SECTION 5: ART TERMS & TECHNIQUES/RELIGIOUS TERMS

This Section includes those terms & techniques that do not require lengthy treatment.   Those that do are dealt with either in Section 7: Topics & Themes or in Section 8: Painting Schools & Groupings.   Topics ending in “ism” are mostly included in Section 7.    Religious terms are also included if they are frequently used to refer to a type of painting.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 A

ACADEMIC:

During the 19^th when Academies opposed new artistic movements the term became a synonym for dullness, conventionalism & prejudice.   This has made the fair appreciation of Academic art difficult & rendered art criticism particularly unhelpful Murrays1959

ACADEMY BOARD:

This is an inexpensive board made of cardboard.   It has been used as a surface for oil painting since the early 19^th century OxDicTerms

ACRYLIC PAINTING:

Acrylics & their close relative, vinyl colours, use plastic as a binding media Grove 23 p783.   Such paints, sometimes called polymer colours, are based on plastic polymers (a polymer being a substance with a molecular structure of multitudinous units of a similar type that are bonded together) Grove25 p181, Wikip.    Acrylics were first developed by Otto Rohm from 1880 onwards & were initially marketed in Germany in 1927   Large-scale production began in America in 1936 Grove1 p129.   Acrylic paints first became available to American artists in the 1940s & started to be highly popular in the 1960s & 70s OxDicMod, Grove23 p379.   Acrylics have several desirable features for the artist including transparency, the ability to be used thinly or impastoed, brilliance of colour & quick drying because they are frequently water based Grove1 p129, OxDicArt, OxDicMod.   They can also be used with rollers & thereby facilitate rapid production.   Acrylic paint was employed in Hard-Edge, Colour Field & Stain Painting; & in Pop Art.   Acrylic can be used at a preliminary stage for oil painting (though this is sometimes discouraged) & can be glazed over with oils allowing the saturated acrylic to glow through Grove1 p130; Mayer

ACTION PAINTING:

The term was first used by Harold Rosenberg in 1952 for the technique where paint is dribbled, splashed or poured over the canvas.   Jackson Pollock was its most famous exponent.   Tachism is the French term but has a wider connotation OxDicTerms, L&L

AEROPITTURA:

This was a development of Futurism concerned with sensations induced by flying & other modern technological developments.   In 1929  Marinetti published a manifesto Aeropittura.   Exhibitions with the same name were held in 1931, 1932 & 1934; the last in Berlin was under the patronage of Goebbels OxDicTerms.   Dottori & Fillia were its best-known adherents.   It declined after Marinetti’s death in 1944 L&L

AESTHETICS:

The philosophy of the beautiful in art & taste or of the perception of the beautiful in art & nature.   The term was first used in the mid 18^th century by the German philosopher Alexander Gottlieb OxDicArt

AFFECT, used as noun:

This has become a modish term in art criticism, pictures being described as having “affect “ meaning that they arouse emotion or desire.

AFFETTI:

An Italian word which literally means movement of the soul.   The concept, which was ventral to Renaissance art was derived from ancient rhetoric & poetic theory.   It referred to the crucial passions & feelings in a story as shown by the artist through such means as juxtapositions, gesture & facial expressions Oxford Reference, NGArt1986 p331, Oxford Reference, etc  

AIRBRUSH:

It is an instrument, reminiscent of a big fountain pen, which sprays paint or varnish by means of compressed air.    As we know it today the airbrush dates from 1891 & was mainly used in the early 20^th century for retouching photos.   Man Ray employed it to produce his aerographs, & it was adopted by those in the Pop Art & Super realist movements, etc, who wanted a smooth finish OxDicMod,  OxDicTerms

ALLA PRIMA OR DIRECT PAINTING:

Here paint is applied directly to the ground without previous under painting or, if there is any such under painting, it does not, due to the opacity of the final coat, play any part.   However alla prima may well involve painting wet on wet & the picture will be completed in a single session.   All a prima is Italian for “at first”, & the French term is “au premier coup”.    The practice dates back to the 17^th century & Hals, but it was not until c1850 that it was widely used.   Its increased popularity was connected with the availability of commercial paints of buttery consistency.   These retained the marks of manipulation better than those studio-made OxDicArt, Murrays1959

ALLOVER, COLOUR FIELD & COLOUR STAIN PAINTING:

In Allover painting the whole canvas has a relatively uniform appearance  lacking a top or middle etc.   The term was first used to describe Pollock’s drip paintings but was then extended to other approaches where the colour or scribbling etc is relatively uniform.   In Colour-Field painting there are large expanses of unmodulated colour. In Colour-Stain painting very thin paint is applied to an un-primed canvas so that it becomes integral & is not superimposed OxDicArt.   See also Pollock; Abstract Expressionism

Analytical Cubism.   See Cubism in Section 8

ANAMORPHOSIS:

Meaning: a distorted image only viewable without distortion from a special angle.   Its purpose was to mystify or amuse OxDicArt
History: It appears in Leonardo’s notes & was discussed in 16^th century perspective manuals (Vignola-Dante, Daniel Barbero) Holbein used anamorphosis for the skull in his Ambassadors (1533) OxDicArt

ANDACHTSBILD:

This is the German word for a devotional image.   Andachtsbilder derived from Italo-Byzantine works of the 12/14^th centuries, arose in response to Northern mystical  writings in 14^th century Germany.   They were frequently painted on small panels or appeared in Books of Hours;  & featured various often sad & emotive scenes of Christ & Mary, eg the Pieta which is the best known Andachsbild.   Narrative cycles were a development Grove2 pp 2-3, Murrays1996

ANECDOTAL:

Term: The Dictionary defines an anecdote as a short account of a humourous, interesting or undivulged incident.

History: In the 18th Netherlands art theorists (van Manger & van Hoogstraten) praised pictures with hidden meanings as providing an element of pleasurable deception.   Emblem books in which images of  everyday objects etc were accompanied by a motto or poetic commentary, prompting thoughts on larger issues, were then enormously popular SuttonP p xxii.   During the latter 19th century anecdotal became a term of abuse.   In 1867 Zola attacked Gerome as a cynical manufacturer of anecdotal images for mass reproduction & popular consumption Gombrich 2002 p 206, A&M p2.   Whistler condemned those who did not regard pictures as self-sufficient & independent of any dramatic & legendary interest.   He said that pictorial appeal should be solely artistic & without any call on extraneous emotions such as devotion, pity or love Whistler pp 51-2.   [Anecdotal is frequently used by modernist art critics as a self-evident & blighting characteristic of any subject picture of which they disapprove especially Victorian pictures.]

Anti-Art.  See Section 7

ARABESQUE:

This is a scrolling or interlacing plant form.   It is found in Hellenistic art & is a typical motif of Islamic ornamentation from about 1000.   By extension it means the interweaving of flowing lines, fruit, flowers & fanciful figures during the Renaissance OxDicArt

ART:  

According to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary the leading meaning is “the expression of creative skill in a visual form such as painting or sculpture”.   The Heritage Dictionary of the English Language refers to “Human effort to imitate, supplement, or counteract the work of nature … specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium”.

ART BRUT:  

The term was coined by Dubuffet for works by those without artistic culture, such as the mentally sick.   It is indigenous primitivism.   Dubuffet, Breton, etc, collected such works from 1945, displayed them in 1976.   They are now in the museum at Lausanne.   Dubuffet’s own paintings were strongly influenced by such works L&L, OxDicTerms

ARTE POVERA:

The term, meaning poor art, was coined in 1967 by the critic Germano Celant for works made from everyday materials, eg cement, twigs & newspapers.   Arte Povera was a phenomenon of the later 1960s & 70s & was related to land art & Conceptualism.   It is in deliberate contrast to traditional art materials & seeks to escape its commercialisation & exclusiveness.   Its importance is though to consist in artists’ engagement with actual materials & their attempt to interpret a total reality which is subtle, cerebral & private.   In practice many of the works are elaborate & use expensive materials.   The term is now used for a group of Italian artists with Piero Manzoni as the father figure but has been extended by Celant to Joseph Beuys OxDicTerms, L&L, OxDicMod

The ASCENSION, ASSUMPTION, & RESURRECTION

The Ascension refers to Christ’s departure from earth to heaven while the Assumption is the Virgin’s elevation to heaven.   Ascension is derived from ascensio which is active whereas  assumptio, meaning taking up, is passive as opposed to ascensio.   The Ascension is a biblical event whereas the Assumption was first mentioned in apocrypal  gospels between the 2^nd &  4^th centuries.   The Resurrection was the first & physical re-appearance of Christ after the Crucifixion when he was seen by Mary Magdalene at the tomb & she mistook him for a gardener Murrays1996

Assemblage.   See COLLAGE:

ASSISTANTS, See also Drapery Painters:

In Italy a master was originally expected &/or contracted to at least paint the figures himself.   However, after Raphael’s death, there was a shift to a system where he became the inventor or entrepreneur, though Michelangelo, Pontormo, Rosso, Parmigianino remained loners Hall1999 pp 105-6, 114

In England assistants were extensively used from the 1640s, & not only for drapery painting.   John Baptiste Gaspars came to England in 1640s & painted postures for Lely, Riley & Kneller Waterhouse1953 p98

 ATMOSPHERE:

This must be one of the most frequently used words used in discussions about paintings, although is not itemised in any of the most obvious art dictionaries OxDicArt, L&L, Murrays1959, Grove.   However, literary glossaries are more helpful.   It is stated that atmosphere is the emotional tonality that pervades a section or the whole of a literary work, & which fosters expectations as to the course of events, commonly of an unhappy nature.    An important element in the generation of atmosphere is the setting Abrams6 pp 10-11, 193.    This setting may not be realistic & may or may not consist of objects or gestures of a precise nature.    As in dreams, the prevailing atmosphere may appear almost inexplicable.   Giorgione’s Tempest comes to mind.    The analysis of how atmospheres are created in literature preoccupied the advocates of New Criticism from the mid-1920s Abrams6 pp 246-8.   There was, however, no corresponding development in art history perhaps because close reading would have been associated with paintings that were being condemned as anecdotal.

A TRAVERS DU CADRE (or through the frame):

This refers to the illusion that it might be possible to step through the frame of a painting into an alternative world beyond.   Denis Diderot recognised this effect which he described as “the strongest magic of art” Pryke p72

AUTO-DESTRUCTIVE ART

Art which is deliberately intended to self-destruct.   The concept was developed by Gustav Metzger who in 1959 published a manifesto on the subject & exhibited reliefs made from cardboard placed against a wall.   In 1960 he staged a demonstration in which he sprayed acid on nylon cloth thereby creating rapidly changing patterns until the nylon was destroyed.   Another form was the heating & cooling of crystals to create ever-changing effects.   By the mid-60s there was an international grouping which included Jean Tingueley, Niki de Saint Phalle, Yoko Ono & the Vienna Actionists.   In 1974 an exhibition was held at the Institution of Contemporary Arts in London.   In the catalogue Metzger advocated a three year strike by artists to cripple art production  OxDicTerms, OxDicMod

AUTOMATISM:

This is the production of paintings (or any other work) where the artist suppresses conscious control, allowing the unconscious free play.   References to its use can be found in Alberti who (c1460) thought sculpture might have originated when ancient peoples noticed that objects could be modified to resemble natural shapes.   Cozens in the 18^th century used blots on paper to suggest landscape forms.   However, the full development of automatism did not occur until the 20^th century OxDicMod.   It was stimulated by Freud’s use of free association in psychoanalysis L&L.   The Dadaists made some use of the concept, though they were more interested in chance effects than the unconscious OxDicMod.   However, it was the Surrealists who believed in what Breton (1924) termed “pure psychic automatism” for the suppression of consciousness L&L

B

Bad Painting.   See Section 8

 BAMBOCHADE:

This is the French term for a low-life subject after the Italian word “bambocciate” L&L

Baroque.   See Section 8 Baroque

BIOMORPHIC:

A term used in abstract art for forms that are derived those of living organisms rather than from geometric shapes OxDicTerms

BISHOP’S HALF-LENGTH:

This was a portrait of a non-standard size, so-called because it gave room for their lawn sleeves S-T p10

BISTRE:

This is a transparent water-soluble pigment made by boiling soot in water which is used as a wash in pen & ink drawings & watercolours.   It was used in the late Middle Ages & later by Claude, Rembrandt etc, although the term was not widely used until the 18^th century L&L, OxDicTerms

BITUMEN:

A tarry compound that was used by British painters in the latter 18^th & early 19^th centuries.   While it is transparent it imparts a rich glowing quality to the painting but it later becomes almost opaque, blackens & never completely dries.   The result is extensive craquelure & disfigurement OxDicTerms, OxDicArt

BLOCK BOOK:

This is a book in which the text & image are carved from one wood block.   Block books originated in China & first appeared in nothern Europe around 1450 in Germany & the Netherlands featuring stories from the bible & moralising texts.   They were soon superseded by printing OxDicTerms

BODEGONES:

These are kitchen scenes where the main focus is on still-life, eg Velazquez.   However, the word is often used as synonym for still-life.   Bodega is the Spanish for a low-life eating place Murrays1959; L&L

Body Art.   See Conceptual Art et al

BODY COLOUR & GOUACHE:

Body Colour is a colour for watercolour painting, & not merely a tint or wash,  because it has been made opaque by the addition of white.   Gouache is an opaque watercolour paint in which pigments have been ground in water & mixed with gum L&L

BOLE:

This is a clay sometimes used for ground in oil painting, especilly in early Italian goldground panel paintings.   It can show through in thinly painted works OxDicTerms

BOOK OF HOURS:

A book used private prayers in which the text was suitable for certain hours or other time intervals.   By the 15^th century they outnumbered  other illuminated manuscripts & the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry being particularly notable OxDicTerms

BOTTEGA:

This is the Italian word for “shop” or “workshop”.   In English it denotes the workshops of Italian artists L&L

BOZZETTO:

From the Italian bozzo which means a rough stone.   Strictly speaking a bozzetto is a small sculptural sketch in wax or clay in preparation for a larger & more finished work.   By extension it is a painting sketchily executed as a draft in preparation for a mural or ceiling painting.   They were often used as the basis for a contract with a client.   However, the bozetto gradually became a work in its own right OxDicTerms, P&B pp 12, 15

BREAKFAST PIECE:

This is a type of still-life showing a simple but carefully laid out meal including bread, cheese, fish, nuts & a tankard of ale.   They were painted in a relatively severe, monochrome palette.    These banketjestukken were developed in Haarlem by Pieter Claesz & Willem Claesz. Heda etc in the 1620s & 30s.   They contrast with the elegant ponkstilleven OxDicTerms

BROKEN BRUSHWORK & BROKEN COLOUR:

Term: Although these are is a key concepts, they are not itemised in any of the of the obvious academic sources OxDicTerms, OxDicArt, L&L, Lucie-S2003.   Broken colour is that in which mixed colours are avoided & pigments are applied in a pure form.   [Brushwork is described as broken when it is not flat & has readily discernible brushstrokes.] Chevreul p15, Galton p14.

CABINET PICTURE

A small, highly finished, precious picture, the name being derived from the cabinet of curiosities in which such objects were kept in the 17^th & 18^th centuries.   Dutch & Flemish artists were the principal painters & they were most frequently genre scenes Murrays1959,  Lucie-S2003, ShearerW1996

CAMERA OBSCURA / CAMERA OTTICA

A box with a hole sometimes with a lens through which an image is reflected, via a mirror at an angle of 45 degrees,  onto a surface for painting or drawing.   It was developed in the 16^th century as a short-cut to the depiction of three-dimensional reality.  Canaletto was its most famous user but it was also used by Vermeer, Carel Fabritus & other Dutch artists of the Delft School OxDicTerms, Lucie-S2003, L&L

CANVAS:

A canvas either refers to a finished oil painting or to a framed support on which painting takes place.   The latter does not refer to any specific substance but to virtually any of the closely woven materials that have been used.   The traditional favourite was pure linen but, due to its expense, cotton is now extensively employed though it is somewhat inferior.   Normally canvases are close grained but sacking or hessian were used by Gauguin & Van Gogh Mayer pp 250-1, Galton p64.   The canvas is primed with glue size or acrylic gesso.

CAPRICCIO & CAPRICCI:

The literally meaning of capriccio is caprice.   In art it refers to Imaginary & fantastical Italian 18^th century landscapes that were pioneered by Magnasco & Marco Ricci, although Guardi was the greatest exponent.   Background influences were Rosa’s brigands & witchcraft, together with the architectural fantasies of de Nome, Panini & Piranesi L&L.    Imaginary views were also known as veduta ideate whereas capricci are often architecturally accurate but have fantastic juxtapositions, eg St Paul’s in combination with the Grand Canal Murrays1959

CARTOON:

According to the Dictionary, this is in the first place a drawing, as in a newspaper, depicting a humorous situation or it is a political satire.    In the world of art the term strictly means a full-size drawing used by an artist to transfer a design intended for a finished work.   Their most frequent use was in fresco painting, particularly during the Renaissance.    However, cartoons were also used for easel paintings & tapestries OxDicTerms

Casein.   See Panel Painting

CHARCOAL

[A form of carbon obtained when when wood is heated in the absence of air.]      Charred twigs have been used for drawing from the time of ancient Greece  & were em ployed from the Middle Ages to make outlines for frecoes ShearerW1995, OxDicTerms

CHIARASCURO:

This is from the Italian for light & dark.   The term is used to describe the effects of light & dark in a painting especially when they are strongly contrasted.   Although Leonardo was a pioneer of chiaroscuro it is most frequently employed with reference to 17^th century artists like Caravaggio & Rembrandt OxDicTerms.   Light & dark can be used both to depict specific lighting conditions & as an expressive factor in the overall structure of a picture.   It is in this expressive sense that chiaroscuro developed & for which the term is best reserved L&L, P&B p11  

Chiroscuro Prints.   See Prints & Printmaking  

 Claude Glass.   See Painting in Practice

The CHIAROSCURO WOODCUT:

The cutting of several woodblocks to print different inks onto the same sheet to obtain a range of colours & tones.   It was first developed in Germany & Italy in the early 16^th century & was extensively & effectively employed by Hans Baldung Grien.    The Venetian scholar & collector Anton Zanetti the Elder experimented with the technique from the 1720 & shared his results, the English printmaker John Jackson, & Consul Joseph Smith employed him to reproduce paintings by Canaletto, etc.   Thereafter Chiaroscuro Woodcuts continued to be produced & innovation took place Royal Collection Trust web entry, Grove33 p360  

CLOISONNISM & CLOISONE

The term Closonee was coined by the critic Edouard Dujardin in 1888.   It derives from the French word cloison meaning partition & describes paintings in which dark outlines enclose areas of bright, flat colour in the manner of stained glass, or of clossonne enamels which are fired within compartments formed by narrow walls of metal.   The painting style is asociated with the Pont-Aven School, was developed by Anquetin & Bernard & was used by Gaughin OxDicArt, OxDicTerms.   It was based prmarily on Japenese prints Denvir p78.    [However, an extensive range of painting in the latter 19^th century & first part of the 20^th century shares some of the features of Cloisonnism, ie bright flat colour clearly marked off from the adjoining area.]

CLOTH OF HONOUR.

A cloth displayed as a sign of high rank JonesS p64
Colorito.   See Design Versus Colour in Section 7

COLOURMEN:

These are expert suppliers of materials for artists.  They are distinct from colour-makers who manufacture pigments.   Colourmen are primarily engaged in grinding pigments in binding media to make paint.   The trade probably emerged in the 17^th century when guilds & studio apprenticeship were in decline.   At this stage many pigments were probably prepared by apothecaries & brushes were made by specialists.   Some well-known colourman firms were founded in the 18^th century: Reeves in England & Lefranc in France Grove7 pp 638-9.

During the 19^th century those who sold artists’ materials extended their activities to the sale of paintings like Letouche & Durand-Ruel.   The latter became the main dealer for the Barbizon School painters, & championed the Impressionists OxDicArt, Grove9 p424, Champa p75.

 COMBINE PAINTING:

This was a term first used by Rauchenberg for pictures consisting of a painted surface together with substantial additions of other materials & objects.   These included photos, stuffed animals, radios & their electrical apparatus.   Rauchenberg’s Combines reflect the widespread use of junk objects in the avant-garde art of the 1950s L&L

CONCEPTUAL ART ET AL, CONCEPTUALISM:

The term was given currency by Sol LeWitt in 1967 when he declared that here the concept or idea was the most important consideration as all [the vital] planning & decisions are made beforehand & the execution is a perfunctory affair.     However, conceptual art sensu strico was part of a larger tendency to reject the preciousness of the art object.   This dematerialisation embraces Arte Povera, Body Art & Land Art.   Conceptual Art is now widely used for almost anything that cannot be placed in traditional categories OxDicMod.

Development:  Conceptual Art is often thought to have originated with the urinal which Marcel Duchamp tried to exhibit as his Fountain in 1917.   However, it is not clear why this should take precedence to Malevich.   He exhibited his Black Square in 1915 & wanted to free art from the burden of the object.   Rauschenberg when invited to exhibit a portrait in 1960 sent a telegram saying it was a portrait if he said it was.   The shift from art object to concept was viewed as a way of restoring art to the artist & escaping from the cult of the commodity & the money vendors.   However, this has not prevented Conceptual Art from being subject to commercial exploitation OxDicMod.    Moreover it can be very expensive to make & present, though this is not inevitable L&L

Comment:  Victorian art has been criticised for the way in which painters often thought it necessary when exhibiting to provide lengthy explanations for their works.   However, with the advent of Conceptual Art the provision of explanations is, once again, often believed necessary; although in Victorian times the elucidation was often confined to the obscure event that was being depicted whereas today the explanation deals with what the artist has in mind.

CONTRA-JOUR:

The word means “against daylight “ in French.   It describes figures or other objects that are silhouetted against a light background.   The effect was particularly exploited by Mattia Pretti & by the Newlyn School L&L

CRAQUELURE:

This refers to small cracks that may occur on the surface of a painting as it ages.   They are caused by the shrinkage of the medium or binder & also by the use of Bitumen OxDicTerms, McEwan

CROPPING:

This us commonly seen as an Impressionist innovation but it was notably use by Italian 16^th century painters (Romanino, Lotto, Moretto) Bayer pp 111, 120, 134

D

DABBING:

If the brush is held at a right angle to the canvas & the paint it then applied with no great force, the bristles will splay & an irregular crown shaped blotch will result.   Paint can also be applied or removed with a sponge, cloth or even crumpled paper.    The textural effects that are obtained will differ with the angle of application & the loading of the brush or material Weber p70, Galton p27.

DAMP-FOLD DRAPERY:

The term, coined around 1950, refers to the depiction of drapery in which the cloth appears to cling to the body like wet cloth.   The folds of taut cloth both articulate the body & produce a sinuous & decorative effect.   The  style was a feature of Byzantine art but is found in the West from the 12^th century & is an international feature of Romanesque art British Library & Britannica sites.   Damp-fold painting survived in Italy into the second half of the 13^th century.   The style was softened by Guido da Siena & in the Assisi murals of Noah & Abraham attributed to Torriti.   However, the real change in style came with Ducicio  Martindale pp193-4, L&L

DECORATION/DECORATIVE:

Although these terms are widely used when painting is under discussion, they are not itemised in the most obvious.   Decorative art is mentioned but what is meant here is the decoration of an object that has a practical   purpose, or the applied as opposed to fine arts OxDicTerms, Lucie-S2003 , Grove Dictionary.    According to the             dictionary a decoration is, among other things, a pattern that makes something look more attractive.    Hence a             decorative painting will provide visual satisfaction & pleasure as a result of its pattern which is a repeated decorative design.   [This may seem too obvious to need saying but it has large implications.   It for instance rules out those types of          painting, such as Cubism, which  have an interest of an intellectual nature , those which have a strong emotional             appeal &  those which are, or should be repellent, because they depict violence, hatred  or suffering.     Works that were         purely or almost purely decorativee & nothing else were a feature of late 19^th & early 20^th century art , & were painted        by Vuillard, Bonnard & Matisse]  See Decorative & Pattern Painting in Section 9.

DECORUM:

The Classical doctrine of Decorum or fitness laid down that paintings must show whatever was (i) consistent with nature or correct for the time & place, & (ii) consistent with moral & social convention.   According to Dufresnoy the artist should avoid the trivial, obscene, cruel, poor & wretched in order to preserve physical beauty.   Social position was to be respected.   According to de Piles the joy of a king should not resemble that of a servant, or the fierceness of an officer that of a private.   However he believed that rules must not stifle genius Evans pp 58-40.

There is extensive material on the subject at the time of the Counter-Reformation in MANNERISM & in ANTI-MANNERIST & COUNTER-REFORMATION PAINTING IN THE PRE-BAROQUE AGE

DECALCOMANIA:

This is a technique for producing chance forms by pressing wet splashes of colour between sheets of paper.   It is credited to the Surrealist Dominguez, around 1935, had Breton’s blessing, & was used by Max Ernst as a starting point OxDicMod, L&L

DEPOSITION/DESCENT FROM THE CROSS:

Here Christ’s body is being removed from the Cross.   Initially only Joseph of Arimathea, who had according to the Gospels received permission from Pontius Pilate, is actively involved.   By the 13/14^th  century there were numerous mourners including Nicodemus, the Virgin & Mary Magdalene.   Moreover grief had intensified especially Mary Magdalene’s DicChristianArt pp 102, 103, Murrays1996

LAMENTATION:

This is a scene in which following the Deposition or descent from the Cross Mary grieves for her son.   It differs from the Pieta because of the presence of other mourners DicChristianArt p204

LIGHTNESS OR BRIGHTNESS:

This is the proportion of light reflected from any hue.   Some colours , notably yellow, are higher in the scale of lightness; others, notably blue are lower down.  Any hue can be made lighter or darker through mixing but at the expense of saturation Gage2006 p216

DIVISIONISM & POINTILLISM

In Divisionism colours are broken down into their component elements & in Pointillism pure pigment is applied in small          dots.   Both terms are employed as synonyms for Neo-Impressionism with Seurat & Signac favouring Divisionim &        Pointillism originating from Felix Fenelon’s description of Seurat’s Grande Jatte as painting au point, meaning in dots.    When             used in combination Divisionism & Pointillism provide a blended effect which is wrongly         supposed  provide a powerful  optical             mixture in the eye of the viewer.    Divisionism was also the name for an Italian version of Neo-Impressionis which       flourished around 1900 & was concerned with justice for the working classes  R&J p399, OxDicTerms, Lucie-S2003, Russell  

Donor Portraits.   See Section 3

Drapery & Posture Painters.   See Section 7  Drapery & Posture Painters.

DRAWING, PRELIMINARY:

There have been various types of preliminary drawing:

(a) In Florence artists usually sketched out the grouping & spacing  of the picture &/or made detailed drawings of particular elements.
(b) In Venice their sketches typically showed the overall structure & indicated parts but only to the point necessary in order that work might proceed.   Venetian artists tended to start painting at an earlier stage because they regarded colour as integral, & not an element to be added at a later stage.
(c) Tintoretto & painters from the end of the 17^th century, like Watteau, made endless rapid sketches not as preparations for particular paintings but as source material for paintings not yet envisaged Newton1952 pp 17-19

E

EASEL:

Easels date back to ancient Egypt & Renaissance illustrations show conventional three legged easels with pegs.   Light folding easels did not appear until the 18^th century when painters started working outdoors & sketching became an amateur pastime.   Heavy studio easels with casters were a 19^th century invention OxDicArt

EASEL PAINTING:

This describes any picture small enough to have been painted on a standard easel in oil, tempera, watercolour etc.   Such paintings are to be distinguished from mural paintings, illustrations & decorative or applied arts.   The term also carries the implication that the work will survive indefinitely when preserved indoors OxDicArt, Mayer p644

EAU-FORTE:

This is French term for etching Murrays1959

ECORCHE:

This is a drawn or sculpted figure used as an aid to the study of anatomy, in which muscles & tendons are shown without any intervening skin L&L 

ENCAUSTIC:

The word is from the Greek for “burnt in” & refers to a technique for painting with pigments mixed with molten beeswax & a little resin.   The colours are fused to their support by passing a heat source over them.   Encaustic appears to date back to the 4^th century BC, was used for the small, vivid portraits used on mummy cases, & was described by Pliny.   It was the commonest technique in the early Christian period but fell into disuse around 800.   Pliny’s account probably inspired Leonardo’s disastrous attempt at its revival (1503-5).   Von Carolsfeld sometimes used the technique & Jasper Johns employed it in his Flag & Target paintings.   Van Gogh, & possibly Reynolds, added wax to their colours Murrays1959, OxDicArt

EX-VOTO:

This is from the Latin “in accordance with a vow”.   The word is normally applied to a painting or object made in gratitude to God or a saint for a personal favour, or in the hope of receiving one.   Most surviving ex votos are folk art but Titian & Philippe de Champaigne painted such works L&L

F

FANCY PICTURE:

Term: It was used b Virtue in 1737 Grove10 p785

Meaning: It is ill defined & indeterminate in both in size & in the number of figures.   Nevertheless it is a work between portraiture & genre.   Fancy Pictures include rural scenes of idealized, studio peasants which are sentiment-laden.   Figures are picturesquely posed & dressed OxCompArt, L&L, Vaughan1999 p152.   These usually depict children & young women of which the keynote is contrived innocence, sometimes with erotic overtones Grove10 p785

Development: British Fancy Pictures were anticipated in 17^th century Netherlands, eg Moreels & Bloemaert’s shepherdesses Wilenski Pls 14, 16, 20.   They were at the height of popularity in the late 18^th & early 19^th centuries Grove10 p786

Painters: Hayman;Hogarth;Nathaniel Hone;Gainsborough;Mercier (usually credited with creating the genre in Britain);HenryMorland;Reynolds; & Wheatley Grove10 pp 785-6

Notable Examples:

Mooreelse Shepherdess (Steengracht Collection, Hague)
Bloemaert Shepherdess with Grapes (Carlsruhe Gallery )
Reynolds Boy Reading, 1747.   This was his earliest Fancy Picture Grove10 p785
Reynolds Piping Shepherd Boys, 1773
Hayman May Day, or the Milkmaid’s Garland, c1741
Hogarth Shrimp Girl, c1745
Greuze Girl with a Dead Bird, 1765
Gainsborough Girl with Dog & Pitcher, 1785

FETE CHAMPETRE & FETE GALANTE:

Influences: The Gardens of Love in medieval manuscripts OxDicArt

Concept: The literal French meaning of “fete champetre” is outdoor feast.   In painting a Fete Champetre is a genre scene with romantic figures in idealized outdoor setting.   They are usually eating, dancing, flirting, or listening to music.   The Fete Galante was a term invented by the French Academy in 1717 to cover Watteau’s courtship scene Pilgrimage to the Isle of Cythera OxDicArt, L&L.   Figures in Fete Galantes are depicted full length but they are small, even in large pictures; & they are never nude L&L

Legacy: Conversation Pieces were influenced by engravings after Watteau & his followers L&L

Revival: Groups of nude figures & bathing scenes were to reappear in pictures by Manet, Renoir, Cezanne & Gauguin B-S p136  

Fete Galante.   See Fete Champetre & Fete Galante

FORCE-LINES (OR RAY-LINES):

They are a vague concept that was discussed in the Preface to the catalogue for the first exhibition dedicated to Futurist painting, 1912.   Such lines are intended to fuse objects with their surroundings & create a visual & psychological sensation combining what is seen & what is remembered.   In addition to visible objects we have dynamic sensations of the force-lines which reveal how the object would continue in space OxDicMod p254.   Such Ray-Lines were used in a simplified form by Demuth to extend the edge of a visible object to the frame, or to the point of intersection with other linear extensions BrownM1955 pp 115-6

FORMALISM:

This is the belief that the means of representation -line, shape, colour- are self-sufficient & all important, & that what is represented is at best a secondary consideration OxDicMod.   The concept was crucial during the development of abstract art & was espoused by Clive Bell & Roger Fry OxDicTerms.    During the 1930s Formalism was denounced in Russia as bourgeois & anti-Soviet.   The campaign was led by Osip Beskin, who was the head critic of the new Moscow artists’ union (MOSSKh), in his book Formalism in Painting, 1933 Bown1991 pp 86, 117-9 etc, See Socialist Realism.    In the 1950s & 60s the American critic Clement Greenberg was a highly influential advocate of his own version of formalism OxDicTerms.

FORESHORTENING:

The technique of depicting by means of perspective an object, such an arm, which is seemingly thrust out of the towards the viewer, eg by making it narrower & paler as it recedes.   Foreshortening dates back at least to Uccello & Mantegna Murrays1959, Lucie-S1984

FLICKED FINISH:

Here the surface of the painting is so smooth that no visible brush strokes are readily discernible.    It is a feature of academic painting .   Ingres condemned visible brushwork as preventing illusion & calling attention to the process of painting instead of the thought contained Wikip

FRESCO:

Meaning: A fresco is strictly speaking a painting made on a wet, lime-plaster wall with pigments ground in water only.   When the plaster dries the pigments dry with it as an integral part of the surface.   This is the BUON (good) fresco process Mayer p331.   However, it is also possible to paint in the so called SECCO manner onto dry plaster,& to use oil paint etc Mayer pp 331, 350, 352 etc.   Here all work that is painted directly onto a wall will be treated as fresco.   In practice, buon & secco painting are sometimes used in combination when, as in the pontate system, the final layer of plaster is applied in a broad horizontal band: a method used when a very large area was to be painted quickly Grove32 p802.   Moreover, where corrections needed to be made they were often carried out in secco to avoid having to start again.

It is sometimes said that fresco produces a light & flat effect whereas oil on canvas will provide depth of colour & chiaroscuro Allen p175.   However, the pale or pastel tints may be due to the addition of lime or lime-water to the colours.   The brilliant white of the plaster wall does impart luminosity Mayer pp 346, 348.        

Buon Fresco: Frescoes consist of two coats of plaster: the ARRICCIO or under coat, traditionally composed of lime & sand, & the final painting coat or INTONACO Meyer p643, Grove32 p802.   Only a limited area can be painted before the plaster dries & this section is known as a giornate (a day’s work).  In many old frescos the joints been giornate are clearly visible OxDicTerms.  For practical reasons scaffolding was probably put up bay by bay & frescos were then normally painted downwards ignoring any horizontal narrative sequence White p200 

Fresco Secco: This had the advantage that work could continue throughout the year & not be hampered by extreme weather conditions.   Moreover corrections could easily be made through over painting.   However, secco was less durable Hall1999 p250

Development:  Wall painting dates from prehistoric times & fresco techniques were known in Crete by the 2^nd millennium BC.   In ancient Rome the pontate method was used & the surface was polished, often to imitate marble.   Sometimes more complex pictures were inserted by cutting out & then replastering Grove32 pp 803-4.   In the early Christian period Roman methods were used in a much simplified form but by the 5^th century they were more elaborate.   In Medieval times the frescoes were of the pontate type.   Late on decorative & translucent effects were achieved with secco, including the use of oil as a binder.   From the late 13^th century there was a revival in buon frescoing in Italy, particularly in the work of the Isaac Master & Giotto & his followers, although some areas continued to be completed in secco.   The secco component varied considerably even between compositions by the same artist.   During the High Renaissance there was experimentation with more subtle colouristic & modelling effects, eg by Leonardo.   In the Baroque era marouflage –the gluing of oil paintings to walls- was preferred & in France & the first important fresco in was not executed until the mid 1660s.   All the great ceiling decorations at Versailles are oil on canvas    Tiepolo was the last great Italian master to use fresco.   Although it was revived in the 19^th century by the Nazarenes & their followers, fresco painting had by the end of the 19^th century had fallen into disrepute.   Its infrequent use meant that practitioners lacked expertise with its use for the murals at the Houses of Parliament being a disappointment.   During the 20^th century the greatest exponents of fresco were the Mexican muralists Grove32 pp 804-6, OxDicArt, Allen p175, Mayer p334

G

GARDEN OF LOVE:

This is a garden-like Arcadia in which couples stroll or sit dallying.   The garden is presided over by Cupid on a fountain.   The concept may derive from the Virgin of the Rose Garden, the hortus conclusus (a garden close-locked) in which the Mother & Child are depicted in a rose bower or before a hedge or trellis fence of roses.   Here the garden symbolises Mary’s  Immaculate Conception HallDic pp 135, 194, 327, 329

GEMULTLICH/GEMULTLICHKEIT:

This is German & means cosy, snug, genial, pleasant.    Gemütlichkeit is seen as being a key characteristic of Biedermeier painting for which See Section 8 Norman1987 p8

GESAMTKUNSTWERK:

German term for a complete or unified work of art.   It is associated with Richard Wagner who in The Artwork of the Future, 1849, used it to describe a dramatic work drawing on all the arts so as to produce a new & complete art form OxDicArt

GESSO:

It is a ground used to prepare a panel or canvas for painting.   Traditionally it was composed of animal glue mixed with gypsum in Italy & with chalk in North Europe.   The gesso was then applied in several layers & when used on canvas had, due to its lack of flexibility, to be kept thin to avoid undue cracking.    However, this adverse feature led to declining use once canvas was widely adopted.    (Instead the canvas was first sized & then painted with lead white)    In the 20^th century the term gesso came to be used loosely for any white substance that can be mixed with water to make a ground OxDicArt, L&L, Murrays1959, Grove12 p501, Mayer pp 250-2, 269-70.   Today ready made canvases are primed with acrylic gesso.

GLAZE & GLAZING:

A glaze is a transparent or semi-transparent paint layer over a ground.   Thin layers of opaque colour can also be used to modify the underlying colour but these are strictly speaking scumbles.   Egg tempera (& other media which do not bend/refract light at the interface between the medium & the pigment particle) cannot be used for glazing &, at best, paint layers can only be translucent.   However oil paint permits glazing which has the advantage of extending the tonal range of a colour to give greater contrast between highlights & shadows.   When used over lighter opaque underpaints, glazing will produce rich saturated colours Grove12 pp 802-3

GLUE-SIZE PAINTING:

Glue-size was made by boiling animal skins & other tissues.   It was then applied thinly to a linen cloth & painted with glue-size mixed with pigments.   The result is usually matt & opaque rather than glossy & translucent, though reds & blues can appear truly intense.   Glue-size painting was extensively practiced in the Low Countries but very little survives JonesS pp 10-1

GOLDEN SECTION/SECTION D’OR:

This is achieved when a rectangle is divided into two sections by a straight line which is about 38.5% across from the right or left side, or up from the bottom or down from the top See L&L.   The concept originated in the Ancient World & was much studied during the Renaissance, especially by the mathematician Luca Pacioli, the close friend of Leonardo & Piero della Francesca.   It was thought that conformity to the Section provided an inherent aesthetic value & it has been found that it is uniquely visually satisfying.   Paintings are often divided into parts which more or less conform to the Golden Section.   However, as preference for the Section is involuntary this may not always be deliberate  L&L, OxDicTerms, OxDicArt

GRAFFITO or SGRAFFITO, GRAFFITI:

This is from the Italian graffiare to scratch.   The term is used for painting over gold or silver leaf & then partially scraping it away to create a decorative design.   A similar technique was used with different coloured plasters on house facades; & the plural graffiti is used for any unauthorized design sprayed, scribbled or scratched on walls etc.   Graffiti have now been recognised as a genuine art form L&L, OxDicArt

GRISAILLE:

This is a technique of monochrome painting in two or three shades of grey, as in the imitation of bas-relief.   A grisaille may be either a finished work or a preliminary stage in oil painting, etc Meyer p644, Murrays1959

GROUNDS:

Traditionally the ground for panels was a dense white layer based on chalk or gypsum & at first a thin skim of this was also used on canvases.   However, by about 1600 the use of oil-based coloured grounds became increasingly common Grove23 p377.  Ludovico Carracci was one of first to paint on grounds of red-brown bolus which gave his pictures a certain heaviness Friedlaender1925 p58.   Early 17^th century grounds were often extremely dark, especially in Spain & southern Italy, but they later became lighter.   During the 18^th century the use of a cool grey over a warm brown was a common practice Grove23 pp 377-8.  

Once the ground had been established the traditional practise was to then build up the painting with heavier layers of pigment & translucent glazes.   However, in alla prima painting, as practiced by Manet, a firm & opaque layer of paint was applied & there was little glazing, with each colour being selected for it final effect.   This enabled a passage, or a whole painting, to be completed in a day.   Artists could now capture moments of light & weather when painting out of doors in a way that was impossible if intermediate paint layers were allowed to dry GroveMtoC p290

GRUNDERZEIT:

This literally means foundation time.   The term covers the period of artistic activity & optimism following the establishment of the German empire in 1871.   In its narrow sense it only lasted until 1873 but in a wider sense it went on until about 1888, when William I died.   Art in the Grunderzeit period was an expression of power & wealth when painter-princes such as von Lenback emerged Grove13 p717

H

HARD-EDGE REALISM:

This is painting or drawing which seeks to record objects in accurate, microscopic detail.   Here artists use sharp, hard pencils; or they use fine sable brushes with which they make careful & tiny movements with their finger tips instead of bold gestures E&L p10.   Early Pre-Raphaelite painting has been described as hard-edge realism & contrasted with what it members termed Slosh or Splosh BellQ p21.      

HIERARCHY OF GENRES:

The ranking of pictures according to their subject matter was evolved during the Italian Renaissance.    It was based on the Graeco-Roman theories of literary genres.   The classic exposition of the hierarchy (1669) was contained in in the Preface by Felibien to lectures delivered to the French Academy in 1667.   The categories were in descending order History Painting & Allegory; Portraiture; Genre in the strict sense of representations of everyday life; Landscape; & Still-Life.   These groupings were from time to time sub-divided, conflated & interpreted with varying degrees of strictness.   For instance, Felicien’s own attitude was more liberal than the academic doctrines prevalent in the Academy under Lebrun L&L.

The hierarchy was based on the assumption that some forms of painting were more worthy & intellectually demanding than others.    Only those historical events in which the actions were noble were deemed worthy of being regarded  as History Painting.   This was partly because it was believed that such painting served a moral purpose.    Jonathan Richardson said that if there were two men who were equal in all respects apart from their knowledge of art, the man conversant with the works of the best masters would be the better person with nobler ideals, greater moral virtue, & more piety V&P p19.   History painting was also given pride of place because its subjects were based on written evidence, an important consideration at a time when painting was considered subordinate to literature .   The ability to convey the life of human beings was superior to the simple imitation of inanimate objects or landscapes.   This idea derived from the Christian doctrine that human beings were God’s finest creation & therefore superior to animals & nature P&R p55.   Belief in a hierarchy of genres even extended to the Netherlands, where van Hoogstraeten placed histories above other types of painting, & was of long duration Haak p64.   Diderot, who praised Chardin’s work, remarked that his type of painting was the easiest P&R p58.   Under Romanticism there was a progressive abolition of the hierarchy of genres & the distinction between central & marginal forms such as sketches & studies R&Z  pp 35, 38-9.

   History painting did not end because painters ceased to paint subjects from Greek & Roman history but because painters in the main  now painted scenes from the everyday life of the ancient world, i.e. works of historical genre.    Although they were often scrupulously accurate in costume & setting, they were  devoid of elevated sentiment & noble form.  This became evident when Gerome began painting events that were of questionable nobility such as his painting of Caesar lying prone after his assassination & even more clearly in the series of works in which he depicts the ignoble events which took place Roman in the Roman arena involving gladiatorial carnage & Christian martyrdom as witnessed with pleasure by the onlookers Nochlin1971 pp 23-4; See Gerome for his arena paintings, etc.

     [However, it may be remarked that the idea of a hierarchy of genres has, with the advent of political correctness, gained a new lease of life.   Those painters who are thought to have subverted the hitherto prevailing social & sexual beliefs are now regarded as automatically worthy of celebration.]

HIGH KEY PAINTING:

A painting’s key refers to its average or predominant tonal value, [& not to its colour].   High key painting is light, ie        nearer to white, & low key painting nearer to black Lucie-S, Wikip.

I

ILLUSIONISM  

This refers to super-realistic painting intended to deceive the viewer into believing that a painting is the real thing (trompe d’oeil), or that it is extension of actual architecture, eg when real walls are apparently extended onto ceilings by paintwork (quadratura) L&L
See also Mimesis

 IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:

This is not the Virgin Birth of Christ but the conception of Mary his mother without sexual intercouse & [the risk] of original sin Murrays1996.    It made its appearance relatively late probably because of the difficulty of devising a suitable representation  HallDic pp 326-7.   It was first widely depicted in the 16^th century often with the Virgin in front of God the Father, she being surrounded with learned saints to indicate the debate over her status.   During the Counter-Reformation the standard image emerged with the young Virgin dressed in a white robe & blue cloak, standing on a crescent moon (the antique symbol of chastity), & crowned with twelve stars.   The latter features are derived from a woman in the Apocalypse who in medieval times was identified with the Virgin HallDic pp 24, 326-7

IMPASTO:

This is thick & heavy paintwork usually in oil & displaying pronounced bristle-brush strokes or palette-knife applications Mayer p645.    Impasto is one of a number of terms frequently used to describe the type of paintwork.   Others include broken brushwork.   Sickert criticised the use of rugged impasto because of the shadows that are thrown & the consequent grey, reticulated effect Baron p67

INTARSIA/INTARSIO:

Intarsia is the Italian word for marquetry.   This is an inlay technique used for creating designs in different coloured woods, or on wood with other materials L&L.   It originated in ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia but was revived during the Renaissance with Uccello & Francesca designing intarsia panels OxDicTerms

J

JUNK ART:

Art that is composed of worthless objects & which  deliberately flouts high art traditions.   The term was first applied by the critic Lawrence Alloway to Rauchenberg’s Combines OxDicTerms

K

KAILYARD PAINTING:

Term: A kailyard is a kitchen-garden or small vegetable plot & Kailyard Painting refers to depictions of humble subject matter & has been used to disparage the work used to disparage the work of Tom Faed, etc Wikip, Macmillan1990 p217
Painters: Some Glasgow Boys including John Robertson Reid & the Faed Brothers who focused on scenes of common life together with Erskine NicolWikip, Macmillan1990 p186

KEEPSAKE STYLE:

These are Fancy Pictures often of ladies in elegant costumes, with ringlets & provocative expressions.   The term derives from The Keepsake which were annual volumes between the 1820s & 40s of light verse & sentimental stories Treuherz1993 p22

KINETIC ART:

This describes art that incorporates real of apparent movement (from the Greek word “kinesis” meaning movement).   The term can be broadly used to encompass motion pictures, etc, etc.   However, it is usually restricted (a) to mobiles composed of parts that are moved independently by air currents, etc; & (b) to the illusion of movement when the spectator moves or because the painting appears to flicker OxDicMod.   The artistic use of mobile sculpture was proposed by the Futurists in 1909 & the term was first used in the Futurist Manifesto, 1920.   Mobiles then began to be constructed by Gabo, Duchamp, Moholy-Nagy &, from 1931, Calder.   However, it was not until the 1950s that the term & the art form became popular OxDicMod

KIT-CAT:

This is a portrait of the upper body usually from waist or kit-cat (originating from Kneller) with one or two hands Hallett p41

Kitch.  See Section 7

KUNSTKAMMER:

The German word for art-room & it refers in particular to the often highly decorated small chambers in which 16^th century collectors kept their treasures L&L

L

LATERALS:

These are paintings in a horizontal format on the side walls of a religious building in front of the altar, eg the frescos by Giotto in the Arena Chapel.    They differ from altarpieces in being less concerned with a single iconic figure  & more concerned with telling a story & providing some instruction Hall2011 pp 173, 176

LAY FIGURE:

This is a manipulable model of a human figure used by artists as a substitute for a living model.   The best types were made of wood with all the joints articulated.   They were first described in the early 1460s.   To begin with lay figures were small but 18^th century painters used life-sized ones which they dressed OxDicTerms

LICKED FINISH:

Here the surface of the painting is so smooth that no visble brush strokes are readily discernable.    It is a feature of academic painting .   Ingres condemned visible brushwork as preventing illusion & calling atention to the process of painting instead of the thought contained Wikip

LIMN, LIMNING, LIMNER:

These are archaic terms for a miniature painting or painter, & also for early unsophisticated portraitists in Colonial American L&L

LINING & RELINING:

Relining is the process of placing fabric, traditionally linen canvas, onto the back of the canvas of an oil painting to strengthen it.   Heated glue or wax are used to fix the fabric to the painting.   This has the disadvantage of somewhat flattening the paintwork.   The majority of older pictures have been relined OxDicTerms

LINSEED OIL:

This is a drying oil obtained by crushing the seeds of the flax plant.   The removal of impurities in order to obtain a substance suitable for direct or indirect use by artists is complicated & was in the past a lengthy process EBrit, Mayer p128

LOCAL COLOUR:

Here colour is being regarded as a constant attribute of an object Gage1999 p210   It is the colour as seen against a white background & under normal conditions of clear, diffused daylight  without allowance for modifying effects of distance, reflections etc.   For instance, the local colour of a typical grass field is green though it may appear blue due to aerial of atmospheric perspective OxDicTerms, OxCompArt

M

The MADONNA EXPECTANS

This is rare & more so in Italy than in Spain, but 15^th century examples are known, of which the most famous is Pierro della Franchesca’s Madonna Del Parto Murrays1998 pp 314-5, M&V p98

The MADONNA LACTANS.   Also known as thr Madonna del Lattte & the  DEL Theotokos Galktotrophousa (milk-giving)

This  is the oldest of all Mother & Child images since it appears in thirds century wall-paintings in the Catacomb of Pricilla in Rome.    It was particularly widespread in the 14^th & 15^th centuries in Italy NGLeonardo p222, Murrays1996 p314.   It was rarely or never painted by Domenichino, Guercino & Reni but only by Albani Spear p357.   [Rubens’ versions were very naturalistic.]

MAESTA

This is the Italian for majesty.   Maestas depict the Virgin enthroned as the Queen of Heaven holding the Child & closely surrounded by saints &/or angels.   They are of impressive size & were usually altarpieces.   Such works differ from  (a) the Sacra Conversazione where the saints seem to be engaged in some kind of dialogue or are [supposedly] at least aware of each other, (b) the Sacra Farmiglia (Holy Family) where the Virgin & Child are accompanied by St Joseph & sometimes St John the Baptist & St Anne, or (c) the Majestas Domini where the enthroned Christ is the  ruler of the universe OxDicTerms, Lucie-S 2003, Murrays1959 & 1963 p256.

Maestas, at least in a mosaic form, date back to the early 800s & they were popular in Italy in the 13^th & 14^th centuries.   In the great Maesta by Duccio, 1308-11, the numerous flanking saints are mostly in strait rows whereas in that by Martini, 1315 & 1321, the arrangement is less formal & their upper boundary has a curved shape Norman pp 54, 63, 134.

The Maesta gave way to the Sacra Conversazione which made its first appearance in 1436  with van Eyck’s Madonna of Canon van der Perle Murrays1963 p157.

MAKEING STRANGE:

Viktor Shklovsky in Art as Technique, 1917, says that the process of automization destroys the ability to really see & experience things, we merely recognise.   Art’s purpose is to defamiliarise & overcome habituation by making perception more difficult & laborious etc.   It is the  perceptual process that is crucial, not its outcome.   Following  Shklovsky the artistic  concept  of “making things strange” has been adopted Hall2011 p11; Selden pp 274-5.   Shklovsky was a Formalist in  the Russia avant-garde & not really interested in experience itself Selden p269.   Moreover his arguments were put forward in justification of experimental & subversive Modernist works of the time.   Nevertheless his stress on the dulling effect of habit was valuable & too edged.   Yeterday’s unfamiliar is to-day’s conventional & what is straightforward may then become fresh & daring Webster p37, Lodge pp 9-10.   [It also needs to be recognised that work which is often regarded as conventional may have features which make strange.   See The Great Tradition]

MANDORLA:

It is an almond shaped frame enclosing Christ, the Virgin or Mary Magdalene at the Ascension etc HallDic p197

Maria Deomene.    See Virgin of Mercy

MANIERA:

This is an Italian word meaning style or manner Wikip.   It has become a term in English which is used confusingly both as a synonym for Mannerism &, following Craig Smyth, to designate its second & more exaggerated phase Freedberg pp 285-6 etc,  Friedlander pxv, Hall1999 pxiii See Mannerism

The MANUELINE STYLE

This is a style of architectural decoration named after Manuel I with whose prosperous reign, 1495-1521, it roughly coincides.  It features richly encrusted carved ornamentation. The style spread to the decorative arts & can legitimately be applied to painting & the elaborate & monumental work of Vasco Fernandes] L&L pp 237, 434, Google  [To be inserted in Section 7]

MAROUFLAGE:

This is from the French maroufler, to stick down.   It originally referred to the gluing of painted or unpainted canvas to a wall using white lead.    However, the term is more commonly employed to the sticking down of sketches on paper onto canvas.   This procedure was used especially by Valenciennes & other French artists OxDicTerms.  In France during the Baroque era marouflage (original meaning) was used in preference to fresco, as it was again for the extensive mural works during the throughout the 19^th century Grove 22 p329 & 32 p80 

MASTERPIECE:

Under the guild system an apprentice has to produce a test-piece of work in order to be admitted as a Master of his craft.   Later the word came to mean any work of outstanding merit LucieS1975,  OxDicTerms

MEDIUM & MEDIA:

It is any liquid that is used to bind powdered colour, ie pigment, to make paint.   Oil, often linseed, is the binding agent for oil paint, egg yolk for tempera & gum-arabic for watercolour or pastel.   By extension pen-&-ink or pencil are referred to as media L&L

MODERNISM & THE MODERN MOVEMENT:

Terms: Strictly speaking Modern Movement refers to the style of architecture characterized by simple geometric forms & plain undecorated surfaces, whereas Modernism relates to a category of painting Grove21 pp 775, 779.   However, [in practice &] in some art dictionaries of terms are conflated Lucie –S2003.   The concept of a Modern Movement in architecture popularised by Pevsner in Pioneers of the Modern Movement, 1936, who traced it back to William Morris Grove21 p779.   As a term for painting Modernism did not did not come into widespread usage until the 1960s.   It was applied Abstract Expressionism & colour field painting by Clement Greenberg & its lineage was traced back to Manet Grove21 p776.     

Development: [Until the middle of the 19^th century painting was to a large extent dominated & preoccupied by the past.   This was the case for painters themselves & for those who wrote about painting.   What had long been regarded as the prime subject matter of art, namely the myths & history of the ancient world, had by then been largely displaced but had in part been replaced by scenes from the post-classical world.   Witness Ingres, Delaroche & the host of painters in Victorian England who produced real & imaginary scenes from British history.   In landscape & townscape. which had to a large extent taken the place of history painting, attention was focused on what was already dated or disappearing, vide Constable’s hoary buildings, Corot’s Italian scenes, & the Barbizon School.

In 1863  the poet & critic Baudelaire in The Painter of Modern Life lamented the way in which painters tended to dress their subjects in the garments of the past & called for paintings of modernity which depicted the ephemeral, the fugitive & the contingent.   Only by painting modern life would the artist be able to avoid the trap of trying to paint an abstract & indeterminate beauty & producing work that is false, ambiguous & obscure.       Baudelaire pp 12-14.  

    The corollary was that as society evolved painting must follow suit, but Baudelaire was highly critical of realism like that of Courbet & Barbizon Baudelaire pp xv-xvi. 32.    Moreover future artist & critics were to condemn Impressionism as being a shallow attempt to depict the ephemeral.   What was wanted was an art that was profound.   This was sought first in Symbolism & subconscious drives which ultimately determined human behavior See Symbolism in Section 8]   When these too were found wanting painters turned to the transcendental & the pursuit of Purity.   What this meant in practice was Abstract Art See Abstraction in Section 7.

    Modernism was subverted by Pop & Minimalist artists, & it encountered  heavy criticism of a theoretical variety Grove21 p776.   [However, its death was primarily due (a) to  the end of the Avant-Garde & the death of an Academic Establishment against which to revolt; (b) to the difficulty, once abstract painting had been restricted to more or less blank area of colour, of seeing how abstraction could be pushed any further.    Mies van der Rohe’s famous Modernist dictum was “Less is more”, but Robert Venturi replied “Less is a bore].   See Modernism in Context, & Avant-Garde in Section 7, Wikip for Rohe & Venturi.

MODERNISMUS:

A term derived from German by the architect Sir Reginald Bloomfield & the title of his book, 1934.   Modernismus, the unacceptable face of modernism had since the war become an epidemic.   It was a revolt against the past & a blind rejection of accumulated wisdom OxDicMod, OxDicTerms.

 MEDIUM & MEDIA:

A medium is any liquid that is used to bind powdered colour, ie pigment, to make paint.   Oil, often linseed, is the binding agent for oil paint, egg yolk for tempera, & gum-arabic for watercolour or pastel.   By extension pen-&-ink or pencil are referred to as media L&L

MONTAGE:

This is the French for mounting & refers to cut out images that are assembled on a flat surface.   It was developed in the 20^th century & is frequently used by advertisers.   In photomontage photos are used.   Montage differs from collage because here the shapes are not necessarily representational OxDicTerms

MORBIDEZZA:

This is an Italian word meaning extreme softness & tenderness.   It is used in particular by art historians to describe flesh-colouring that is sensually delicate See Shaw p19

MULTIPLES & MULTIPLE ORIGINALS:

These are art works other than prints & cast sculpture that can be produced in numerous copies.   Prints are copies of an original work but for multiples the artist often produces only specifications or blueprints for the manufacture.   The multiple originals produced by Fautrier from 1950 are different because here the basic design he printed on his canvases was hand finished.   The idea of multiple production was taken up Agam, Tinguely, Le Parc,  & Claes Oldenburg, but the works produced from 1962 were too expensive for the ordinary buyer.  After the 1960s multiples seemed to be losing favour, but there was a revival during the 1990s OxDicMod, OxDicArt

N

O

OIL PAINT & OIL PAINTING:

Description: Oil paint is made by mixing ground pigments with drying oils such as linseed & walnut.   These do not dry by evaporation but slowly [through oxidation, ie the combination of the oil with oxygen when exposed to the atmosphere] L&L

Milestones: 1297 last great mosaic in Florence (S. Miniato) Antal1948; c1400 publication of processes for linseed oil purification Mayer p23; 1430s Van Eyck achieves dazzling proficiency probably through better quality oil L&L, Murrays 1959; c1475 Van der Goes’ oil triptych arrives in Florence, its painters vainly seek to emulate it Murrays1963 p254; c1475 oil painting in Spain Murrays1959

Development: Oil paint was widely used in England for decorative purposes as early as the 13^th century Mayer p23; most 16^th century paintings were executed with linseed oil & this [long] remained the most popular oil.   It is not known how accelerated the drying process but is clear from the canvases of Tintoretto, Veronese etc that their brushstrokes dried quickly.   References to thinners date from the 17^th century with lavender oil is mentioned but they were probably used more frequently in varnishes than for thinning paint Grove23 p376.    During the 18^th century it became increasingly rare for painters to prepare their paints.   This was undertaken by colourmen who packaged paints in pig bladders etc.  However, the paint rapidly dried out & it was only with the invention of the aluminium paint tube in 1841 that paint-making finally left the studio Grove23 p378

Non-use: Ghirlandaio Murrays1963 p254

Advantages: Since egg dries quickly & produces bright, light colours it does not readily provide naturalistic textural effects or deep shadow; because many pigments are translucent when mixed with oil, they can be applied in thin layers & glazes to produce brilliant & glowing reds & greens etc.   Oil paint can be applied in a range of thicknesses & can be manipulated while still wet thus enabling painters to make fine lines, thick strokes, smooth polished surfaces, or to partially scrape away a top layer JonesS pp 9-10

P

PAINTERLY:

The ordinary word painterly, or malerisch in German, was given a special technical meaning by Heinrich Wolfflin in 1915.    By painterly he meant a from of depiction that was the opposite of linear.    Work that is linear either employs lines or block of more or less uniform colour with clear cut boundaries.   In linear painting material objects appear to be separate, solid & tangible, as opposed to a representation composed of gradations of coloured light & shade, with edges that are often unclear.    Painterly work displays a masterly or even bravura, use of paint & a preoccupation with the depiction of texture.   The work of Titian, Corregio, Rembrandt & Robert Delaunay is painterly are painterly but that of Botticelli; Michelangelo & the mature Mondrian is not Wolflin1915 p14, Murrays1959 p251, Lucie-S2003, McEwan

PAINTING, SCHOOLS OF:

The belief that there are different artistic periods & styles dates back to Pliny; & Winckelman used Pliny to support his argument that this was the case Grove25 p46.    There was an interesting discussion of the way in which separate Schools should be identified in Germany in the early 19^th century.    In 1828 current painting in Dusseldorf was referred to as a school.   The critic & art historian Count Athanasius von Raczynski argued in 1836 that painters who live in the same place & study under the same master do not constitute a school unless their work has common characteristics which distinguish it from that of artistic communities in other places & at other times.   Hence coincident place & time was a necessary but not a sufficient condition for designating a school Baumgartel pp 26-7, 30, Grove25 p836.

[However, in practice many so-called Schools do not share common features.   Moreover, if the word School is reserved for those with common characteristics who work in the same place & at the same time, a term is required for those who only display common characteristics.   Such artists may be denoted by the broader term Painting Movement.]

PALETTE:

This is a board, typically with a thumb hole, on which artists mixes pigments, & the range of colours used in a painting Dictionaries.   Hence it does not, when used properly, indicate anything about the shade or tone of a painting in the range from white to black.   Nevertheless Dutch the earlier Dutch landscape paintings some of which appear to be quite dark are classified as tonal Fucks p120, See The Netherlands in Section 10

PALETTE KNIFE:

They were initially employed for scraping purposes & for mixing paint on the palette, etc.   However, as early as the 17^th century they were used for spreading paint onto the canvas prior to brushwork.   During the 19^th century Courbet & others made much greater use of the palette knife, abandoning the traditional smooth finish OxDicTerm.   Painting knives which have thin, sensitive blades appear to have come into widespread use formthe middle or late 19^th century Meyer p546.

PANORAMA:

When used in art history this is an ambiguous description.   It may refer to an imaginary bird’s eye view of a vast landscape enlivened by numerous features, i.e. Weltlandschaft as first created by Patinir.   Or it may mean a naturalistic view with a low horizon in which the sky occupies the greater part of the canvas.   This was the type that was such an important feature of Dutch painting in the 17^th century Grove18 p706, Stechow pp 33-4, See also Weltlandschaft.

PAPIER COLLE (Pasted Paper):

This is a type of collage where paper is glued onto a picture.   Its first recorded use was by Braque in 1913 when he used bits of wallpaper ShearerW 1996

PASSAGE:

An area in a painting often where one area blends with another; & also a technique employed to either muffle ambiguities, as with Cezanne, or to enhance them, as in Cubism  Lucie-S 1975, A&N p51

PASTEL COLOURS:

These are bright but pale.   They have high intensity but low saturation in terms of the PSI See PSI.

PASTIGLIA:

An Italian word meaning pastel work & referring to low relief decoration, typically made of gesso or white lead & used to create ornate designs on picture frames, furniture of even paintings.  It involves building up a surface in layers which is then gilded, painted of left plain.  The technique was used during the Italian Renaissance but does not appear to have been a common technique in modern art, [though this does not mean that it has not been used] Web, Google

Die PATHETIKER

This was a group of avant-garde artists founded in 1912.   The members were Ludwig Meidner, Jacob Steinhardt & Richard Janther.  It was committed to works of Nietzschean pathos & drama.   There was a major group exhibition in 1912 at Herwarth Walden’s Galerie Der Sturmm.   The group broke up after the exhibition not least because of Meidner’s overwhelming success Hess, JRS p492

PAYSAGE COMPOSE:

These were picturesque landscapes in which elements of natural observation were put together with imaginary ruins etc Allen p77     

PEINTURE A LA COLLE:

This is the French term for distemper which is water based paint mixed with glue (Colle).  It produces a matt, opaque surface.    This medium was extensively used by Vuillard for panel painting during the 1890s & after about 1900 for most of his work.   Because of its rapid drying time he was able to place layer on layer & build up thickly encrusted areas where he so desired Lucie-S2003 pp 74,  164, Grove23 p741

PENDENTIVE:

This is a concave triangular area of vaulting underneath the rim of a dome & between any two of the arches which support it Dictionary

PENUMBRA   See SFUMATO in this Section

PERSPECTIVE:

Dictionary: Any system for creating illusion of depth, recession or three dimensional space within a picture’s actual two dimensional surface.

Types:
(a) Simple linear where recession is suggested through the meeting of parallel lines at a single common vanishing point, eg [where the parallel sides of a road running straight ahead into the distance appear to converge in the picture & where the outside edges of its pavements also meet at the same point.   In the most elementary version the vanishing point is within the picture & not as it can be outside.]
(b) Complex linear with multiple vanishing points in which it is recognised that there are perspectival meetings not only at a horizontal horizon but also at any point within or outside the picture plane.   This may be subdivided into (i) angular or oblique perspective where a rectangular form is at an angle to the picture plane so that its sides appear to recede to vanishing points to left & right, [eg the walls of a house which is not viewed head on are shown as converging in opposite directions] OxCompArt; (ii) non-orthodox perspective where structures with sides parallel to the bottom or side edges of the picture plane are shown as tapering to vanishing points to the left or  right & upwards or downwards Grove24 pp 490-1, eg [the top and bottom of a wall stretching across the picture will (granted a steady gaze) appear to converge & would ultimately meet if the picture were to be extraordinarily large.   The sides of a skyscraper gradually converge as they progress upwards, & the sides of a hole converge as they progress downwards].
(c) Non-linear which is also known as aerial or atmospheric perspective etc.   Here there is an illusion of depth is achieved by, for instance, making objects paler towards the horizon.   Other forms of gradient which painter use to create an illusion of depth involve colour which is perceived as becoming bluer & greyer upwards towards the horizon; acuity where edges & details become less sharp & more blurred value Grove24 pp 492-3, OxDicTerms
(d) Reverse perspective: [it is important to recognise that besides  perspective, meaning the illusion of depth inwards into the painting] there can also be the illusion that objects jut out of the picture into the viewers space, as in foreshortening of an extreme type L&L

Development/Milestones:
(i) Linear: Depth first appeared in Gothic art in a compartment form where each section of the picture has its own vanishing point, or where perspection is inverted with lines diverging, not converging.   The  theory of perspective was unknown in classical times & its mastery was perhaps the first time that Renaissance men felt they had excelled antiquity Clark1983 p48.   Around 1415 Donatello used a  simple form of convergence of parallel lines in relief of S. George & the Dragon, & in relief Feast of Herod, c1423-7, creates tiled floor conforming to linear perspective  Grove24 p486.   1427 Massacio’s Holy Trinity, the Virgin S. John & Donors in S. Maria Novella with its convincing coffered barrel vault.   From the 1630s leading Italy artists adopt ed & refined linear perspective (Veneziano, Ucello, Franchesca, Mantegna) Murrays1959, Grove24 p487.   In 1435 Alberti’s Della Piturra contained the  first theoretical exposition of perspective Murrays1959.   There was a simultaneous discovery of perspective in Italy & Flanders but in the North perspective remained (Durer apart) an empirical matter until the 17^th century Clark1983 pp 47-8;
(ii) Non-Linear: Giotto painted mountains progressively darker to indicate distance (Flight into Egypt).   In Boucicaut’s Book of Hours, c1401 the blue was drained out towards the horizon.   Van Eyck & Van der Veyden employed colour to show the recession of landsc ape with their brown & green foregrounds & blue background mountains.   Leonardo’s extensive writings on non-linear perspective were the foundation for subsequent theory. Leornardo distinguished acuity perspective.   Raphael’s employed masterly chirascuro perspective, especially in the Expulsion of Heliodorus where the  strongest lights & darkest shadows are in the foreground.   During the 16^th century northern landscapes had  three distinct zones with the foreground usually brown & green, the  middle ground bluish green, & the background light azure.   In Italy there was a tendency (Tintoretto & Veronese) to exaggerate the shift from foreground colour & finish to background lightness & lack of finish  Grove24 pp 492-5.   During the 19^th century Turner, Constable, Manet & Monet etc de-emphasised perspective when they attempted to capture the brilliance of natural light with more vidid hues & fewer gradations of value &intensity [sources]

Types: through alternating & receeding wedges of light & dark colour (Bellini), thus preserving colouristic unity L&L
Flemish empiricism as against Florentine mathematical Clark1949 pp 42-3

PHOTOGRAPHY:

Development: (a) The wet-collodian period:   Here glass plates are coated with light sensitive emulsion requiring seconds-long exposures, expertise, & messy & laborious work.   (b) The interim period:  This started in 1882 when over the counter dry coated glass plates were used in hand-held cameras with mechanical shutters.   (c) Kodak roll film cameras were available from 1888-9 Chanan

Impact: From 1882 it was possible to take snapshots that were unplanned & characterised by arbitrary arrangement & blank space.   This influenced painting, though the first & even earlier example appears to be Degas’ Place de la Concorde with Lepic & his Daughters, 1876 Chanan

PICTURE PLANE:

It is the extreme front edge of the imaginary space which the picture contains; & is to be regarded as a transparent membrane separating viewers’ actual space from the imaginary space within picture, the illusion of which can be created by perspective Murrays1959, L&L

PICTURESQUE:   See Romantic-Picturesque

PIETA:

As an artistic term, this derives from the Latin pietas & the Italian pieta meaning pity.    It refers to devotional, non-narrative images of the Virgin alone with the body of Christ.   It first occurred in Byzantine art in 12th century art & travelled into the West.   Here it appeared in mystical writings (the Meditations of Giovanni de Caulibus & the Revelations of St Bridget) & in German art (Vesperbild) at the end of the 13^th century.   It then passed into French art &, in the early 15^th century, into Italian art HallDic p246, A-C pp 278-9, OxDicTerms p187, Murrays1996 pp 427-8.   Initially Christ’s body was shown lying across the Virgin’s knees but later he was seen lying on the ground & during the Counter-Reformation with just the head on her lap HallDic p247

The POMPEIAN REVIVAL/STYLE:

The excavation of Pompeii & Herculaneum (for which See Naples, Section10) led to the publication of a vast illustrated study of their wall paintings.  They popularised Pompeian motifs throughout Europe & promoted the emergence of a Pompeian Revival Style which became popular if only because of satiation with Rococo work & a shift to Neo-Classicism.  Painters included Piranesi, Joseph-Marie Vien, Anton Raphael Mengs, David & Ingres; together with a fashionable group of decorative painters including Pietro Borgnis, Giovanni Cipriani, William Hamilton,  Angelica Kauffman, John Rigaud & Antonis Zucchi  Grove25 p207, OxDicTerms

Pont-Aven School.  See Pomt-Aven & Brittany in Section 10:

POMPIERS:

This is a pejorative term for Bouguereau & other French artists of the 19^th century.   They mainly worked in a late Neoclassical style & were considered unoriginal.   Pompier is the French for fireman, & painters posed nude models wearing their helmets instead of ancient ones OxDicTerms.   Dali complained that there were a staggering number of books devoted to contemporary art but none to the “noble name of pompiers” Celobonovic p13 

PONKSTILLEVAN.   See Still-Life

POPPY OIL:

Its drying properties were known to some of the earliest writers.

It has little colour & is without the golden amber colour of linseed.   Whites & pale colours ground in it appear somewhat clearer & more brilliant than with linseed.   However, there will be some yellowing with age.   Poppy oil colours are frequently recommended for simple or alla prima painting but not for that involving multiple layers of underpainting or overpainting.   Pigments ground in poppy oil often lead to the cracking of the paint film, they dry more slowly than with linseed, &  have a creamier consistency which retains the imprint of the brush & palette knife.   Manet who used the palette knife used poppy oil paints Meyer  pp 23, 133-4, Reyburn p17

PORTRAIT D’APPARAT:

Meaning: Grand official French portraits as produced by Rigaud & de Largilliere from the latter 17^th century, & which remained the norm until c1750 Wakefield p13

Characteristics: They focused on sitters’ official position as shown by decorations, majestic robes, big wigs, & background of columns & draperies Wakefield p13

PORTRAIT D’EGUISE:

Here great ladies are dressed as figures from classical history or mythology.   Portraits of this type were especially popular around 1650 by the Precieuses: the intellectual & witty women who met at the salon of Madame Rambouillet.   The chief painters were Claude Deruet, 1588-1660, & the cousins Henry & Charles Beaubrun, 1603-77 & 1558-1660.   Their art, which was the last stage of Mannerism, consciously rejected everything down-to-earth in favour of the subtle & over-refined.    The portrait d’eguise  continued well into the 18^th century  reaching its apogee with Nattier although he  ultimately gave up painting such works Wakefield pp 61-63, Blunt1954 pp 125, 176, Wikip.

PORTRAIT HISTORIE:

Here the sitter is depicted in the guise of a figure from literature, history, mythology or the Bible.   Practitioners included Mignard L&L

Posillipo School.   See Scuola di Posillipo

Post-Impressionism.   See Section 9

PRIMARY COLOURS.   See also Colours

Red, yellow & blue are primary colours because it is impossible for the painter to obtain them by mixing any other colours or pigments   They are not primary in the case of light iself.   Here the primaries are orange-red, blue-violet & green.   These are the primaries when colour is  observed through a prism or is seen in a rainbow Ball pp 37-40.

 PRIMATIVE /PRIMATIVES:

As used to describe the work of a European artistic group, this means those who worked before 1500, especially those using a conspicuously archaic style Lucie-S 2003

Prints & Printmaking.   See Engraving

Q

QUADRO RIPORTATO /QUADRI RIPORTATI

This means transferred picture in Italian.    It is a picture painted on a ceiling which looks like a framed easel painting hung overhead, & was a classical reaction to the extreme illusionism of Baroque ceiling painting L&L

Quarrel of Colour Versus Drawing /Quarrele de Coloris.   See  Section 7

QUEEN OF HEAVEN:

Here the Virgin is usually shown being crowned by Christ after her Assumption & acting as an intercessor on behalf of mankind National Gallery Glossary on web.   The term was in use by the end of the 12^th century HallJ pp 180-1

QUODRATURA:

This is the pictorial extension of the architecture on a real wall onto a ceiling in order to deceive the viewer.   They are painted by quadradturista L&L

Quadro Riportato.   See Below Sotto in Su & Quadro Riportato

Quarrel of Colour Versus Drawing /Quarrele de Coloris.   See Disegno & Cororito Versus  Colour in Section 7

Querelle du Coloris.   See Disegno & Colorito in Section 7

R

Realism.   See Section 7

REPOUSSOIR:

This is from the French word “repousser” to push back.  A repoussoir is any object in the extreme foreground of a picture, usually on the vertical edge, with the object of deflecting the spectator’s eye into the centre of the painting.   A repoussoir figure often contributes by gesticulating in the required direction Murrays1959.

 RERODOS, RETABLE or DOSSAL:

The readable is a shelf behind the altar, especially one that  overhangs it for the placing of lights & ornaments.  However, the word can also be used to describe the frame placed above which encloses painted panels, which is also & strictly speaking known as the rerodos OxDicTerms, Dictionary, Murrays1959.  

Resurrection.   See The ASCENSION, ASSUMPTION, & RESURRECTION in this Section

RHYTHM:

A popular artcrit term from 1911.   It was employed to describe Fauvre paintings & was probably inspired by Ferguson’s 1910 painting Rhythm.   It was never clearly defined but was a complimentary term for picture design Bell pp 297-8

ROCAILLE:

Originally from the 17^th century the word described fancy rock & shell work for fountains & grottoes.   In the 18^th century it was extended to ornamentation based on such forms & to the more fanciful & decorative forms of Rococo, a term with which it is now synonymous OxDicTerms

ROCOCO.   See Section 8 Rococo

RUCKENFIGUR:

This is German word for a figure viewed from the back in a painting, photo etc.   Ruckenfiguren were notably used by Caspar David Friedrich.  He was not their inventor but he did give them a new significance Vaughan2004 pp 177-8

S

SACRA CONVERSAZIONE:

Meaning:  This is a painting of an enthroned Madonna & Child surrounded by Saints where the figures are of similar size & co-exist within the same space & light.   They also have some emotional relationship, which is conveyed by gesture & expression Murrays1963 p256, Grove27 p494.   However in some classic examples such as Bellini’s San Zaccaria altarpiece, the relationship is tenuous with the figures not looking at each other or apparently aware of their mutual existence.    Indeed Sacra Conversaziones usually have an aura of stillness & meditation Grove27 p494.    They are to be distinguished from the earlier Maesta (Majesty) in which the enthroned Madonna, Child & Saints do not occupy a single pictorial space, & the still earlier Majestas Domini where Christ is enthroned as ruler of the universe Murrays1959 etc.   Fra Bartolomeo tranfomed the sacra conversazione from a scene where the saints merely stand  in devout contemplation to one where they observe & react Grove 2 p302

Development: The first Sacra Conversazione was van Eyck’s Madonna of Canon van der Perle of 1436; & it was sometimes used by van der Weyden & Petrus Christus Murrays1963 p157.   It was employed before the mid 15^th century by Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi & Veneziano Murrays1963 p256.   The mid 1470s saw the fully developed form in Francesca, Messina & Giovanni Bellini.   Here it continues the church’s actual architecture, like a chapel opening out of the church.   Hence the figures appear to be beyond the real world but in an extension of that world Murrays1963 pp 131-2, 256, Murrays1959

SACRA MONTE:

Term/story: They are pilgrimage places in Lombardy & Piedmont, all but one of which is in the Alpine foothills.   The Sacra Montes are chapels with tableaux vivants, which were to begin with scenes from Christ’s life.   The tableaux vivants are realistic polychrome sculptures with illusionistic fresco.   In 1486 the first Sacra Monte was founded in Varallo & their creation gathered pace around 1600 because they were Counter-Reformation agencies against those vulnerable to heresy L&L

Influence: All North Italian artists, including Caravaggio, were influenced by their expressive naturalism L&L

Principal artists: Gaudenzio Ferrari & da Varallo at Varallo; Morazone at Varallo, Varase & Orta L&L

Sacra Famiglia.   This is the Italian for Holy Family for which See Section 3

SCRIM:

A thin linen or cotton canvas, usually of inferior quality, that was used to reline canvases in the 18^th & 19^th centuries OxDicTerms

SECESSION:

A group of artist who secede from an academic body in prostest at their constraints.   The main secessions took place in the 1890s at Munich, Berlin & Vienna; although there were others both at German towns & at Prague, Cracow & Rome.   [Moreover, alternative painting societies were formed in the later part of the 19^th century] in Russia (the Wanderers), London (the New English Art Club), Paris (Societe National des Beaux-Arts), New York (the Society of American Artists), etc.   The underlying reason was the conservative exhibition policies of the established academic institutions, & the tension between elite artists who controlled them, & those who advocated a new types of painting  See TurnerEtoPM p344, Munich Secession in Section 8

SENTIMENTAL:

It has two meanings:

(a) Swayed by or appealing to sentiment which, in turn, means a mental state based on feelings & emotion (instead of reason), or deriving from tender, romantic or nostalgic feelings, or

(b) Extravagantly emotional, mawkish.

Hence sentimental is an inherently ambiguous word because in its latter usage, which has come to prevail, it is condemnatory, whereas the former usage is not necessarily critical.

The word is now widely used by art critics, but frequently without qualification or explanation, to denigrate works which, though they may be sentimental in sense (a), because they have an emotional appeal are not sentimental in sense (b) because the emotional appeal is not out of proportion, or obtained by devious or extraneous ways.   A picture of a child crying over a broken toy is not in itself sentimental in sense (b) Abrams3 pp 156-7

Sloppy thinking is compounded by failure to properly allow for  changes in culture & fashion which mean that what may seem a normal expression of feeling in one age may seem sentimental (sense b) in another Abrams3 p156.   Indeed modernists deny that any such allowance should be made.   Sentimental pictures of any type were damned when, in 1912, Roger Fry condemned all pictures that draw on romantic associations & do not depend on the disembodied functioning of the spirit Fry1920 p169.   Moreover Bell was by implication equally damning when, without explanation, he castigated Fildes’ Doctor as displaying sentimental complacency, & not pity Bell p19.   It was not only Victorian pictures that were regarded as sentimental, Fry described Raphael as distressingly sentimental (though formally perfect) Fry1926 p107 

Consequences: The fear of sentimentality (sense b) has corrupted the viewing of Victorian & earlier pictures (as well as virtually preventing the painting of pictures showing human emotion).   It has been suggested that, because of changing standards, the term sentimental should be confined to works in which the feelings evoked are rendered in commonplaces & clichés instead of being freshly minted and sharply realized Abrams3 pp 156-7.   Unfortunately this is an impossible distinction because what was a new & progressive for one age is a commonplace & cliché for the next.   A critic in 1860 said that Wilkie’s pictures led the richer classes to sympathise with the joys & sorrows of poor & promoted philanthropy by painting “didactic poems”.   His Distraining for Rent moved Washington Irving to tears Errington p5

Conclusions:

(i) sentimental is a word that is best avoided; (ii) be very wary when you encounter it in critical discussion; (iii) be on the look out for works which, although clichéd by modern standards, broke new ground when they were produced.   This means that it is often necessary to have background, historical knowledge in order to fully appreciate the art of the past.   Hence also the attraction of works that can be described as cutting edge or inherently appealing so attractive to dealers & lazy critics, viz they do not involve any analysis or knowledge.

SERIGRAPHY, SILK SCREEN PAINTING or SCREENPAINTING:

This is a stencilling process in which paint is brushed over a screen of silk, cotton, nylon,  paper  etc so that the colour penetrates the unmasked sections.   By using successive masks it is possible to produce prints in several colours or to superimpose them.   The process probably originated in Japan & was then used commercially in the West.   However, during the 1960s it became widely popular among artists, particularly of the Pop Art variety Murrays1959, OxDicTerms

SFUMATO:

This is from the Italian “fumo” meaning smoke.   It means the subtle blending of tones or colours so that they melt into each other or, as Leonardo said, “without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke”.   Although he was its great advocate, it was Giorgione, Correggio etc who perfected sufmato by, for instance, working within a narrow tonal range.   Oil painting is supremely suited to sfumato effects because it facilitates translucent glazes.   Vasari regarded sfumato as one of the distinguishing features of modern painting OxDicArt, L&L.   An almost imperceptible boundary between light & shade is also termed “penumbra” McEwan

SIMULTANISM:

The term was coined by Robert Delaunay.   It was derived from Chevreuil’s book on colour in which he described retinal actions set off by vivid colours in juxtaposition.   Delaunay meant not only a mutual heightening of colours but also a sense of mobility when colours are interlocked in certain ways, together with the experience of this over time as a painting is assimilated.   The Futurists used the word for their presentations of complex present & past experiences.   Psychic duration was described by Bergson L&L

SINCERITY: See TOLSTOY in SECTION 4

During the 18^th century & before artists thought they had to depict the passions accurately & objectively, but the Romantic artist was out to express his own emotions with absolute sincerity.   This shift was most evident in poetry & came later in painting.   However by the time of Zola with his comment on Manet’s Olympia in 1866 there was a call for sincerity in painting.   Zola asked the painter to give himself heart & body.   Traditionalists thought that there were objective standards by which paintings could & should be judged but there was now a demand for the expression of subjective reactions Gombrich 2002 pp 205-7, See also TOLSTOY in SECTION 4

SONDERBUND:

This means “special association”.   It was formed in 1909 in the Rhineland to present exhibitions of modern art.   The first three were at Dusseldorf, 1909-11, & the fourth at Cologne, 1912.   This was the most important modern art exhibition to date:  more than a hundred Van Goghs were shown, together with numerous works by Gauguin, Munch & Picasso.    It inspired the Armoury Show OxDicMod, L&L

SOTTO IN SU & quadro riportato:

Soto in su is an extreme illusionistic foreshortening, especially in the Baroque era, so that ceiling figures & objects appear to be ascending or descending.    Quadro riportato (or carried picture) was a classical reaction referring to ceiling paintings that are made to look as if they are framed easel paintings to be viewed at eye level.   Sotto in su & quadro riportato can be used together, as in Annibale Carracci’s fresco ceiling in the Farnese Gallery OxDicArt, L&L

SPREZZATURA:

An Italian word meaning recklessness.  As an art term it refers to works which have a seeming effortless grace & make something difficult look easy.  It is, for example, associated with the more freely productions of Titian in which exactness is deemed secondary to the painterly effect  OxDicTerms, Wikip, Lucie-S 1975

SQUARE BRUSH TECHIQUE:

Artists normally apply paint with the point of the brush or by dabbing,   In the square brush technique they use horizonal strokes even when painting a vertical object such as a ship’s mast.   This method which is supposed to give a particular vibrancy to the paint surface was a speciality of the Newlyn School during the 1890s  F&G p165, web

STILL-LIFE:

In painting this refers to a depiction of inanimate objects.  Although it dates back before the 17^th century it was only then that it was recognised as a distinct genre.  The equivalent term is nature morte (French), natura morta (Italian), stilleben (Germany), still even (Netherlands) ,& bodega (Spain) Lucie-S1975, OxDicTerms

Stimmunggslandschaft or mood landscape.   See Section 9

STIPPLE/STIPPLING:

To draw, paint or engrave in small dots or short touches so as to produce a dappled effect Dic, OxDicTerms

STUCKISM:

The name derives from an insult by Tracy Emin who told her ex-lover, Billy Childish, that his art was “Stuck, stuck, stuck”.   He & Charles Thompson founded the movement in 1999, though Childish has left.   It demonstrates against the Turner Prize, etc, arguing that such events are controlled by a clique of art world insiders Tate on web

SUPPORT:

This is the bottom layer on which, following preparation, painting takes place.    The principal supports for oil, tempera & acrylic painting are walls, wooden or composition panels, & canvases, but slate, glass or thin sheets of copper & other metal have sometimes been used  Mayer pp 250, 288, etc.   Wooden panels emerged during the 6^th century as an important support for small-scale paintings & became increasingly important during the 13^th &14^th centuries.   In the Renaissance period, when easel painting became supreme, the wooden panel became briefly dominant, but thereafter it was largely replaced by canvas Grove30 p5   BALTIC OAK was exceptionally good as a support for panel painting since it was slow growing with dense, straight grain.   It was therefore less subject to warping & provided a superior surface on which to paint Nash p201.   East European oak was imported into East Anglia around 1330, as the retable at Thornham Parva shows. Britain was already being deforested Binski p8.   During the 20^th century panels have returned to favour because of the development of various board products Grove20 p5

T

TACHISM/TACHISME:

From “tache” the French word for a mark or stain.   The term was used in France from about 1951 to indicate a European form of Abstract Expressionism, but one in which the paint was applied softly & hopefully more sensitively.   However, the term has been extended to other forms of expressive abstract (Art Autre, Art Informel & Abstraction Lyrique) L&L

TELERI:

These were the large narrative narrative works on canvas that, painted by Carpaccio & others, for the Venetian scuolo L&L p127

TEMPERA (& TEMPERA PAINTING):

Meaning: In theory tempera is any combination of pigment and a binder that can be diluted with water & which upon drying becomes sufficiently insoluble to allow overpainting with more tempera or with oil and varnish mediums.   In practice it means the use of fresh egg-yolk (or whole egg) as a binder but diluted with water Mayer p223, Murrays1959

Characteristics: Tempera paint is opaque -certainly if it is layered- & to begin with quick drying.   Unlike oil paint, tempera cannot be blended & worked when wet or so readily applied in translucent glazes.   It dries several tones lighter than the wet paint L&L, Murrays1959.    Egg yoke produces light & bright colours which means that it does not lend itself to reproducing naturalistic effects of texture or deep shadow JonesS p9.   However tempera does provides a brilliant & luminous crispness with a pleasing flat or faintly gloss finish if left unglazed Mayer p223 

Handling: Tempera painting is relatively difficult & laborious & requires elaborate planning.   Each tone is mixed in advance starting with pure & saturated pigment for the shadows & then adding more & more white to obtain lighter mid-tones L&L.   Because wet tempera is darker than dry this was not easy & initially sharp transitions had to be softened by intermeshing soft brushstrokes L&L

Tempera & Oil: Because many pigments appear translucent when mixed with oil they can be applied in thin layers or glazes to produce brilliant, glowing effects which cannot be obtained with tempera JonesS p9, L&L.   When pictures mostly painted in tempera a final unifying oil glaze of oil-colour might be applied.   It is  claimed that up to & including Rubens mixed methods were used, but Rembrandt seems to have always painted purely in oils Murrays1959

Historiography:  It has been wrongly assumed that, because tempera was prevalent in 14^th century Italy, the same true in the north, but oil painting was established in the north & in Spain for panel painting by the early 1200s Nash pp 30-1

TERRIBILITA or TERRIBILTA, as it originally tended to be spelt:

Meaning: Provoking terror, awe or a sense of the sublime Wikip.
Used by Ficino & the Neo-Platonists & Julius II, who described Michelangelo as a terror inducing man Wikip.   The word was then extended to any art of austere & tragic grandeur Murrays1959

TONDO:

This is a circular painting .   Tondo is the Italian for round L&L

TONE & TONAL:

The word tone may mean the degree of brightness or darkness from pure white to pitch black.   Alternatively “value” may be used instead of tone to describe the degree of lightness or darkness L&L, OxCompArt p257, Murrays1959 pp 431-2.   However, tone is sometimes distinguished from value when the latter is used to describe the prevailing colour note in a picture, this being used in order create harmony I&C p355, Novotny pp 177-8.   Hence when a picture is described as tonal this could mean that the artist has concentrated on obtaining the appropriate gradations from light to dark, or it may simply mean that the painting seems  harmonious due to the presence of a prevailing colour or value.   As much of the literature about painting is of a casual nature in which terms are not defined, but regarded as self-evident, it is often difficult to determine which usage is being employed!!    Unless the usage is made clear tonal is a word that is best avoided.

TROMPE –L’OEIL:

This is a form of extreme realism & illusionism in painting which by means of illusionistic devices persuades the viewer that what is being looked at is the actual object.   It derives from the French which means that which deceives the eye.   Pliney the Elder says that in a competition between artists Zeuxis deceived birds into mistaking painted grapes were the real thing.   Trompe-L’oeil was particularly popular in 17^th century painting in the Low Countries & in the early 18^th & 19^th century in French work Lucie-S 1975, OxDicTerms

TURPINTINE or TURPS:

This is a liquid made by distilling the thick resinous sap of pine trees which is obtained by tapping.  It dries on exposure to the air when it is mixed with drying oils.  Although known since at least since the first century, it was not used in oil painting until the 15^th century.   It has the attractive properties of diluting paint & varnish, & of drying into desirable films when mixed with drying oils.   Because it is nearly  colourless it can be used in glazing & varnishing.   Moreover its rate of evaporation corresponds to that of paint so that there is sufficient time for brushing manipulations but not so much as to slow the process of drying.   It is also stable, permanent, non-yellowing & has an attractive smell Mayer pp 204, 382, Grove 31 p478.

Two varieties, which were widely used, were Venice Turpentine, obtained from the Austrian larch & Strasburg Turpentine from the Tyrolean silver fur.   The latter was widely used during the 16^th century & preferred because of its superior odour & colour Mayer p204.   Turpentine has now been largely replaced in the making of art paints by poppy oil.  

U

V

VANITAS:

This was an allegorical still-life painting in which objects, such as an hourglass or skull were meant to be reminders of human transience.   Such paintings were especially popular in 17^th century Holland OxDicTerms

VEDUTE (plural VEDUTA):

This is the Italian word for view.   It covers any  topographical view, with veduta essata meaning a precise rendering & veduta ideate (or di fantasia) an imaginary view L&L.   A capriccio  was any fantasy but is usually applied to architectural or topographical subjects Murrays1959.

 Veduta became important during 1650-1700.

Ghisolfi was the first Italian to specialise in veduta ideate, he, in turn, inspired the more famous works of Panini etc L&L

VERISM:

This means extreme Realism where the artist tries to paint with rigid truthfulness & attention to detail.   The term was used in 1923 by Hautlaub, the director of the Mannheim Kunsthalle, to describe the left wing of  Neue Sachlichkeit painting.   They included Beckmann, Grosz, Dix, Scholz etc Willett pp 9, 10.   The term was later  applied to Photorealism & rather less justifiably to Magic Realism OxDicMod, OxDicTerms.   It has also been used for the form of Surrealism which claims to reproduce hallucinations in exact & unselective detail.   Verists repudiate idealization & all imaginative interpretation OxCompArt

VERISMO:

This is the Italian form of Realism.   Though it is chiefly used for opera (Puccini), it has been applied to the paintings of Signorini, etc Murrays1959

VIBRISME:

This was a theory propounded by the French painter Jeanne Rij-Rousseau (1870-1956) who was a member of the Nabi circle & a friend of Signac.   She believed colours were connected with sounds & had analogous psychological effects Ox20Art p462

VIRGIN OF MERCY, MARIA DEOMENE (intercessor), HAGIASOTORISSA (Holy Sorrow)

These are more or less inter-changeable terms for paintings of the Virgin in her role as intercessor in which she pleads for meercy for sinners Murrays1996  p313.    Mary [often]  stands to the right of Christ pleading for mercy for sinners Murrays1996 p313

VIRGO INTER VIRGINES (Virgin Among Virgins)

She is shown seated among female virgin saints -such as Agatha, Agnes, Catherine & Dorothy- often in a garden.   It is similar to the Hortus Conclusus or enclosed garden but here there is a wall or fountain.   It was a popular devotional image during the 15^th century Murrays1996

W

Waterglass Painting:

This is a type of fresco in which once painting has taken place it is coated with a solution of waterglass (potassium or sodium silicate).   The technique was developed in the early 19^th century & was intended to guard against damp & pollution.   It was employed unsuccessfully for some murals at the Houses of Parliament OxDicTerms

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