Glossary of Art Terms

Sculpture Terms

Casting — Process by which heated metal is poured into a mold and allowed to solidify in a given shape.
Relief — Sculptural technique that involves making a three dimensional carving on a plane surface. Three styles of Relief sculptures are ‘high-relief’, ‘bas-relief’, and ‘sunken-relief’.
Bas-Relief — Style of Relief sculpture where images are shallow or flat relative to the plane surface below them. Also called 'low-relief'.
Terra cotta — Refers to clay sculptures or moldings that have been heated in an over. Literal meaning is 'baked earth'.
Bronze — Copper alloy containing about 12% tin that was a popular medium for molded statues or implements in ancient times because of its durability.
Ceramic — Comes from the Greek word for pottery, but refers to earthenware covered with glossy enamel paint that has been hardened by heating.
Baldacchino — A Baldachin is a canopy set over a throne or altar. The term Baldacchino usually refers to Bernini's ornate canopy over the altar at St. Peter's Basilica.
Pieta — Image of Sorrowful Mary holding the body of Jesus. The term often refers to the famous statue of Michelangelo in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Fresco — Painting technique whereby water colors are applied directly onto wet plaster to make a mural permanently embedded in a wall or ceiling.
Icon — From the Greek word for 'image'. Now refers to wooden tablets featuring a holy person painted on a gold background.
Perspective — Artistic technique intended to achieve realistic proportions in landscape scenes by sizing images correctly.
Triptych — Work of art painted or carved onto three side-by-side panels that are hinged together so they can be folded shut.
Altarpiece — Piece of art that has been created to adorn the area behind the altar of a Christian church. It may be a painting, sculpture, icon, mosaic or tapestry.
Tempera — Type of paint used egg yolk mixed with pigments. Popular for its durability, but not as versatile as oil.
Pigments — Colored earth minerals, such as clays, stones, and metals that can be ground into powder and added to paints, inks, glazes.
Dyes — Coloring substances that can be absorbed by textiles, usually derived from plant or animal parts.
Mural — Work of art painted directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface.

Engraving — Process involving the transferring pen and ink drawings to metal plates to be reproduced on a printing press. Popularized by Albrecht Durer.
Etching — Process that uses acid to wear away portions of a metal plate that are not protected by a coating to create illustrations on metal, acid to wear away.
Illumination — Decoration of a medieval manuscript with illustrations or lettering in gold, silver, or other brilliant colors.
Parchment — Ancient writing material made from the skin of animals, usually lambs, goats, or calves.
Vellum — Finest quality parchment, usually made from calfskin or lambskin.
Manuscript — Handwritten document (means written by hand). Before printing, all books and documents were manuscripts.
Codex — Manuscript written on flat sheets of parchment or paper and bound together in 'book' form, rather than being rolled as a scroll.

Mosaic — Decorative image or pattern made by inlaying small pieces of colored tile, marble, or glass onto a surface.
Stained — Glass Art form using pieces of colored glass held together by lead. Developed in the early Middle Ages to create sacred images for church windows.
Tapestry — Fabric wall hangings featuring elaborate weaving of designs or pictures using brightly colored threads. Popular in Flanders during the Middle Ages.
Renaissance — Literal meaning is 'rebirth'. Refers to the cultural flowering of arts and sciences at the end of the middle ages, especially in Italy.
Renaissance Man — Refers to someone who is an expert in a wide variety of related fields in the arts and sciences such as Leonardo da Vinci. Also known as a Polymath.
Iconoclast — Literal meaning is 'breaker of images'. Used to describe the movement in the Eastern church to discourage the veneration of religious images.
Beeldenstorm — Dutch term, meaning 'statue storm', used to describe riotous destruction of religious imagery in Northern Europe during the Protestant rebellion.