Cosmopolitan Renaissance Key Terms

Calimala guild

wool merchants in 13th-century Florence

Quattrocento

1400s Italian Art

Duomo

the dome designed for the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence (span 150ft, height 308) built by Filippo Brunelleschi

Single point perspective

A technique for achieving a sense of depth by establishing a single vanishing point and painting or building all objects to diminish to it.

Trompe l'oeil

highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface

Intonaco

In fresco painting, the last layer of smooth lime plaster applied to the wall; the painting layer

Giornata

"a days work" in Italian; each patch was what the artist planned to paint in a single day

Conturbatio

(disquiet), one of the 5 laudable conditions of the Virgin

Chiaroscuro

the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting

Contrapposto

an asymmetrical arrangement of the human figure in which the line of the arms and shoulders contrasts with while balancing those of the hips and legs.

Sacra conversazione

an altarpiece in which the Madonna and Child are accompanied by saints and engaged in a "holy conversation"

Foreshortening

The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight.

Alla fiamminga

Schematic perspective

represent the way objects appear smaller as they move farther away from the viewer

Grisaille

a painting done in neutral shades of gray to simulate the look of sculpture

M4 bus, Mahattan Transit Authority

Andachtsbild

an image used for private contemplation and devotion

Vera icon

true image