Paleolithic art
A very ancient period of art coincident with the Old Stone Age, before the discovery of agriculture and animal herding.
Neolithic art
A period of ancient art after the introduction of agriculture but before the invention of bronze. Neolithic means "new stone age" to distinguish it from Paleolithic, or "old stone age
Art and Religion of India
Ancient Indus Valley sculpture already shows the particularly sensual naturalism that characterizes much of later Indian art. This quality enlivens the small, masterfully carved MALE TORSO from Harappa. Comparing this figure with the classical Aryans' bel
Stupas
The earliest from of Buddhist architecture, a dome-like structure probably derived from Indian funeral mounds.
Chinese & Japanese art and religion
Chinese civilization up to the modern period was characterized by the interaction of three traditions: Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. The first two are Chinese creations, while Buddhism came from India. All three have interacted with and influenced e
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire. It was abandoned just over 100 years later, in 1572, as a belated result of the Spanish Conquest.It is likely that most of its inhabitants died from smallpox introduced by travelers bef
Islamic art, religion, architecture
Islam is one of the three major world religions built on the teachings of the religious seers of the Middle East. Although based on the revelations to the prophet Mohammed, Islam shares some fundamental beliefs and religious history with its predecessors
Mesopotamia
The Greeks named the broad plain between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Mesopotamia, "the land between the rivers
Sumeria
Developed the world's first writing, the wheel, nad the plow. The Sumerians worshiped a hierarchy of nature gods in temples set on huge platforms called ziggurats, which stood at the center at the center of each city-state.
Ziggurats
A hierarchy of nature gods in temples set on huge platforms, which stood at the center or each city-state. Sumerian's worshiped these.
Egyptian Sculpture, Painting, and
Egyptian artists in all media generally depicted the human figure either in a completely frontal position or in profile. Egyptian artists portrayed each object and each part of the human body from what they identified as its most characteristic angle, thu
Humanism
a cultural and intellectual movement during the renaissance. A philosophy or attitude concerned with the interests, achievements, and capabilities of human beings rather than with the abstract concepts and problems of theology of science.
Greek Ideal, Sculpture, Architecture
The Romans were a practical, materialistic people, and their art reflects these characteristics. Greek sculpture reflected imperial majesty and Greek Architecture were grandeur and showy. Nudity very important.
Archaic
so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period
Kouros
Greek for "youth." An archaic Greek statue of a standing nude young male.
Kore
Greek for "maiden." An archaic Greek statue of a standing clothed young woman.
Classical
1. The art of ancient Greece and ROme. In particular, the style of Greek art that flourished during the fifth century. 2. Any art based on a clear, rational, and regular structure, emphasizing horizontal and vertical directions, and organizing its parts w
Acropolis
an "upper city"; a common feature of ancient Greek cities; an elevated site for religious observances.
Contrapposto
Italian for "counterpose." The counterpositioning of parts the human figure about a central vertical axis, as when the weight is placed on one foot causing the hip and shoulder lines to counterbalance each other-often in a graceful s-curve
Entasis
In classical architecture, the slight swelling or bulge in the center of a column, which corrects the illusion of concave tapering produced by parallel straight lines.
Parthenon
designed and built as a gift to Athena Parthenos, goddess of wisdom, arts, industries, and prudent warfare, and protector of the Athenian navy.
Pantheon
worship of gods and goddesses; concrete dome building. presently a christian church.
Basilicas
A Roman town hall, with three aisles and an apse at one or both ends. Christians appropriated this form for their churches.
Byzantine Art
Pre-Renaissance art which stacked figures on top of one another against gold backgrounds and dictated the importance of figures using size
Mosaics
An art medium in which small pieces of colored glass, stone, or ceramic tile called tessera are embedded in a background material such as plaster or mortar. Also, works made using this technique.
Tessera
Bit of colored glass, ceramic tile, or stone used in a mosaic.
Nave
The tall central space of a church of cathedral, usually flanked by side aisles.
Apse
A semicircular end to an aisle in a basilica or a Christian church. In Christian churches an apse is usually placed at the eastern end of the central isle.
Romanesque Architecture & sculpture
The stylistic term Romanesque was first used to designate European Christian architecture of the mid-eleventh to the mid-twelfth centuries, which revived Roman principles of stone construction, especially the round arch and the battle vault. this term is
Gothic Architecture & Sculpture
We see the restless energy of Europeans in the frequent changes in attitude that resulted in the changing styles of Western art. The Gothic arch developed in the mid-twelfth century. Gothic cathedrals were expressions of a new age of faith that grew out o
Renaissance
Period in Europe from the late fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries, which was characterized by a renewed interest in human-centered classical art, literature, and learning.
Giotto
Florentine painter who gave up the stiff Byzantine style and developed a more naturalistic style; led the way to realism.
Donatello
(1386-1466) Sculptor. Probably exerted greatest influence of any Florentine artist before Michelangelo. His statues expressed an appreciation of the incredible variety of human nature.
Botticelli
One of the leading painters of the Florentine renaissance, developed a highly personal style. The Birth of Venus The artist shows the ideal for female beauty in the Renaissance in this work slender, pale skin, a high forehead, red-blond hair, and sloping
Massaccio
renaissance artist, painter of 3 friends, painted the trinity with a triangle composition and people that had muscle definition, the first great painter of the Italian Renaissance.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Italian painter, engineer, musician, and scientist. The most versatile genius of the Renaissance, Leonardo filled notebooks with engineering and scientific observations that were in some cases centuries ahead of their time. As a painter Leonardo is best k
Chiaroscuro
Italian word meaning "light dark." THe gradations of light and dark values in two-dimensional imagery; especially the illusion of rounded, three-dimensional form created through gradations of light and shade rather than line. Highly developed by renaissan
Sfmato
Invented by Leonardo. "with out lines or borders in the manner of smoke"-achieved through subtle value gradations.
Michelangelo
An Italian painter, sculptor, and architect of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Among many achievements in a life of nearly ninety years, Michelangelo sculpted the David and several versions of the Piet�, painted the ceiling and rear wall of the Sis
Tintoretto
Venetian; tried to unite design of Michelangelo and color of Titian, dissected bodies to learn anatomy: His Last Supper is not stable composition, comes towards viewer
EL Greco
Spanish painter (born in Greece) remembered for his religious works characterized by elongated human forms and dramatic use of color (1541-1614)
Baroque
elaborate an extensive ornamentation in decorative art and architecture that flourished in Europe in the 17th century
Rococo
fanciful but graceful asymmetric ornamentation in art and architecture that originated in France in the 18th century
Caravaggio
Italian painter noted for his realistic depiction of religious subjects and his novel use of light (1573-1610)
Bernini
a baroque architect and sculptor. Made the Colonnade for piazza in from of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and was his greatest architectural work, and the Canopy over the high altar of St. Peter's Cathedral, and the altarpiece The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, tha
Rubens
Flemish Baroque; treats flesh soft like, womanly, four influences: 1. Leonardo (Sfmato affect) 2. Michelangelo (big figures) 3. Raphael (softness) 4. Caravaggio (dramatic) 17th century Flemish Baroque painter known for his counter reformation altarpieces,
Rembrandt
Dutch painter who painted portraits of wealthy middle class merchants and used sharp contrasts of light and shadow to draw attention to his focus. The Night watch one of his most famous paintings.
Velazquez
This artist was the artist of Philip IV's court in the 17th century. He is known for his realistic portraits of the royal family in Spain's Golden Age.
Versailles
This enormous, ostentatious monument to the power of the French Monarchy, built by Louis XIV over a long period of time, served as a manifestation of the power of absolute monarchy. Meant to impress and scare nobility, foreigners, and commoners alike, thi
Neoclassism
New Classicism. A revival of classical Greek and Roman forms in art, music, and literature, particularly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe and America. It was part of a reaction against the excesses of Baroque and Rococo art.
David
French neoclassical painter who actively supported the French Revolution (1748-1825)
Eclecticism
The practice of selecting or borrowing from earlier styles and combining the borrowed elements.
Romanticism
A literary and artistic movement of late eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Europe, aimed a t asserting the validity of subjective experience as a countermovement to the often cold formulas of Neoclassicism; characterized by intense emotional excitement, a
Goya
painted The Disasters of War that depicted the atrocities of the Napoleonic invasion, painted The Disasters of War that depicted the atrocities of the Napoleonic invasion
Constable
English landscape painter (1776-1837) "Dedham Vale" (1802) "The Hay Wain" (1821)
Turner
English landscape painter whose treatment of light and color influenced the French impressionists (1775-1851)
Vermeer
dutch painter, best known for portraits and women doing familiar activities
Cole
American Romanticism ,Founder of Hudson river School most important primary painter of the Hudson River School. Created seeping images of untamed wilderness
Delacroix
This French painter was important to French Romantic art. He often used his painting to convey a political message, and he is best known for his painting depicting the socialist revolution of 1830: Liberty Leading the People.
Realism
A type of representational art in which the artist depicts as closely as possible what the eye sees. The mid-nineteenth-century style of Courbet and others based on the idea that ordinary people and everyday activities are worthy subjects for art.
Courbet
Realism, was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting; started and dominated it; "show me an angel and i'll paint one" radical thinker. The Stone Breakers
Manet
French painter whose work influenced the impressionists (1832-1883)
Eakins
Realism (romantic realist) greatly admired Rembrant, carvaggio lighting, believed in truth in art, painted heroes of everyday life. studied at french academy , rejected bc "gross" American, dedicated appetite for showing the realities of the human experie
Renoir
impressionist made "umbrellas" "luncheon of boating party" "le moulin dela galet", middle class contemporary life
Degas
Impressionism; cropping, unflattering women positions, doesn't like to be categorized, more rebellous of impressionist group, like pastels better, keyhole view, , Inspired by Japenese prints and photography but didnt consider himself a full-blown impressi
Cassatt
Impressionism, favorite subjects were mothers and children, leaves penn school for paris, goes everyday to lourve gets kicked out, degas takes under wing, compresses space shows stress of modern urban environment, art is profound
Monet
French Painter, who started his career as a caricaturist, then converted to landscape painting by his early mentor Boudin. From 1890 he concentrated on series of pictures in which he painted the same subject at different times of the day in different ligh
Impressionism
A style of painting that originated in France about 1870. Painting s of casual subjects were executed outdoors using divided brush strokes to capture the light and mood of a particular moment and the transitory effects of natural light and color.