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The Worlds of the Renaissance: Projects - Kim Smolik

Vocabulary for Artistic Critique and Understanding

Allegories

A literary, dramatic, or pictorial device in which characters and events stand for abstract ideas, principles, or forces, so that the literal sense has or suggests a parallel, deeper symbolic sense. Academy A place of study, derived from the mane of the grove where Plato held his philosophical seminars. Giorgio Vasari founded the first academy of fine arts, with his academia di Disegno in Florence in 1536. Arcade A series of Arches supported by piers or columns. Arch A curved structural member that spans an opening and is generally composed of wedge-shaped blocks that transmit the downward pressure literally Basilica In Roman architecture, a public building for assemblies that is rectangular in plan with an entrance on a long side. In Christian architecture, an early church somewhat resembling the Roman Basilica, usually entered from one end and with a semicircular recess. Cinquecento The sixteenth century in Italian art. (1500s). Facade Usually, the front of a building; also, the other sides when they are emphasized architecturally. Foreshortening To shorten the lines of (an object) in a drawing or other representation so as to produce an illusion of projection or extension in space. Fresco Painting on plaster, either dry or wet. Pigments were dissolved in lime water and applied to daily patches of thin, wet plaster so they bonded chemically with the wall. Luminous colors were valued, therefore artists usually lightened their shadows "up" instead of "down" from the pure tone to capture this affect. Genre A style or category of art; also, a kind of painting realistically depicting scenes from everyday life. Medium The substance in which an artist works. Patron A sponsor of the arts (monetary sponsorship) Sculpture in the round Freestanding figures, carved or modeled in three dimensions. Perspective A formula for projecting an illusion of the three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional surface (linear perspective all parallel lines seem to converge on one, two, or three points located with reference tote eye level of the viewer, known as vanishing points, and objects further from viewer are smaller. Quattrocento The fifteenth century in Italian art. (1400s). Trecento The fourteenth century in Italian art. (1300s)


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