Study Sheet, Chapter 15
Art Appreciation
Study Sheet – Chapter 15, The Ancient and Medieval World
1.
The oldest art discovered are cave paintings dating from the Paleolithic period,
the Old Stone Age.
2.
The oldest sculptures found are the carved figures of women from the Paleolithic
period.
3.
Jericho, the oldest town in the world, is being excavated in Israel.
4.
The world’s first farmers were the Sumerians. They invented an early form of
writing called cuneiform.
5.
In the center of each Sumerian city-state rose a mountainous ziggurat.
6.
The pyramids were elaborate tombs for Egyptian kings.
7.
Egyptian statues were characterized by appearing solid, stiff, and frontal.
8.
The Egyptians had a system of writing resembling pictures and symbols called
hieroglyphics.
9.
In the center overlooking the city of Athens, Greece is the Acropolis. The major
building on the Acropolis is the Parthenon, the temple dedicated to the goddess
Athena.
10.
The three classical orders are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Describe.
11.
A narrow band of relief sculpture that usually occupies the space above the
columns of a classical building is a frieze.
12.
Greek sculpture of humans portrayed as more ideal than natural.
13.
Vase painting is the art form that tells us most about Greece
and its history, culture, and mythology.
14.
The Romans excelled in building roads, bridges, aquaducts, markets, and large
government buildings.
15.
The Pantheon has the largest dome in antiquity. The interior is an enormous
rotunda. The dorm is built of concrete, not stone.
16.
The Romans displayed outstanding sculptural originality in portraiture.
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Study Sheet, Chapter 15
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17.
Few Roman paintings exist. Exceptions are small encaustic paintings that were
safely stored in dry areas of the Egyptian Roman Empire.
18.
Roman murals have been found in the excavated city of Pompeii.
19.
The Middle Ages is the period between ancient Greek and Roman civilization and
the Renaissance.
20.
Early Christians had to hide their meetings and artworks in catacombs,
underground burial chambers.
21.
In 312, Emperor Constantine acknowledged Christianity as the official religion
and moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium, which was
renamed Constantinople, now Istanbul.
22.
Christians adopted for their church buildings an all-purpose Roman assembly hall
type called the basilica.
23.
The walls of most Byzantine churches were covered with elaborate mosaics,
pictures made from small colored pieces of stone.
24.
Romanesque churches were characterized by solid walls and sturdy round arches.
Gothic churches were characterized by pointed rib vaulting and thin light open
walls that allowed large stained-glass windows.
25.
The support system of most Gothic churches is on the outside of the building,
where massive buttresses hold up the walls. Buttresses that rise above the roof
are called flying buttresses.
26.
Small scale illustrations and decorations in sacred books are called illumination.
27.
The first church to follow the innovations of the Gothic style in one building was
Chartres Cathedral.