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Art Link to the World
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Art Terms ... A-F
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"ABANDON ALL HOPE,
YE WHO ENTER HERE"
Dante Alighieri
1308-1321 BCE
DANTE'S OLD ADMONITION WAS NEVER MORE APROPOS then for the task of defining art terms on the one
hand and thereafter, comprehending the definition. On rare occasions, both mental indulgences will cross each other's path.
Now my late physicist father would take exception
to the above; that art is too "soft" and not a lot there to compre-hend. Out here in ether land, (proven not to exist by Einstein), there's you, me and "common folk", and what most
people understand. Then there's rocket science. Let's just say rocket science escapes our field of gravity...
... And I'm not here to define art. Sorry
... 'been seeking that one out for over half a century. You won't find it on "Google"; not to my satisfaction.
All I can tell you, from the viewpoint of a three year old, standing on my grandfather's little red chair, conducting my father's
Beethoven, I knew from that early age that I was hooked.
I still have that little red chair. I don't
have a definition of art; at least not a definition that would satisfy the requirements of 101 physics.
"NO ONE UNDERSTANDS
QUANTUM
PHYSICS"
Richard Feynman
1967 CE
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A
ACADEMIC ART ["Academic" fr.NL/L, 1588; "art" fr.L/AF/ME, 13thC.] A generic term
for art derived fundamentally from for-mal training at an academy that espouses the essential principles an artist needs
to acquire the practice and creation of art; generally "representative", "realistic" and "narrative" art. In
the 19th century, the great art academies of Europe, such as the Royal Academy in London, the Rome
Academy, the Dusseldorf, Munich and Berlin Academies, the French Royal academy in con-junction with "The Salon"/Paris; all
represented and promoted the ebb and flow of academic traditions from past centuries. (See "repre-sentational art", "narrative
art" and "Realism")
ACID BATH [c.17thC.] In soft-ground etching, the process of
em-mersing an etched plate coated with resin ground in order to facili-tate the formation of the etched image.
ACID FREE [20thC.] A 20th century misnomer commonly
used by "scholars" and paper conserva-tionists to assure the buying public that they can "neutralize" (sounds final enough)
the acid in woodpulp paper, thus preventing a resur-gence of acid damage and foxing over time ("time" meaning 100 to 1000
or more years). Acid or foxing damage can be minimized (or "neutralized") effectively within above time constraints
with the application of alkalides to raise the pH level (to 7+), but since molecu-lar amino acids are a basic chemi-cal
constituent of wood and wood products, there's no such animal as 100% "neutralization", otherwise one would have neither
trees nor wood nor paper to play with. Today we have become oh so clever at producing archivally viable paper that
by all accounts, should last to "eternity", and we dare anyone to prove otherwise. But alas, to no avail; we're more likely
to go plastic within the near future anyway. But again, to no avail; physicists now tell us that all, meaning everything
in the universe will eventually switch on permanent decay mode (future Big Bangs notwithstanding) and that all will
disappear in only a few trillion years, give or take a cen-tury...But I digress; if only we could be around to settle
the matter.
ACRYLIC PAINT [20thC] Water-based synthe-tic paint characterized by an "egg
shell" smoothness when dry, developed in the 1930s and used extensively as sole medium or in mixed medium throughout the 20th
century as a preferred substitute for oil-based paints.
AESTHETIC MOVEMENT
[1855/early 20thC] AKA as "Art for art's sake" and (later) often loosely associated with Art Nou-veau from the
same period. Essentially, the Aesthetic move-ment's chief raison d'etre was the abandonment of the academic narrative
with an emphasis on beauty. One of the many well respected exponents was the American Impressionist painter, William
Merrit Chase.The simple lines of the "Mission style"/"Arts & Crafts" movements (also of the same period) can be regarded
as the direct progeny of the Aesthetic influence. (See "Art Nouveau")
AFTER [12thC.; literally, sub-sequent to in time
or order] ...but in art, a copy or reproduction of an image previously created in the same or different medium, usually by
another artist or less frequently, by the same artist; thus conven-iently (for the auctioneer) having less to do with
time and more to do with disguising (as in avoiding) the fact that the work in question is a copy...In the 20th
and 21st cen-turies the words "copy" and "re-production"
have become so stigmatized by the proliferation of fakes and half-tone photographic reproductions laid to canvas and
shellacked (which actually began in the 19th century), that dealers and auctioneers are loath to use the terms and instead
have adapted the more politically correct usage of the term "after". (Click here to our "Knowing the Difference" pages and "Authentication" page).
ALLEGORY [GK/L/ME; 14thC] Personification of the abstract, usually but not
ex-clusively in the form of the human figure. Use of allegory in religious narrative became a dominate template pre-Rennaisance and
sustained it's influence in succeed-ing centuries. Not until late in the 19th century was allegory com-pletely subplanted
by the Sym-bolist movements.
( Click : "Magnalena" , for a good example
of "secular" allegory that reflects the transitional phase from pure allegory to symbolism.) (See "symbolism")
ANATOMY
[GK/LL; 14thC] Physicians of the 19th century were not the only academics who received intense,
prolonged expo-sure to the human anatomy. While physicians studied function and pathology, art students focused on form, movement
and angular pro-portion. Portrait painting and the requisite anatomy courses in the 19th century (and all preceding
centuries following the Renais-sance) constituted a fundamental given in all art academies. For the beginning collector, the
most telling benchmark in discerning an artist's academic skill in depicting human anatomy is the execution of a figure's
hands or feet. It's not simply because the bones in the hands/feet are more complex than the face. We are genetically pre-disposed
to pay more attention to each other's face; artists essen-tially have to be "retrained" to give equal attention to all anatomical
features, human and animal. (See "Knowing the Difference" pages and refer to "Purpose/Philosophy")
ANTHROPOMORHISM [GK/L; 1827-1847]
In art, the at-tribution of human traits to ani-mals. In the 19th century, com-monly associated to Edwin Land-seer's
ubiquitous animal genre scenerios or Punch's political car-toon satire, and all the imitations thereof.
AQUATINT [It.; 1782]
A type of engraving that produces a "wash" or "granulated effect" created by a layer of porous resin applied to
the metal plate. In early 19thC English aquatints the "gran-ulated" effect was more common (usually recognizible more
in the print's background). In French aquatints, particularly later on, the "wash" effect was more common.
ART NOUVEAU [F/lit."new art"; 1908] Chiefly a decorative motif/movement characterized by sinuous "naturalistic" curves fre-quently embellished with the female form. In 1895 Paris, the German/French art dealer Samuel Bing opened a gallery from which the name "Art
Nouveau" was derived, but such motifs were already long established ( by at least a decade ) in cities lke Brussells,
Munich, Prague and Vienna, and in America as well. Consequently, Art Nouveau is often paired/confused esp. with the Munich/
Vienna Secessionist/Sym-bolist movements; most likely because of a predominent em-phasis on the female form in both Symbolism
and Art Nouveau. Both movements had great influence in both etchng and painting, well into the 20thC and even up to today.
[Click here : "The Snow Image" for example; and see " Symbolism" in terms]
ASHCAN SCHOOL
[Amer.; 1939] A late progeny of 19thC "Social Realism", with emphasis on gritty, poor
urban life. Considered fringe, the only exhibition of the first group (called "The Eight") formed in 1908, but nevertheless
the school held influence well into the 1930's. Edward Hopper is arguably the best and most fa-mous artist from
this school. [See "Realism"/ "Social Realism"]
ATELIER [F/MF/L/ 1699] French origin; commonly adapted as an artist
studio.
AVANTE-GARDE
[F/Lit."vanguard"; 1910] Term applied to presumably the most "advanced" artists
of any given period.
B
BAD ART (c.1970s) Refers to the Expressionist art revival. (See "Expressionism")
BARBIZON SCHOOL [F/1889] Mid-19thC group of
artists settling in the Fontaine-bleau forest, in the village of Barbizon (southeast of Paris) for more "direct observation
of nature, but who nevertheless, proceeded to create romantic landscapes
in accordance to the period in which they lived. Considered pre-cursor to the Impressionists by many scholars, although
such attribution has also been given to the great British landscape painter, J.M.W. Turner; whereas other scholars simply
assign the school to "Naturalism", whose chief ex-ponent was the great genre/land-scape Barbizon painter, Jean Francois Millet,
who in turn has also been identified with "Social Realism"...It all depends on whose book you're reading... (See
"Naturalism" & "Social Realism")
"BEFORE ALL LETTERS" In engraving, refers to the pre-stage of the printing process wherein a "proof" has been pulled before a title/pub.
name/ address and so on have been added. The "proof" process came to be misconstrued and abused throughout the suc-ceeding
20thcentury. (See "proof")
BELLE EPOQUE
[F, lit., "beautiful age", usually cap.; 1954] Refers especially to the "Fin de Siecle" period,
but places em-phasis (decades after the fact) on "high born" aesthetics; depic-ting, if not obsessing, over the "beautiful"
template of wealthy, "world weary" and indulgent art patrons, painted in their sump-tuous habitats and gala social activities.
While no precise dates are proffered for the period, most agree the age spanned a period between about 1890 to as far as 1915,
before "The War". (See "Fin de Siecle")
BURIN [F/1662] Engraver's cutting tool used to incise metal or wood plates for the production of intalglio
prints. (See "intalglio")
BURR [ME/OE; 14thC) In engraving, the rough ridges or frayed metal left in
the channel following each cut of the en-graver's burin. (See"drypoint etching","engraving" and "etching")
C
CAMERA OBSCURA
[ NL lit. "dark chamber"/1725] The idea of condensing light through a pinhole
and projecting an image on a back plane originated in c.450 BCE China, was examined
by Aristotle c.360 BCE, ultimately invented in c1000 CE Iraq, but was not ob-served as a potential drawing aid until Leonardo
described it in the 15thC. By the 16thC the Dutch and Italians made improvements, adding a convex lens which
im-proved the process of projecting an image onto a piece of paper, enabling an artist to trace the image to insure
a more accurate perspective. This of course paved the way for early 19thC develop-ment of photography, which in turn
subplanted the intaglio process and ultimately created the phe-nomena of mass reproduction.
[See "perspective", "intaglio",
"photogravure" & "halftone"]
CARICATURE [ LL/It/ lit."act of loading"/1712] In figure
drawing, the implementation or attribution of exaggerated human features, often anthropomor-phic, for purposes of satire
or pro-paganda, a good example being the famous 19thC British publication "Punch".".
CARTOUCHE [MF/It; 1548] An ornament
design in the shape of a scroll used on frames or drawn on engraving plates to frame a title or pictorial inset.
CAVE ART
From c. 30, 000 BCA until c. 12, 000 BCA, during a sub-glacial
period in Europe, prehistoric Homo sapiens created ritualistic art pictorials ( mostly animal images ) on cavern walls and
ceilings. Many of the images were both painted and engraved.
CHIAROSCURO [ It. "chiaro"= clear/light; "oscuro"= obscure/dark; 1686 ] Although
speculated with scant evidence that both the Greeks and Romans used a proto form of chiaroscuro, suffice to say that, after
the long dreary passage of the Dark Ages, chiaroscuro, the subtle facility of graduating light tones from dark,
was revisited and implemented with great success in the 15th cen-tury by the Renaissance master himself, Leonardo Da Vinci.
There were some bright moments of illu-minated manuscripts and German woodblocks that predated Leonar-do, but never with
the power of the Renaissance masters like him or Caravaggio or especially Rem-brandt, whose subtle shades of light from
dark in many self-por-traits were rivalled by no one. Chiaroscuro has survived the per-iodic onslaught of divided artists'
groups who tried to abandon what they considered tired old princi-ples, but even the 20th century could not ultimately
abandon the use, actually, the need for the dramatic light effects engendered by chiaroscuro, as is clearly evi-denced
by its continued application in painting, theater and cinematog-raphy. At the risk of waxing meta-physical, it is the
way we are hard-wired; with the exception, of course, for those of us who cannot see in three dimensions... (Consult our "Purpose/Philosophy" page)
CHROMOLITHOGRAPH
[GK/F 1850] a specialized type of lithograph from the planographic category of print making. Chromo-liths became
a commercially viable and very popular form of reproduc-tion in the late 19th century. Both oils and watercolors were copied
with great skill and arduous atten-tion that could take weeks, or months, depending on the size, ed-ition and importance of
the piece, and the skill of the lithographer. Multi-layers of color were created with multi-blocks of stone or plates (usually
zinc) and each layer had to be perfectly alligned, or "regis-tered" in sync with preceding appli-cations of color when passed
through the press. The intent of a skilled lithographer was to dupli-cate both the color and form of the original
artist's work.( Click : "Knowing the Difference" )
COMPOSITION
[L/AF/ME; 14thC] The placing or arrangment of all the elements; figures, trees, barns, animals,
sky, etcetera, pre-ferably in a balanced or symmetri-cal order, in creating a work of art, as in painting, drawing, engraving
or photography. The old principal may seem simple enough (mathe-matically, it is not simple); but there are some who just
can't (or won't) see balance anyway, and paint accordingly. ( Click : "Golden Mean/ Golden Section, Rule of ")
CONNOISSEUR [obs
F fr L; 1714] There are only three alternative definitions
:
1) A paleontologist who does not know how to spell;
or 2) A silly, meaningless French word foolishly adopted
by the Eng-lish, then passed on to even more foolish Americans;
or 3) "A specialist who knows everything about something
and nothing about anything else" from "The Devil's Dictionary" (1911) by Ambrose Bierce, whose definition we have unwittingly
refined by virtue of the great man's omission of the more precise term, "expert". (See "expert")
[NOTE : The only beneficial and instructive use of the term arrived with the birth
of a great arts periodical applying the term as it's title namesake ( "The Connoisseur : An Illus-trated Magazine
for Collectors, London, 1901); which is not to say that if you thor-oughly enjoy reading "The Connoisseur" means
you're going to be smarter about art, what with the deluge of "expert" yap yap filling it's pages. In fact, you need'nt be
embarrassed or feel illiterate if you secretly find yourself just looking at the "pitchers"... beats the old 1950s "Scientific
American" by a long shot...Exhibiting a fondness for the French term, the
English had made earlier attempts to apply the same title to simular trade publications throughout the 18th and 19th
centuries, but more often than not these fledgling attempts at enlightening the unwashed could not sustain the "expertise"
required for such an exhausting, if not pretentious, project.]
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CONTOUR [L/ML/F;
1662] In art, the line that defines a shape; the thickness or manipulation thereof can create both a sense of space
and ultimately project the artist's purpose or idea, as op-posed to a simple outline.
CONVERSATION PIECE
[1712] As an 18th & 19th
century art term, specifically refers to a group portrait, usually a fami-ly, having a "sit down" in their usual
habitat (although not ex-clusively indoors), engaged in con-versation or family concerts, poetry readings, etcetera ... (Click here : "Family Concert", for example; and click "Genre", and compare to "fete champetre") ...
( ... NOT
a "conversation piece" ... )
CRACKLE
[1833] or CRAQUELURE [French] Web of lines/differentiating cracks on the underlying paint or surface varnish of an old painting;
the overall shape of which can be de-pendent on the type of paint, or more typically, dependent on ex-posure
to heat or moisture or both, and depending generally on how much neglect/ill treatment the painting has been subjected to
over past decades or centuries. If the damage is not too great so as to effect the overall viewing of the image, most paintings
can be suc-cessfully restored with both matching inpaint and lining the back of the canvas to provide support; preferably this
being done only by a skilled conservator.
CROSSHATCHING
[1662] In engraving, the crisscrossing or intersecting of
parallel lines to effect tonality, most commonly seen in the background. The tighter the pattern, the darker the effect.
CURRIER AND IVES PRINTS
[American; 19thC.] Established New York printer partnership mid. to later part of the
19th century : Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888) and James Merritt Ives (1824-1895). Known exclus-ively for their skill in producing
handcolored lithographs of por-traits, rural and winter scenes, Nathaniel began the popular series in 1835 and in 1857 Ives
became his partner. The lithographs remain to this day very popular and much sought after. Consequently, half-tone reproductions
of these litho-graphs, often misrepresented as "lithographs", have been satur-ating the American "antique" market for some
time now, and are considerably less valuable. If you have the real thing, and kept it in good condition, the current
proli-feration of repros. makes it all the more valuable. (See "halftone" and click : "Knowing
the Differ-ence", page 1 & p.2 )
D
DECADENCE [LL/ML/MF; 1830] Although some of us in the 21st century may rival the
prudery and suffocating self-righteousness of Victorian mannerism (which has been greatly exaggerated), the
term "decadence" did not bare the assumed pejorative among the artists and their elite patrons of the 19th century. The
self-insulating role of artist as rebel carried its way from the "rejected" Roman-tics, through the "rejected" Pre-Raphaelites,
through the "rejected" Impressionists, through "rejec-ted" Symbolists and , into the early 20th century, through
the Sur-realist and Expressionist move-ments, succeeding more by lending irony when, at each period, the "rejected rebel"
became the norm, thus necessitating the develop-ment of the "new rebel". Meaning, of course, "the decadent" were really not
decadent; what applied was the importance of the artist finding his own path of expression sans the constraints
of his/her academic colleagues. At least that was the intent, if one could say so; the evidence belies any such intent.
Even Dali, as radically eccentric in personality and phantasmagoric in canvas imagery...his masterly technique remained as
academically sound as a Bouguereau. (Click "Satan Sewing the Weeds" by Felicien Rops as example).
DECOUPAGE
[MF/F lit. "act of cutting out"; 1946] Paper cutouts applied to a surface, followed
by layers of varnish. None other than the great English landscape painter Joseph Mallord William Turner him-self, as an inside
joke, provoked the ire of academic judges on varn-ishing day by pasting a cutout paper dog on one of his canvases,
varnished over it, and presented the canvas for exhibition. What Turner considered a joke became a major part of
a "movement" in early 20th century.
DIDOT Brothers Firmin Didot (1764-1836) and Pierre Didot (1761-1853) were the immediate
progeny of an 18th century French family of printers, made famous by their progressive development of type-face and
by collaboration, produced a voluminous series of folio sized books, many of which included engravings.
DRAWING
[14thC] Long drawn out debates (lame pun intended) have characterized
the issue of importance in drawing, at least since the 16th century, as compared to the so called "more refined" mediums
of watercolors or oils. In too many instances, the term itself has been euphemistic-ally substituted by the terms "study",
"sketch" and "outline", all of which in fact can be drawings, but each have their own nuanced function. A "finished drawing",
that is, a drawing conceived and com-pleted and independent of any functional use other than standing alone as a work of art,
when drawn by a master, can have at least as much persuasive power on the viewer as an oil or watercolor, depending not
only on the inher-ent aesthetics but the subject itself. The term "drawing", both as noun and verb, describes the pro-duct/process
of an artist setting down an image (usually to paper) with the use of specific instru-ments: a pencil, pen, charcoal,
chalk and even the engraver's burin on metal surface, but as no color is implied (though often used in drawing), some insist
drawing to be "less important". No doubt, Albrecht Durer would take excep-tion to that conclusion. (See "oils" "outline",
"sketch", "study" and "watercolor").
DRYPOINT ETCHING
[1871] An etching process whereby a steel or jeweled point (stylus) is used to directly incise onto
a copper plate an image for the purpose of printing, the final print showing the characteristic "bloom" effect to
the lines, caused by the ink held by the burr that is left on the plate after incisement. (See burr, engraving, etching,
softground etching.)
E
EARTH COLORS
[1931] Natural pigments found in the earth. The stability and per-manence of red and yellow ochre
pigments are evidenced by the cave art in prehistory. Terre verte (green earth), raw umber and raw sienna and the ochre pigments
have been used for mixing and creating paint colors for centuries. (See "cave art", "handcolored")
ECLECTICISM [1798]
In art ... caveate emptor !! ... the 20th century pushed the envelope on this formally noble conception of artists by
thinning the line be-tween "electicism" and the ubiq-uitous pastishe. Artists who "bor-rowed" the "better" elements
and styles of their predecessors and thus (hopefully) "discovering" their own unique style may well have had noble intent,
but poor imita-tions of their own work, or their predecessors, in the succeeding decades foreshadowed growing
callousness and cynicism among the both the "unwashed" and "enlightened". (See "pastishe")
ELECTROLYSIS
[1834] The process of applying an electrical current through the use of a chemi-cal
catalyst, such as sodium, in order to facilitate the fusion of metal onto a surface, as in the case of gilding. (See "gilding")
ENGRAVING [OE/MF; 1599]
An image produced by way of in-cicing channels of lines, normally into a hard surface with the aid of a burin or graver, knife
or flint tool or any sharp instrument. "Engraving" is a broad term which neverthe-less, in the printing process, be-longs
exclusively to the "intalglio" catagory of prints. (See "intalglio", "line and stipple engraving", "etching" "mezzotint",
"aquatint", "woodcut", "woodblock" and our "Knowing the Difference" pages.
ETCHING
[D/OHG; 1634] A type of engraving usually made from a copper plate wherein the image
has been incised by the use of acid through a hard resin surface applied to the plate (i.e., "soft-ground etching"), or ,
in the case of "drypoint", when the cutting is directly applied to the plate. (See "drypoint itching" and "softground
etching")
EXPERT [ME fr. AF &L 14C/MF
1535/vi 1889] One who thinks he knows everything about some-thing, knows little about every-thing, and knows only about
one thing a little more than the average schmoe...SCHMOE [1947; origin
unknown] a jerk.
(... We beg the collector's
indulgence that he/she accept our definition as tribute to none other than the great man of letters himself, Ambrose
Bierce, who, not having the benefit of our counsel, neglected to in-clude the word in his own great work, "The Devil's Dictionary".
We would prefer to be-lieve a momentary distraction, salacious in nature, deterred him, rather than a lapse in expert
judgment...)
(See : "connoisseur")
EXPRESSIONISM [C.1901] Major movement of the late 19th/
early 20th centuries, intensified and infused with the political/ social matrix of the two World Wars, emphasizing the exclusive
expression of the artist's inner emotions (ironically simular in impetus to the "Romantic School", preceding the
Expressionist by nearly a century), only this time around resulting in a distortion or exaggeration of whatever subject
being depicted by the artist and, this time around, more for the benefit of the artist than for the viewer.
Edvard Munch, exhi-biting from the 1890s, is the most well known of the early Expression-ists; although scholars, previously
unable to place Van Gogh in a comfortable niche, labeling him an "outsider" Impressionist and even a "Symbolist" ( !! ), now
present Van Gogh as a progenitor of Ex-pressionism; arguably a more palpable niche. Later Expression-ists, like Otto Dix,
developed their own distinct styles apart from earlier forms, and were persecuted as "degenerate" in WW II Germa-ny.
Ivan Albright, considered an "outsider" but with clearly an Ex-pressionist style, created one of the most evocative,
profound works of art on canvas in the 20th century, titled "That Which I Should Have Done But Did Not Do" (AKA : "The Door").
Took him 10 years to complete the award winning masterpiece.
F
FANTASTIC REALISM [c.1940s] Strange, provocative hybrid of 19th
century academic art, late medieval "fantastic" art and Surrealism; originating out of 1940's Austria. Ernst Fuchs (b.1930)
is chief originator of the school and probably the best, with his incredible, highly wrought tributes to both Surrealism
and Symbolism in both painting and sculpture, and a major inspiration to no less than the man himself... H.R. Giger. Continues
to be a major influence in the "Fantastic" art school and, though arguably imitative of the old Surrealist/ Symbolist groups, rarely fails to mesmerize folllowers of the school.
FETE CHAMPETRE
[F, lit.,"rural festival"; 1774] Pos-sibly an adoptive French trans-lation of Dutch genre
and the English "conversation piece"; refers to a specific type of French genre painting involving towns people engaged
in a rural festival; predominately 18th century but carried over into many 19th century art mediums as in Victori-an
reproductive engraving. "FETE GALANTE" [1717], a proto form
of "Fete Champetre", refers more specifically to the aristocratic genre paintings depicting court subjects having carefree
fun and frolic in elaborate, sumptuous parks and rural settings. (See "Genre" and "conversation piece")
FIN DE SIECLE [F, lit., "end of the century"; 1890] Generally regarded as the
apotheosis of the "Decadent" period, the turn of the 19th Century patrons (mostly pampered and indulgent, deluded about being
"sophisticated") and the creators of fashionable "high art" represented a strange and evolvng mix of bubbly optimism
vis-a-vis the progressive industrial revolution and fear of the conse-quences thereof. The art of the period spanned a broad
spectrum from superficial depictions of the wealthy to continuing exposures of the poor and working class by the
"Social Realist" painters. The most profound (and later, influential) artists' group were the Symbolists, although the "Aesthetic"
and "Im-pressionist" movements domina-ted middleclass public conscious-ness. (See "Belle Epoque", "Sym-bolism", "Aesthetic
Movement", "Social Realism", and "Impres-sionism")
FLORENCE SCHOOL
[15th & 16th centuries] Essentially the sustained origin of Academic Art and home to some
of the best of the Renaissance masters: Leonar-do DaVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Botticelli, among others. Es-pecially
acknowledged as the chief exponents of the academic princi-ples of form and line.
FORESHORTENING
[1606] Old Master academic technique of manipulating perspective and proportion to achieve
the illusion of depth; contracting line direction for the appearance of extended space. Apparently first seen in Greek vase
painting (500 BCA) but not sus-tained or developed until the Renaissance.
FORM
[L/AF/ME; 13thC) The shape of an object or image described by proportion, perspec-tive
and the compositional placing of pictorial elements thus com-bining to "form" such shape.
FOXING
[1873] Webster's Collegiate calls it "...brownish spots on old paper...", which pretty
much describes it's appearance without telling what the word means... actually a very slow growing mold, stimulated by its
exposure to long term heat and moisture in the air ( i.e., humid conditions). Although "foxing" can take decades
to grow, neglected foxing on art materials can in fact eventually eat through sections of paper, the extent of which clearly
impacts both longevity and value. Fortunately, "foxing" can be stopped by good conservation practice, assuming intervention
is timely before extensive damage occurs.
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