PAU History of Art (Cantabria) key terms

The enclosed inner room of a Greek or Roman temple that houses the cult statue; in Greek temples it is usually preceded by a pronaos and may be divided by a colonnade.

Describes a temple surrounded on all four sides by a single row of free-standing columns, as in the Parthenon; the term specifies column arrangement rather than plan or order.

The horizontal structure carried by columns, comprising architrave, frieze and cornice; its proportions and ornament differ between the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders.

A pose in which the weight rests on one leg, so hips and shoulders tilt in opposite directions; it gives the figure a sense of potential movement and organic balance.

The convention of representing the most important figure largest, regardless of spatial position; common in Egyptian relief and Mesopotamian votive art to signal rank and status.

A horizontal band of narrative or decorative scenes stacked one above another, typical of Assyrian reliefs and Egyptian wall painting; it allows sequential episodes to be read in order.

Roman wall-facing of small pyramidal stones set diagonally in a diamond net pattern; combined with mortared rubble it allowed cheap, rapid construction of thick vaulted structures.

A small cut cube of stone, glass or ceramic used to make a mosaic floor or wall; tesserae vary in size, and their density determines the fineness of the image.

A portable painted panel of a holy figure venerated in Byzantine and Orthodox practice; its frontal composition and gold ground assert timeless presence rather than narrative action.

The screen of icons separating sanctuary from nave in an Orthodox church, developing from the templon; it structures the liturgical space and controls visibility of the altar.

The transverse entrance porch or vestibule at the west end of an Early Christian or medieval church, where catechumens and penitents stood before entering the nave.

The semicircular field above a doorway lintel, enclosed by the arch; Romanesque and Gothic examples carry carved programmes whose iconography is keyed to the portal's dedication.

A vault whose intersecting surfaces are reinforced by projecting stone ribs, concentrating load onto piers; it enabled the tall, thin-walled bays of Gothic architecture.

An external arched support that transfers the outward thrust of a high vault across a gap to a pier; it allowed Gothic builders to reduce wall mass and insert large windows.

A pointed vertical element crowning a buttress or pier; its weight helps resist lateral thrust, while visually it draws the eye upward in Gothic façades.

A geometric system in which parallel lines receding in space converge at a vanishing point on a horizon, producing consistent scale diminution on a flat surface.

The modelling of form through contrasted light and dark tones; in painting it creates volume and atmosphere, and in drawing it may be an end in itself.

Castiglione's term for studied nonchalance, the appearance of effortless grace in speech and deportment; art historians apply it to the relaxed poise of High Renaissance and Mannerist figures.

A twisting, spiralling figure composition in which the body turns about its axis; a hallmark of Mannerist sculpture and painting that seeks grace and dynamic instability.

Extreme contrast of a dark, often undifferentiated background with a few strongly lit figures, typical of Caravaggio and his followers; it dramatises rather than merely models form.

Illusionistic ceiling painting that simulates architecture in steep perspective, opening the ceiling to a fictive sky; developed in Baroque Italy and spread across Catholic Europe.

A still life or emblem assembling skulls, candles, mirrors and similar objects to remind viewers of mortality and the emptiness of worldly goods; common in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art.

The academic genre depicting narrative subjects from scripture, myth or history, ranked highest because it demanded invention, expression and moral judgement rather than mere imitation.

The official periodic exhibition of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, held in Paris; its jury and hierarchy of genres shaped careers and provoked Impressionist alternatives.

Artists or movements that position themselves ahead of mainstream taste, challenging conventions of medium, subject or institution; the term implies both opposition and a claim to historical progress.

An ordinary manufactured object selected and presented as art by the artist, as in Duchamp's bottle rack; the gesture shifts attention from craft to context and nomination.

A work made by gluing paper, newsprint, fabric or other flat materials onto a support; introduced in Cubism, it questions illusion and mixes high art with mass print culture.

The juxtaposition of separate photographic or printed fragments to create new meaning through their collision; used in photomontage and film to produce critical or political effects.

A post-1945 American movement of large-scale, non-figurative painting emphasising gesture, material and process, associated with Pollock, de Kooning and Rothko.

The identification and interpretation of subject matter through conventional signs, attributes and narrative motifs; it asks what is depicted before asking how it is depicted.

Interpretation grounded in describable visual elements such as line, shape, colour, scale, composition, texture and handling of medium, considered in relation to their effect on the viewer.

The documented history of ownership of an object from its creation onward; it supports authentication and establishes legal title, especially for antiquities and looted works.

The commissioning and financing of art by individuals, courts, guilds or institutions; studying it explains subject choice, scale, location and the artist's working conditions.

The subtle blending of tones and outlines so that transitions become imperceptible, producing soft, smoky modelling; Leonardo's portraits are the canonical example.

Paint applied thickly enough to stand in relief from the surface, revealing the brush or knife mark; it foregrounds the physical making of the picture.

Painting outdoors directly from the motif; enabled by portable paint tubes, it underpinned Impressionist attention to transient light and weather.

A motif or object reminding the viewer of death, such as a skull or extinguished candle; it structures the reading of vanitas still lifes and funerary imagery.