Understanding terminology that describes fourteenth- through sixteenth-century 2D art - AP Art History

The Ghent Altarpiece consists of a set of folding panels and is thus called a polyptych. The Portinari Altarpiece has three panels and is therefore considered a triptych. The Well of Moses is a sculpture. St. Anthony Tormented By Demons is an engraving.

Commedia dell’arte was a genre of theater in which actors playing well-known stock characters improvised dialogue within simple narratives. It gained popularity throughout Europe after originating in fifteenth-century Italy.

A triptych, from Greek words meaning "three fold," was often placed at the altar of medieval and early modern European churches. The paintings allowed for three separate scenes to be shown in one place, which allowed both the artist to depict three related topics and show the viewer a larger scene than one panel would allow. Triptychs were largely used for religious topics in the middle ages, but have remained a popular style up to the present day.

Mannerism was essentially the second wave of Renaissance painting, being most prevalent in the second half of the sixteenth century. Mannerism took many of the Renaissance values of clarity and formal achievement and pushed them even further. In the works of artists such as Tintoretto, El Greco, and Giambologna created highly stylized, formal works that were paragons of mannerism.

Chiaroscuro is a technique developed in the Italian Renaissance that created extremely strong contrasts between light and dark shades in a painting for dramatic purposes. While early Renaissance artists like Botticelli were notable for its use, it reached its apex in the seventeenth century in works by artists such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt van Rijn.

Among the most important and widely painted images in Medieval art were depictions of the Madonna and Child. These paintings, depicting the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus, were meant to show the two holiest figures in Medieval Catholicism to the illiterate believers of the church in the middle ages.

Using newly found mathematical principles in their artwork, Renaissance artists were able to create perspective in Western painting for the first time. Vanishing-point perspective, which creates lines of sight that reflect the depth seen in reality, allowed for portraiture, religious subjects, and other works to be seen in new ways. Coupled with new scientific knowledge and an increasing use of dark colors and shadows, Renaissance art created new perceptions of artwork.

Artists create frescoes by painting pigments on walls while the plaster is still drying. "Illuminated" refers to decorated texts, often early religious manuscripts or other important texts. Mosaics are made by using hard materials, not paints, and graffiti art does not require a wet or drying wall. "Mural" is too broad to be the right answer.

In the Christian Bible, in the Gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel comes to Mary to inform her that she will give birth to the Messiah and name him Yeshua (or Jesus). Known as the Annunciation, it was one of the most popular subjects of late-medieval and early-Renaissance art, as it highlighted Mary's virginity while also reflecting her humanity in the circumstance.

Sfumato was a High Renaissance lighting technique used by artists like Leonardo da Vinci to produce distance between the viewer and the subject of a painting. Chiaroscuro refers to the transition between light to dark in a Renaissance painting. Tenebrism is the Baroque-era contrast between shadows and light that was used by artists like Caravaggio. Ignudi is the Italian term for nude figures in Renaissance art.

This painting displays a high level of contrast between its light and dark elements. The background is very dark—nearly black—and yet the helmet glows under a hard, bright light. Although figures from Christianity and exaggerated movement are often seen in Baroque paintings, and are, in fact, commonly a defining feature, this painting is a simple Baroque portrait, and therefore does not display these characteristics. A serene, expressionless face is not a common characteristic of Baroque paintings.

Image: The Man With The Golden Helmet. Artist unknown. (c. 1650) From https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMann\_mit\_dem\_Goldhelm.jpg.

A "golden age" typically refers to a time of great prosperity and wealth. The Dutch Golden Age was a time of both great prosperity for the newly independent Dutch Republic, but also a time of great creativity. Although the Dutch Golden Age occurred during the Baroque period and shares many of its characteristics, there are subtle differences, such as the realism and simplicity that marks Dutch paintings. For an example of these features, see The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer.

Although chiaroscuro (light and dark) and foreshortening add to the illusion of three-dimensional space, linear perspective is what actually helped Renaissance artists to understand and explore that three-dimensional space. It also inspired a large number of Renaissance artists to experiment with painting, as three-dimensional space was something no longer limited to sculpture.

Tempera is the only medium listed that uses the combination of egg and pigment. Though oil paintings became characteristic of the later Italian Renaissance, tempera was used initially due to its low cost.

Lapis Lazuli is the stone used to produce Ultramarine; it is found in Afghanistan. Though Azurite yields a similar blue, it is not found in Afghanistan and it lacks certain chemical and physical properties of Ultramarine when ground.

The middle panel of the Annunciation Triptych by the Workshop of Robert Campin depicts an angel telling the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to the Christ child. The Annunciation was an extremely common subject of medieval European art due both to its obvious important to Christian faith and its ease of communication to parishioners who were not able to read. Campin's piece is littered with extra significance, including the Old and New Testaments to demonstrate the believed fulfillment of prophecies that the birth of Christ brought.

Image is in the public domain, accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert\_Campin\_-\_Triptych\_with\_the\_Annunciation,\_known\_as\_the\_%22Merode\_Altarpiece%22\_-\_Google\_Art\_Project.jpg

Trompe-l'œil is a French term meaning “deceive the eye,” which is used in artistic terms to describe an image where the viewer is tricked into seeing a two-dimensional image as three-dimensional. By placing the figures in front of a painted frame, Filippo Lippi makes the Madonna and Child with Angels appear to be something other than a traditional painting on its first viewing.

Image accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fra\_Filippo\_Lippi\_-\_Madonna\_and\_Child\_with\_two\_Angels\_-\_Uffizi.jpg

Jacopo da Pontormo’s Entombment of Christ is also known as the Deposition from the Cross, as it depicts the crucified Christ being taken from the cross to the grave. Such a scene is identifiable not only for the deceased Christ being carried but also the image of a fainting Virgin Mary, which were the main signifiers of a scene of the descent from the cross. Pontormo’s work is notable among such scenes for having the subjects around Christ and the Virgin looking at the viewer, almost imploring the viewer to share in the emotional suffering of the event.

Image accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacopo\_Pontormo\_004.jpg

Mannerism was essentially the second wave of Renaissance painting, being most prevalent in the second half of the sixteenth century. Mannerism took many of the Renaissance values of clarity and formal achievement and pushed them even further. In the works of artists such as Tintoretto, El Greco, and Giambologna created highly stylized, formal works that were paragons of mannerism.