Glossary of Architectural and Artistic Terms
Abacus:
Top of the capital. In the Doric order, it is shaped like a prism. In the Ionic order, it is spiral, and in the Corinthian order, it is very simple.
Balustered:
Renaissance or Baroque column with much decoration.
Apse:
Chapels behind the main altar.
Academia:
An association of people whose purpose is the cultivation and progress of arts, letters, etc.
Acanto:
Spiny-leaved plant that decorates the Corinthian capital.
Acropolis:
High and fortified part of the Greek polis. It was the holiest place in the city and in it were the most important religious buildings.
Acroteria:
Decorative piece at the apex and corners of the pediment of the Greek temples.
Watercolor:
Painting technique on paper or cardboard with diluted colors in water.
Adarve:
Walk or road that runs round the top of the wall of a military fortress. Also means, in urban planning, a dead end that can be closed with a gate.
Adobe:
Mass of clay or clay mixed with straw, often sun-dried uncooked. It is used as a construction material.
Agate:
A variety of quartz characterized by bands of colors arranged in a concentric mode and serves as a raw material for the carved stone industry.
Binder:
Liquid substance that solidifies after some time and in which the pigments are diluted.
Agora:
The place of assembly or public market. The agora is to the Greeks what the Roman forum is to the Romans.
Water Ink:
Engraving technique that is sprinkled with rosin or resin plate and subjecting it to varying degrees of corrosion.
Etching:
Art that is typical in drawing with a tip on a highly polished copper plate and covered with a black glaze or blackened with smoke. Once finished drawing, the blade plunges to the effect of nitric acid etching.
Chess:
Squares decorated alternately in sobrerrelieve and relief.
Alabaster:
A variety of calcium sulphate with a very fine grain that is used for making vases and other decorative items.
Albarrana:
Watchtower built outstanding forward of the wall and attached to walls by a continuous stretch of wall with an arch or a wooden drawbridge.
Allegory:
A work of art with two parallel levels of meaning in which the elements represent ideas or concepts.
Sill:
Flight or spill which makes the wall in the cutting of a door or window, both the inside and outside, exposing the bulk of the wall.
Alfiz:
It is a molding that frames or frames the arch in Muslim architecture.
Minaret:
Tower of a mosque, also called a minaret.
Pad:
Appliances or facing recesses formed by stones in the joints or seams, so that each of them is in relief.
Elevation:
Representation without the prospect of a building as a vertical plane perpendicular to the base of the building.
Amphitheater:
Elliptical building, with steps toward the inside, as central was used for the presentation of live performances.
Anthropomorphic:
Sculptural representation of the human form.
Apocrypha:
Unauthenticated.
Flyer:
Outer arc that describes a quarter circle and whose mission is to counteract the thrust of the vaults of a building on a building.
Arco flare:
The arch is said or nothing that has more light than the other side of the wall.
Arch:
Formed by two curved portions at an angle in the key.
Caliphate Arc:
An arc is steeper than the Visigoth and the sides closer in the key, as extrados and intrados are no longer parallel. They also have the voussoirs of alternating colors and is usually framed by a rectangular frame or molding rectangular.
Elliptical arch:
Arch with three centers.
Arco blind man:
Who has closed his light.
Ogee arch:
Arch of four centers, also called on the heel.
Arch:
Arch semicircular.
Transverse arch:
Arch that reinforces a vault inside.
Arco wall-arch:
Arch that runs parallel to the ship. Communicated this to the side.
Arch Horseshoe:
Curve arc beyond its horizontal diameter in a semicircle.
Arco mixtilinear:
Consisting of curved and straight lines.
Stilted pointed arch = arch.
Arco stilted:
Bow whose height is greater than the semiluz.
Arco lobed:
Bow with a layout consisting of three or more arcs of circle that intersect each other.
Mortar:
Mixture of sand, lime and water, or of pozzolan, lime and water, which is used to cement.
Archery:
Rows of arches.
Lintel:
Architecture that supports or downloads your weight vertically on lintels and openings.
Architrave:
Part of the entablature resting on the frieze.
Archivolt:
A set of molds that decorate an arch in its outer facing vertical, accompanying the crook in its entirety and ending at the imposts.
Coffered ceiling:
Wooden roof forming squares, or coffers coffers.
Loophole:
Vertically elongated window and running into. Has a defensive function, common in castle walls.
Atrium:
Site covered and covered portico entrance to a building.
Bas-relief:
Relief that has half of its bulk. Relief in which the figures stand out more to the interior to the exterior cladding on a.
Baldacchino:
Canopy on columns, to cover an altar.
Baptistery:
Site usually circular or polygonal, next to a temple and generally small, which administers the baptism.
Baquetones:
Vertical round trim, usually arranged in a row with others.
Bases:
Bottom of a column on which rests the shaft.
Basilica:
Christian church, evolution of the place to administer justice in Rome.
Basilisk:
Fabulous animal with a bird’s head and body of a cat that kills with its gaze.
Still Life:
Pictorial genre you dead issue.
Vault of edges:
Is formed by two perpendicular cross-bore.
Barrel vault:
Forms on the basis of an arch.
Dome shell:
Also called baking or quarter sphere is formed by a quarter sphere, usually used in the apses.
Vault:
Is formed by the junction of nerves of the arches.
Vault tracery:
The one that has a network of nerves reinforcements or decorative appearance.
Vault on scallops:
Curved triangles on which rests a dome.
Vault on horns:
Vaults that transform a square into an octagon and which supports a dome.
Bulk Round:
Sculpture can be seen from any viewpoint.
Bust:
Sculptural representation of a human figure which includes the head, neck, men and the birth of the arms and chest.
String:
Structure of stones placed vertically in the corners of buildings to strengthen them.
Canon:
In systems of representation corresponds to the rule of proportion, as the ideal type.
Capital:
Element located on the shaft of a column and qu is usually carved with some kind of sculpture.
Caryatid:
Female figure that serves to replace the column in the Greek temples.
Carnation:
Is pictorial tion of meat in the representation of the human figure or pilasters.
Cave:
Grandstand area in theaters and circuses of Rome.
Lattice:
Panel with holes that are placed on windows to avoid being seen from outside.
Border:
Ornate belt.
Spire:
Completion of a tower of various forms and ending in a point.
Cyma:
Plant widely used molding on ledges of Greek temples.
Dome:
An element of square or octagonal which rises in the transept of a church to illuminate. It is the base of the dome.
Shoring:
Wooden frame that can hold a bow until it can sustain itself.
Chiaroscuro:
Art of painting have a contrast of light and shadow. Applied specifically to highlight the displays against a dark background.
Password:
Keystone center of an arc.
Collage:
Plastic technique is to paste on a support different elements freely structured choice of shapes.
Colors plans:
Unmixed colors distributed on the surface juxtaposed.
Colossal:
Architectural style typical of Michelangelo transgressing his ideal sculpture to architecture.
Column:
Right foot circular section.
Nazari Column:
Fine marble, with bases Attic, thin cylindrical shaft and capital ring with two bodies, the cylindrical bottom and the top cube.
Solomonic Column:
The column that has the shaft twisted or coiled.
Colonnade:
A set of columns symmetrically distributed in one or more rows.
Composition:
The arrangement of the elements in a work of art.
Buttress:
Architectural element attached to the wall to reinforce the lateral thrust of the vault.
Cornice:
Architectural element that is placed on an entablature excel.
Chi Rho:
Monogram of Christ formed by its first two letters representing the beginning and end of all things.
Cruise:
Place where the two ships intersect in a church.
Cruz America:
Form of a plant in which cross two ships to be a shorter than the other.
Dome:
Dome-shaped semi-circular cap is typically installed on the cruise on tubes or shells.
Praxitelean Curve:
Used by Praxiteles position to give some movement to the figures and consistent in supporting all the weight on one leg and the opposite hip and tilt.
Ambulatory or ambulatory:
Ship around the altar of a church and which gives access to the aisles.
Lintel:
Block of stone or wood placed on the doorposts or posts of a vain, to support the loads.
Diptych:
Altar table to consist of two woods.
Domo:
Dome, half dome-shaped ridge.
Keystone:
Wedge-shaped piece which, together with others, form the soffit of an arch.
Incarnate:
Tries to mimic the color of human skin, their tones for determining the time or the school of painting.
Entablature:
Superstructure that rests horizontally above the columns in classical architecture.
Horses:
Part of the Doric capital so bulky that sits between the abacus and the shaft.
Scotland:
Ornamental molding section of the wall which is more than a half circle inwards.
Foreshortening:
Representation of depth from the vertical plane of the table or figure.
Sfumato:
Blur contours characteristic painting of Leonardo da Vinci.
Exempt:
Element isolated, attached to the wall.
Fibula:
Snap in a variety of shapes and materials used to secure clothing.
Filigree:
Jewelry work produced in gold or silver thread and a soldier in delicate arabesques and floral motifs.
Friso:
Decorative element between the architrave and cornice.
Pediment:
A front triangle tops, door or window.
Gargoyle:
Water outlet of a building, generally decorated with fantastic figures.
Geminate:
Vain two openings.
Girola:
Ambulatory. Nave surrounding the altar.
Grisaille:
Technique to color the glass.
Grotesque:
Decoration with fantastic beings, being one bound.
Garland:
Crown open, woven of flowers, herbs or branches, which sticks his head. Webbing of flowers and branches.
Hypogeum:
Underground tomb.
Hipóstila:
Temple with columns.
Concrete:
Building material made of stones of various sizes mixed with mortar.
Niche:
Opening in a wall and vaulted with a quarter sphere usually designed to accommodate a sculpture.
Icon:
Greek, Eikon, Phones. Picture.
Iconoclasm:
Iconoclasm was born as a religious doctrine that rejects and destroys the image of the sacred, believing that it is not possible to represent the divinity through the field. The visible, the image, they say, supersedes and simulates the invisible.
Illustrations:
Science studies the origin, formation and development of figurative subjects and attributes that can be identified.
Iconostasis:
Structure that separates the chancel the rest of the church.
Imposta:
Final trim on the sides of an arch.
Soffit:
Inner surface of an arch.
Jamba:
Each of the vertical elements that support an arch or lintel of a door or window.
Kitsch:
Style object that is part of what we call bad taste.
Flashlight:
Architectural element on the dome of the cruise is to give light to the building.
Macsura:
Enclosed inside the prayer room congregational mosques, reserved for the emir or caliph.
Mandorla:
Almond-shaped or oval, usually in early Christian art, Byzantine and Romanesque to put the figure of Christ.
Marquetry:
Joinery work that is pressing on small tables, wood veneers of different colors composing drawings.
Bracket:
Shelf on the wall to withstand a load of the dome.
Metope:
Element between two classic triglyphs can be decorated with reliefs.
Mosque:
It is a original creation of Islam. It was a rectangular enclosure of adobe with a central patio and a shed to the south covered with a flat roof of wood and palm leaves. Islamic place of worship.
Mihrab:
Hollow, niche or arch located in the qibla wall of all mosques, indicating the place where it is to pray and where is the magnet to lead the prayer. Its symbolic value makes this architectural element is the most richly decorated of the mosque.
Miniature:
Painting on parchment or paper small widely used in medieval times.
Muqarnas:
Decorative Arabic architecture clusters or concave-shaped stalactites.
Cantilever:
Superimposed cylindrical part to facilitate the transition between column and pillar.
Trim:
Run on a wall element that is used to decorate.
Mortar:
Mixture of lime, sand and water.
Mosaic:
Decorative element formed by the combination of “tiles” of colors and with designs.
Mozarabic:
Christians living in the al-Andalus.
Mudéjar:
What is said on the Muslims living among the Spanish Christians.
Wall padding:
Rig wall to form a building consisting of regular pieces based on a bulge in the central.
Cyclopean Wall:
Built with large stones embedded as a puzzle.
Narthex:
Part of an atrium that extends into the interior of the nave of a church usually.
Still Life:
Painting style to delete any why live human or animal.
Necropolis:
Archeology, a group of burial bury before the Christian era cemetery.
Nerves:
Arches, passing one or the other, serves to form the vault. It is the characteristic element.
Obelisk:
Pyramid-shaped memorial pillar. Pilar high four equal sides converging a bit and terminated by a very flat pyramidal tip, which serves as a decoration in public places. Egyptians used it mainly covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Oculus:
Circular vain.
Oil:
Painting technique of mixing different pigment using oil as a binder.
Order:
In classical architecture, a column that is The bases, the stem, the capital and entablature.
Corinthian Order:
Order to determine the proportions of the various part of the column corresponds to the Ionic order, but with a more ornate capitals.
Doric order:
Order to determine the proportions of the various part of the spine: no base, shaft, groove, narrower arroba.
Ionic Order:
Order to determine the proportions of the various part of the column bases, frieze of figures, fluted shaft.
Tuscan Order:
Order to determine the proportions of the various part of the column with Doric column, but smooth shaft.
Landscape:
Painting technique consists in representing the nature eats independent issue.
Palmette:
Based ornament on palm leaves.
Pantocrator:
Representing Christ sitting with the Gospels and in an attitude of blessing. Mosaic or sculpture with the image of Christ with his right hand raised and left of the Gospels.
Walls:
Superficial part of a wall. Either of the two sides of a wall.
Mullion:
Vertical element that splits light from a door or window.
Patina:
A kind of varnish to acquire the objects over time and alter their surface appearance. The most characteristic is that of copper and bronze, brown and green colors.
Pendant:
Each of the four curved triangles that support a generally hemispherical dome. They serve to move from square to circular.
Peristyle:
Columns that surround the courtyard of a house classic.
Aerial perspective:
Using light and color to show the perception of space. For eg red to green, yellow, blue behind. Increase in blue at the bottom of the table. Ran away point is elevated.
Vista front:
Used by prehistoric and Egyptian art to introduce the space in a single plane.
Perspective linear:
Spatial sensing system that uses a central vanishing point from which all differ planes. Mathematical system widely used by the Renaissance.
Pilar:
Square bracket or less than eight sides, which makes the same architectural feature column.
Pilar cruciform:
Cross-shaped pillar.
Pilaster:
Pillar attached to a Wall.
Pinnacle:
Gothic element ending in a pyramid shape or decorate a front counter.
Plant basilica:
Type of plant related to Roman public buildings and uses an early Christian church nave more square and other side lower rows of columns.
Central plant:
Plant a church where the entire architecture is organized around a central axis.
Plant Greek cross:
Church plant whose arms are of equal length.
Latin cross floor:
Ground characteristic of medieval Europe with a larger and a smaller arm crossing it.
Altarpiece:
A box formed by more than one board.
Porch:
Covered space with columns in front of temples or other monumental buildings.
Presbytery:
Space before the altar separated by steps or cancel the ship.
Point of flight:
The concept of perspective in which all lines converge perpendicular to a plane.
Retablo:
Wooden frame of an altar on which are placed all the decorative elements, sculptures, reliefs, paintings columns, etc. And that is located behind the altar. Tends to consist of: bodies, streets, bank or predella, attic and dust.
Portrait:
Human or animal image in sculpture, painting or photograph.
Portrait Corporate:
Group portrait mode common in Holland, large format, commissioned by military associations and companies. The democratic spirit of the Netherlands and their belief in the value of each person made them very different from court portraits: they lacked majesty, the characters relate to them freely. Noted as a painter of portraits of Frans Hals corporations.
Rosette:
Decorative circular base formed of segments.
Rosette:
Circular window of tracery widely used by the Gothic style.
Salmer:
First that some segments from a bow.
Sebka:
Is a type of decoration based on a network of diamond. It is typical of the epoch. An example can be seen in the Giralda of Seville, whose panels are decorated with this work.
Sfumato:
Italian term that defines a pictorial device that seeks to capture the space environment by wrapping in a mist and leave the definition of the outline. It is in the painting of Leonardo da Vinci and in some ways his contribution to the aerial perspective.
Sgrafiado:
Italian decoration system that superimposes two layers of different colored paint. In some areas the top layer is removed leaving the bottom exposed.
Sillar:
Each of the carved stones that are used in a wall.
Ashlar:
Ashlar little rough.
Symmetry:
Harmonic balance consistently reflect the same left and right image of an imaginary axis.
Synagogue:
Synagogue in Judaism, or meeting house for the communal prayer, study and meeting, the central communal institution.
Slope:
Inclination of the plane of a wall or a temple.
Wet cloths Technique:
Sculptural technique is widely used especially in the relief and transparencies is to represent the human body caused when clothes are wet. Phidias used it in the Parthenon and later the Roman relief also used.
Mixed:
Refers to the works in which the author combined several techniques or introduced extra pictorial items, as objects of daily use or cuts.
Technical drill:
A kind of sculptural technique that is performed with an instrument called a burr, “which serves to pierce. When using this technique drill, the artist produced a sculpture that has deep incisions and holes, with wide contrasts of light and shade.
Tejaroz:
Eaves.
Temple:
Painting technique that uses the egg or the tail as a binder. Traditionally, egg yolk mixed with water.
Tenebrism:
Pictorial style of early sixteenth century consists in playing with the effects of light on black backgrounds.
Terracotta:
Porous ceramic, usually red. It means “baked earth.” It is often used in sculpture, unvarnished.
Tile:
Pieces of marble, glass paste or other material that form the mosaic.
Tetramorph:
Is the set of symbols of the four evangelists. John: eagle Mateo man or angel, Mark: lion, Luke: bull.
Tympanum:
Triangular space forming the gable on the cornice of a pediment. It is also the semicircular space left between the line of the extrados and archivolts in a facade.
Tracery:
Geometric designs of the windows of Gothic art.
Weft:
The horizontal thread of the warp are interlaced placed vertically on the loom.
Transept:
Transept to the main churches in Latin cross plan. The cruise is the intersection of the nave and transept.
Translucent:
Quality of transparency which the minerals present can let light through.
Transparent:
It says that a glass is transparent when the light will pass without weakening or weakening only imperceptibly. When only allows light to some degree, is said to be translucent, and do not let it go at all that is opaque.
Platform:
Open gallery on the nave of a church where they can stay faithful.
Clerestory:
Is an element at the central naves, just above the arches that give the aisles. It consists of a line of windows, usually geminate, open in the thickness of the walls. Not to be confused with the rostrum, which is a corridor whose width matches that of the aisle on which it is built. When gallery and clerestory match, it is the second floor, feel the clerestory the third.
Triglyph:
Three vertical bands decorated Doric art among the metopes.
Triptych painting:
Consists of three parts, a central section and two side.
Trunk:
Conical vault in the corner of two walls used to convert a square into an octagon.
Trompe-L’oeil:
French voice, with an optical illusion painting space, so that only seem real it is painting. Deception.
Warp:
The vertical threads on the loom neatly placed in order to move the shuttle loaded with the thread which forms the plot.
Span:
Hole in a wall or walls.
Glaze:
In the oil painting technique to pass an opaque layer over a base or an existing layer, so that the latter is partially erased, making off color effect.
Venera:
Large semicircular convex shell is named for its relationship with mythological Venus, which is commonly used as ornament and symbol of medieval pilgrimages, especially to Santiago de Compostela.
Double windows:
Window split in two.
Glass:
Glass window assemblies that are various colors and shapes. Widely used in Gothic cathedrals.
Scroll:
Coil used in the Ionic capitals and later.
Lying:
Sculpture representing a person lying dead and usually carved on a sarcophagus.
Decorator:
Work made of plaster. Also refers to the act of creating false plaster architectural elements has only a decorative and ornamental purposes. Widely used in Islamic art.
Ziggurat:
Sanctuary in traditional tower form of religious architecture in ancient Mesopotamia. Torre step pyramid formed by the superposition of falling bodies in varying numbers, a rectangular or square, with stairs and ramps.
Socket:
Bottom of the wall decorated in some way to differentiate from the rest. It is widely used in the yard.