Glossary

Apocrypha
Books that are not recognized as part of the authorized version of the Old and New Testaments.  For example, The Book of Judith.

Apostle
The twelve closest followers of Jesus, including Saint Peter, Saint Andrew, Saint James (the Greater), Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Thomas, Saint James (the Lesser), Saint Jude, Saint Philip, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Matthew, Saint Simon, and Judus Isacariot who was replaced by Saint Matthias.  The apostles are sometimes referred to as disciples.

Atmospheric (aerial) perspective

Like linear perspective, this is a technique for creating an illusion of space on a flat surface.  The illusion is created in two ways: 1) by making forms in the distance less distinct than forms in the foreground 2) by making forms in the background less intense in color than forms in the foreground.

Basilica

Basilica floor plan from Wikimedia Commons (adapted)
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cathedral_schematic_plan.PNG

B.C.E.
Before the Common Era. Secular alternative to the traditional, B.C. (Before Christ).

 

C.E.
Common Era. Secular alternative to the traditional, A.D. (Anno Domini=In the year of our Lord).

Chiaroscuro

An Italian word meaning light and dark that refers to the modulation of shading in order to produce an illusion of three-dimensional form. In the context of painting, it is sometimes referred to as modeling.

Classical Antiquity (or Ancient Greece and Rome)

This is a period of about 900 years when ancient Greece and then ancient Rome (first as a Republic and then as an Empire) dominated the Meditteranean area, from about 500 B.C. -- 400 A.D. We tend to lump these two (Greece and Rome) together because the Romans, when they conquered the areas of Europe under Greek control between 145 and 30 B.C. adopted many aspects of Greek culture, including their pantheon of Gods and Godesses. When you think of an Ancient Greek or Roman sculpture, you might think of one that looks like this: Nude, Athletic , Young, Ideal, Perfect proportions Clearly, the ancient Greeks (who invented the Olympics) and the Ancient Romans had enormous respect for human beings, and what they could accomplish with their minds and bodies. They were humanists (a frame of mind which was re-born in the Renaissance)! This was very different from the period which came after, when Christianity (with its sense of the body as sinful) came to dominate Western Europe. The Roman Empire "fell" in the 400s due to pressure from various groups of migrating people who moved into the empire beginning in the 4th century A.D.

 

Coffer

A box-like recess commonly found in the ancient Roman ceilings resulting from the intersection of exposed beams, but widely used since in architecture, to add depth and dimension to a ceiling.

Contrapposto

The shift of weight of a standing figure onto one leg resulting in an asymmetrical realignment of the entire body. The ancient Greeks invented the position. Contrapposto means weight shift, and we can see that the figure has his weight shifted onto his right leg, while his left leg is bent. The figure is asymmetrical -- different on the different sides of his body. As a result of contrapposto, this figure looks as though it can move, and it looks so much more alive.

Crucifixion
An ancient method of execution. Nailing or binding to a cross was a common punishment for non-Romans during the empire’s occupation of the Eastern Mediterranean. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is a key event in Christianity.

Dimension
One-dimensional: refers to a point that is infinitely small.
Two-dimensional: refers to a plane that is infinitely thin, flat.
Three-dimensional: refers to the expansion of a two-dimensional plane along a third axis counter to its length and width.

Eucharist or Holy Communion
The Christian sacrament {link} that repeats Jesus’ action at the Last Supper  when he gave the apostles bread and said “this is my body,” and when he gave them wine and said “this is my blood.” The Eucharist is performed as part of the Mass in a Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that through the miracle of Transubstantiation {link} the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Like all sacraments for Catholics, the Eucharist is believed to confer God’s grace on the recipient, and thereby bring him/her closer to God and to eternal life in heaven.

Evangelists

This is the title given to Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the traditional authors of the Gospels. In medieval art Matthew is often symbolized by an angel, Mark by a lion, Luke by an ox, and John the Evangelist by an eagle.

Foreshortening

If we think of the flat surface that the picture is on as the picture plane, then we can see foreshortening is when something appears to be (or has the illusion of being) perpendicular (or close to perpendicular) to the picture plane. Another way of saying this is that with foreshortening, something appears to be coming out of the space of the picture towards us, or going back into the space of the picture away from us. The thing about foreshortening is that it creates an illusion of space on the flat surface of the picture, and this makes the image look more real. On the other hand, when forms are parallel to the picture plane (as in the Justian Mosaic from San Vitale (below), the flatness of the picture plane is reinforced.

Florence
During the Renaissance, Italy was not a unified country as it is today.  It was divided into a number of city-states, each with their own form of government.  In the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries the city-state of Florence was a republic with a constitution that barred both the nobility and laborers from political power and provided for frequent changes of office to ensure that no one person or group could usurp control of the government.  Political power for the most part resided in the powerful guilds and the wealthy commercial families of the city.  But by the mid 1400s, the ancient city of Florence was a republic in name only.  The powerful and fabulously wealthy Medici family controlled Florence and established the city as one of the great Humanist and cultural centers of Europe.  In 1494 the Medici family was exiled and a republic was briefly reestablished. The Medici returned to power in 1512, backed by papal and Spanish armies.

Fresco
Water based pigment applied to fresh moist plaster. Fresco secco (dry) refers to the application of paint upon a dry wall.

Gospels
The Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John which comprise the first section of the New Testament.  The word “Gospel” is a translation of a Greek word that means “good news.”  In the Christian context, the “good news” is that God was renewing his promise to his people through Christ.  

Guild
An association of tradesmen or craftsmen that controlled training and standards of workmanship. Like modern labor unions, guilds in the medieval and renaissance periods held considerable social and political power.

Hieratic scale (or hierarchy of scale)

Representing the sizes of figures according to their importance, rather than how they would objectively appear in reality.  Hieratic scale is often seen in the art of various ancient civilizations, as well as during Europe's Middle Ages. Here is an example of hieratic scale from the Proto-Renaissance. You can see the the Madonna is much larger than the angels and saints and prophets surrounding the throne.

 

Holy Trinity
The Father, the son and the Holy Spirit (ghost). The division of a unified monotheistic conception of God into three. The potent symbolism of three made this number a common element in Catholic art and architecture.

Humanism
From the Greek word pædeia, it refers to culture and learning. Humanist intellectuals of the late medieval and renaissance eras valued the classical literature of Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, and early Christian writers such as St. Augustine. They celebrated humanity’s spiritual, intellectual, and physical capabilities. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, a great renaissance Humanist, wrote in his Oration on the Dignity of Man:

You, with no limits and no bounds, may choose for yourself the limits and bounds of your nature. You have been placed at the world’s center so that you may survey everything else in the world.

Iconography
The study of subjects and themes in art work, concerning especially symbolic and allegorical meanings. For example, saints are often identified by an attribute, frequently a method of execution, i.e. Bartholomew is commonly represented with a knife.

Judas Isacariot
The apostle who betrayed Christ.  The first name, Judas is a common name in both the Old and New Testaments {links}, and in fact there are two apostles by that name.  The surname, Iscariot, probably translates “a man of Kerioth" or Carioth,” perhaps where Judas is from.

Linear perspective [Illustration of Last Supper perspective diagram]
Linear Perspective is a system for creating an illusion of three dimensional {link} space on a flat, two dimensional {link} surface.  It involves creating a horizontal line (called the horizon line), and a point on the horizon line (called the vanishing point), and diagonal lines which appear to recede in space (called orthoganals) which all meet at the vanishing point.  Artists use linear perspective to create an illusion of space from a single, fixed viewpoint.  The multiple viewpoints, rising ground line, and ambiguous space of the middle ages were replaced with a rational, measured illusion of space.  Brunelleschi discovered linear perspective around 1420 in Florence, and it was described by the architect and Humanist {link} Leon Battista Alberti in his book On Painting, which was published in 1435.  Masaccio’s fresco {link} The Holy Trinity  (c. 1425) is the earliest surviving example of linear perspective.

Machiavelli, Niccolò (1469-1527)
Influential Florentine political philosopher. Worked with Leonardo on several projects including the diversion of the Arno river. Machiavelli is best remembered for his book, The Prince.

Mass
In painting, mass, which is often paired with the word volume {link}, refers to the illusion of tangible solidity and weight.

Medici
A powerful Florentine family. Originally merchant bankers, the Medici rose in wealth, power, and prestige until figures such as Cosimo (1389-1464) and Lorenzo de’ Medici (the Magnificent) (1449-1492) assumed control of Florence. The Medici family would eventually produce two popes (Leo X, 1513-1521 and Clement VII, 1523- 1534) and marry into the most powerful monarchic dynasties in Europe. Their patronage to the arts is legendary.

Milan
A city in northern Italy. Ludovico Sforza (il Moro) ruled the duchy of Milan during Leonardo’s residence there. Unlike Florence, Milan was ruled not as a republic but by a duke and his court of nobles. The city-state’s wealth resulted from its military aggression and not banking, trade, and manufacture as in Florence.

Modeling
See Chiaroscuro

Monotheism
(mono=one, the=god) devotion to a single god. Major contemporary monotheistic religions include Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

Multipe Viewpoints
When an artist combines more than one view -- we call that multiple viewpoints.For example, in this ancient Egyptian relief sculpture, the artist shows us a profile view of the face, a frontal view of the shoulders, a profile view of the breast, and a frontal eye!We see this also in the Merode Altarpiece, where we see the top of the table together with a side view of the room.When an artist uses linear perspective this does not happen. Because with linear persective, the artist presents us with a scene from one fixed point of view.

Naturalism
A word used to describe works of art that look realistic, that imitate the natural world as closely as possible.

Neo-Platonism
Refers to the revival of the ancient philosophy of Plato especially within the context of the Catholic humanist tradition. Plato suggests our reality is a false shadow of the divine. Parallels to the Catholic belief in the corruption of the earthly realm and the perfection of the heavenly, made Plato’s Republic and Timæus influential during the medieval and renaissance eras.

New Testament
The Christian Bible comprises both the Jewish Bible (which Christians call the Old Testament {link}) as well as sacred texts that describe the events that gave rise to Christianity, called the New Testament. The Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (which describe the life, death and resurrection of Christ), the Acts of the Apostles (which tell of the apostles’ missionary activity), Epistles (letters from the time of the apostles), and The Book of Revelation together form the New Testament.  In the Christian tradition, the Old and New Testaments are linked because Christ is seen as the one who fulfills the prophecy of the Old Testament that God’s relationship with his people would be renewed.

Old Testament
The word testament in this case means contract or promise, and refers to God’s contract with his people, the descendents of Abraham. The Old Testament is the Christian term for the Jewish Bible which comprises the first part of the Christian Bible (see the New Testament).  It consists of a number of sections, including the Torah (also known as the Pentateuch).  The Torah consists of the five books of Moses: Genesis (which includes the stories of the creation, of Adam and Eve, of Noah and the Ark among many others), Exodus (where Moses leads the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt), Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  Also included in the Old Testament are the books of the Prophets (for example Isaiah and Ezekial), Psalms, and Proverbs.  Michelangelo painted scenes from the Book of Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Pagan
Refers to polytheistic, pre-christian religions.

Pediment [Illustration: Alberti’s Sant Andrea, Mantua]
A triangular gable found at the end of a peaked roof. Also used as a decorative element.

Saint
A posthumous designation of holiness. In Catholicism saints have been canonized, a lengthy process of documentation and review of the life and miracles associated with the candidate.

Saint Peter
Sometimes called the Prince of the Apostles, Peter was originally known as Simon and was a fisherman. He was given the name Cephas by Christ, which is translated as Peter and means rock. Christ’s words, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:13-20).  Catholics therefore see him as the first in the long succession of Popes. The absolute authority of the papacy, even its power to excommunicate, rests on Christ’s charge to St. Peter. According to tradition, St. Peter was crucified upside down in Rome, and buried under what is now the site of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. 

Plato (427-347 B.C.E.)
Ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates, and teacher of Aristotle. Concerned with the separation of matter and spirit, Plato’s writings often discuss the ethical life. His Dialogues are amongst the most influential ancient texts. The Timæus and book X of Laws were especially valuable to the Catholic Church.

Polytheism
(poly=many, the=god) devotion to more than one god. Hindu is a major contemporary polytheistic religion. Shiva, Vishnu, and Krishna are its major deities. In the ancient world polytheism was dominant. The peoples of Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome worshiped numerous gods and goddesses.

Ptolemy, Claudius Ptolemæus (c.85-165 C.E)
Author of the geocentric (earth centered) structure of the universe that would dominate western science until Copernicus (1473-1543) introduced the modern heliocentric (sun centered) model in his treatise De Revolutionibus Orbium Cœlestium in 1543.

Sacrament
In Christianity, a Sacrament is a rite or practice that communicates God’s grace through material forms.  For the Catholic Church there are seven sacraments, including the Eucharist and Baptism.

Secular
Non-religious

Sforza, Ludovico (c.1451-1508)
Called il moro (the Moor) due to his dark coloring.  H was the Duke of Milan from 1494 to 1499 and an important Humanist patron. He commissioned Leonardo’s Last Supper.

Stigmata
The stigmata are the wounds that Christ received at his crucifuxion on his hands, feet and ribcage that miraculously appear on the body of a Saint.

Transubstantiation
Literally, changing substance.  During the Catholic mass, the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. The doctrine of transubstantiation was attacked by Luther and his followers, who held that the priest did not have the miraculous power to effect the transformation of bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood.

Typology
A way of interpreting the bible that sees correspondences between the Old Testament and New Testament {links} by interpreting events of the Old Testament as pre-figuring (or foreshadowing) events in the life of Christ.  For example, Jonah (from the Old Testament) was saved from the belly of a whale, just as Christ was saved from death by his resurrection. According to the Gospel {link} of Matthew, ‘For even as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’ (Matthew 12).  Jonah is therefore understood as a “type” of Christ.

Volume
The displacement or definition of space by a form. In painting, volume refers to the illusion of the displacement or definition of space.