe at the other

A building material invented by the Romans and consisting of various proportions of lime mortar, volcanic sand, water, and small stones.

Latin,"chief priest" The high priest of the Roman state religion, often the emperor himself.

The standard type of Etruscan column. It resembles ancient Greek Doric columns, but it is made of wood, is unfluted, and has a base.

Greek, "cubes." Tiny stones or pieces of glass cut to desired shape and size to form a mosaic.