AP Art History Study Guide
Sumerian/Neo-Sumerian
Conceptual view


Twisted perspective
 Composite view
Abstraction
 Hierarchy of scale
 Line defining form


Flat, frontal, floating, & formal
Flat color
Optical view
 Modeling (light/shadow)
 Linear perspective
 Foreshortening
 Atmospheric perspective
Civilization
 City-state
 Cuneiform
 Epic of Gilgamesh
 Stamp seal / cylinder seal
Akkadian Art as political statement
 Stele (commemorate a historical event)
 Mutilation
Babylonian/Neo-Babylonian Babylonian
 King Hammurabi
 Law code
 Image + text
Hittite
Assyrian
 Foreshortening
Lion gate
Art as political statement
Sculpture
 Stone
 Marble
 Wood
 Ivory
 Bronze
Glazed brick
Relief
 Bas relief
 High relief
 Sunken relief
Private vs. Public space



Ziggurat
Cella
Votive offering
Sargon
Naram-Sin
Neo-Babylonian



Nebuchadnezzar
Ishtar gate
Glazed brick
Sargon II
Neo-Babylonian
Persian
Glazed brick
Apadana Darius the Great
Xerxes
Fresco
 Buon “true” fresco
 Fresco secco
Repoussé
Mosaic
Cloisonné
Tempera
Encaustic
Oil Paint
Polytheistic
 Anu
 Innana/Ishtar
 Shamash
Fortified citadels
 Lamassu
 Wall reliefs (war/lion hunts)
 Enclosed courtyards, throne rooms, ziggurat, sanctuaries
Ground line
Register / frieze / band
Sculpture in the round
Subtractive/Additive sculpture
Narrative in art
 Registers/bands/frieze
 Ground line
Conceptual view
 Composite view
Twisted perspective

Ancient Egypt
 ca. 3000 to 1 BCE o Old Kingdom Egypt o Middle Kingdom Egypt o New Kingdom Egypt o Amarna Period
Cycladic
 ca. 2500 BCE
Minoan
 ca. 2000 to 1200 BCE
Mycenaean
 ca. 1700 to 1200 BCE
 Hieroglyph
 Palette
 Sphinx
 Nemes


Uraeus
 Canon
Atlantid / caryatid
 Block statues
Small marble sculpture
D/T: geometric / abstract
Buon (‘true’) fresco
D/T: lively / animated / movement
Subject: landscape, nature, harvesting, ceremonial bull leaping
 Repoussé
 Gold
 Subject: War, hunting, guardian lions
 Subject of Homer’s Iliad
Religion
 Ka
 Ben-ben
 Mummification
 Book of the Dead
Polytheistic
 Osiris
 Horus
 Anubis
 Seth
Monotheistic
 Aton (Amarna period)
Unclear function
 Found at burial sites as well as in settlements
Pharaohs


Narmer (aka Menes )
Old Kingdom
 Djoser
 o Imhotep (architect)
Khafre, Khufu, & Menkaure
New Kingdom
Hatshepsut o Senmut (architect)
 Ramses II
 King Tut (Tutankhamen)
Amarna Period
 Akhenaten (Amarna period)
 Necropolis
 Mortuary temple/complex
 Engaged columns
 Ashlar masonry



Hypostyle hall
Development of Egyptian tombs
Mastaba
Stepped pyramid
 “True” pyramid
 Rock cut temples
 Pylon temples
Multi-story buildings organized around central courtyards
 Minoan columns (wood)
 Open interior spaces
King Minos and the minotaur
Fortified citadels
 Protective/defensive walls
 Approach ramp
 Cyclopean masonry
 Lion gate
 Megaron o Minoan style columns
 Corbelled arch
 o Relieving triangle
Tholos (beehive) tombs

Ancient Greece
 ca. 900 BCE to 30 BCE o Geometric Period o Orientalizing Period o Archaic period ( o Classical Period
 5 th cent. BCE o Late Classical Period o Hellenistic
Etruscan
 ca. 700 to 100 BCE
Democracy
Demos, rule by the people
Greek ideal—godlike
“Man is the measure of all
things”
Polytheistic;
 Zeus, Hera, Poseidon,
Athena, Apollo, Artemis,

Aphrodite (Venus), Hades,
Dionysus (Bacchus), Eros
(Cupid)
Herakles and his 12 labors
Archaic Greek
6 th century BCE
 D/T: Rigid, frontal, formal, increasing interest in anatomy, archaic smile
Etruscan temples (cf. Greek or
Roman temples)



Terracotta roof sculpture
Tuscan columns (wood)
No stylobate, narrow staircase, one entrance, terracotta walls and roof.
Temple
 Post & lintel
 Tholos
Cella (naos)  cult statue
Pediment
Frieze
Column (column, shaft, base)
 Doric / Ionic / Corinthian
 Echinus/Volute/Acanthus leafs
Metope & triglyph
Stylobate
Theater
Classical Greek (Early/High)
5 th century BCE
D/T: Idealized, godlike, naturalistic (Kritios Boy), optical view, ‘perfect’ mathematical rations, contrapposto
 Pericles  Parthenon
(y=2x+1)
 Polykleitos  Doryphoros
(1:7 ratio)
Necropolis – “cities of the dead”
Terracotta sculpture
 Roof sculpture
 Sarcophagus (cremation)
Bronze sculpture
 Black figure technique
 Red figure technique
 Whit ground technique
Late Classical Greek
4 th century BCE
 Humanizing spirit
 Sculpture in the round
 Lysippos  Weary Herakles
/ Apoxyomenos (1:8 ratio)
D/T: lively, animated, movement, scenes of banqueting,
Hellenistic Greek
3 rd , 2 nd , & 1 st centuries BCE
 D/T: Exaggerated, emotional, pathos, eroticism, theatrical, dramatic

Ancient Rome
Republican Period
 ca. 509 to 27 BCE
Roman Empire
 ca. 27 BCE to 337 CE
Early Christian a.k.a. Late Antiquity
 ca. 200 to 500 CE
Historical Context
 Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79
CE (1 st century CE)
 Pompeii and Herculaneum
Construction methods
 Concrete
 Rounded Arch
 Barrel/Groin vault
Roman Architecture
Forum, temple, basilica, amphitheater, aqueduct
Roman villa
 Atrium, impluvium, cubiculum, peristyle courtyard cf. Roman & Greek temples
Roman Republican period
Verism (superrealistic)
Imagines
Idealized Classical Greek bodies
 AI: Late Roman Empire (aka
Late Antiquity) o Roman style w/
Christian subject
 Dura-Europos (ca. 250 CE)
 Earliest representations of
Christ crucified (ca. 500 CE)
Roman painting styles
1 st Styles
 Masonry Style
2 nd Style
 “Picture window”, illusion of
3D world, illusionistic devices (modeling & linear/atmospheric
perspective)
3 rd Style
 Elegant monochrome backgrounds with small architectural structures and delicate linear designs
4 th Style
 Continuation of the 3 rd style
 Painted pseudo-architecture
Early Rome Empire
Julio-Claudian
 Augustus (Pax Romana)
 Nero (Damnatio memoriae) o Fire of 64 CE
Flavian
 Vespasian (Colosseum)
Youthful portraiture with
Idealized Classical Greek bodies
Ara Pacas
 Pre-figuration (typology) o Connect Old Testament
 w/ New Testament
Christ represented as o Good shepherd o Teacher/miracle worker
Statements of
Power/Propaganda
 Column of Trajan
 Triumphal Arches
 Equestrian portraits
 Public buildings (forums, bath houses, etc.)
High Rome Empire
 Trajan (succession through adoption; Spanish born)
 Hadrian (Pantheon)
 Marcus Aurelius
(Meditations)
 Forum of Trajan/Markets of
Trajan (Apollodorus of
Damascus)
 Pantheon o Dome, oculus, coffers,
Mosaics
 Pebble mosaic
 Tesserae mosaic
Sarcophaguses
Late Rome Empire
 Caracalla
 Diocletian (Tetrarchy)
 Constantine (1 st Christian emperor and moved the capital to Constantinople)
“Decline of creativity”
Late Antiquity/Early Christian
Early Christian architecture
 Wood roofs
 Basilican plan o Longitudinal plan o AI: Roman administrative basilicas
 Central plan o AI: Roman tholos o Ambulatory

Byzantine

 ca. 500 to 1500 CE
(527 to 1453 CE)
Islamic ca. 600 CE to now
Hiberno-Saxon (Insular)
 ca. 500 to 800 CE
Viking
 ca. 800 CE
Carolingian
 ca. 800s CE
Ottonian
 ca. 900 to 1000 CE
Romanesque
 ca. 1050 to 1200 CE
Flat, frontal, floating, & formal
Gold background
Spiritual world
Muhammad (prophet of god)


Muslim, “submission to god”
Koran, “recitations”
Migratory/Warrior Lords



Charlemagne
 Classical revival o Equestrian portrait o Coronation Gospels o Palatine church, Aachen
Otto I, II, & III

Merovingian
Hiberno-Saxon
Viking
Classical revival
Pilgrimage church
Rounded arches
Stone masonry
Barrel vaults
Groin vaults
Sexpartite vault
Bay
Pier


Christ represented as o o
Pantokrator
Eternal and powerful
Theotokos
Mosque architecture
 Qibla wall (Meca)
 Mihrab
 Minarets
 Mosaics
 Ship burials
 Small portable objects
(status symbols)
 Illuminated manuscripts o Carpet page
 Basilican plan with wood roof
 Modular plan (monastery at
St. Gall, Switzerland) o Crossing square as a unit of measurement (a
module)
 Westwork
 Cloister
 Timber roofs
 Alternate-support system
 d
Relics / reliquaries
Justinian & Theodora
Hagia Sophia


Hypostyle hall cf. central plan
 Hypostyle = Great mosque,
Cordoba, Spain
 Central plan = Sinan,
Mosque of Salim II, Turkey
Pagan style  Christian Subject
 Animal interlace



Pendentives / squinches allow for the dome to rest on a ‘halo of light’
Central plan + longitudinal
plan (dome on square base)
Zoomorphic
Bishop Bernward and St.
Michaels, Hildeshime

Outline/line with flat color
Abstract/decorative/ornate
Icon
Iconoclasm
 Emperor Leo III
 Second commandment
Republic of Venice  Doge
Islamic conquest (1453 CE)
Mosaics
No images of living things
 Calligraphy
 Arabesque / Tessellation
Christianization
 Monasteries
 Benedictine order
 Abbot
Regional variation

Gothic
 ca. 1140 to 1500 CE o Early Gothic o High Gothic o Late Gothic
Late Medieval
 Italo-Byzantine
 Manera greca

Proto-Renaissance
 ca. 1200 to 1400 CE

International Style
 ca. 1333 CE
Cathedral
Pointed arches
Rib vaulting
Flying buttresses
Stained glass window
Lux nova
Abbot Suger
Humanism classical cf. Classical
Naturalism
Illusionistic devices
 Modeling

 Overlapping

Linear perspective
Foreshortening
Landscape
Tracery
Pinnacles
Altarpiece
Predella
Tempera
Buon fresco
Gold leaf
Regional variation
French Gothic cf. English Gothic
Guilds
Florence vs. Siena
Cimabue
Giotto
Duccio
Simone Martini
Black death (bubonic plague)
Guilds
Gold florin
Campanile