AP Art History Final Exam Review
Prehistoric
Altamira, Chauvet, and Lascaux are sites where cave paintings were discovered
Venus of Willendorf
 Paleolithic statue of a female figure
 Sculpture in the round
 May represent fertility
Ancient Near East
Ziggurats
Votive figures
Standard of Ur
Stele
Assyrian relief sculpture
 Lion hunts
Ancient Egypt
Mastaba
Step Pyramid
 Step Pyramid of Djoser – created by history’s first recorded architect - Imhotep
Pyramid
Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt
 Old Kingdom
 Discovered in a tomb
 Entertained his ka
 Shows his status (hierarchical scale)
Akhenaton
 New Kingdom pharaoh
 Major impact on Egyptian culture (changed Egyptian religion to worshipping only
one god)
 Moved capital to a site known as Tell-el-Amarna today
 Art style changed to show figures with elongated necks and heads, potbellies, and
wide hips
 Short impact – after his death, Egyptian culture returned back to polytheism and
traditional Egyptian figural depictions returned
Pylon Temples
 Pylon – monumental entrance into the temple
 Contained a hypostyle hall
Howard Carter – discovered King Tut’s tomb
Aegean (islands and civilizations of the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece)
Lion’s Gate
 Entrance to citadel of Mycenae
 Used corbelled construction
Ancient Greece
Much of what we know as Greek sculpture is based on Roman copies
Four phases of Greek art
 Geometric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic
Archaic
 Used kouros statues to mark graves of young men
 Kouros statues show influence of Egyptian art – figures are upright, have a rigid
stance, and one foot striding forward
 Greek kouros is NUDE – difference from Egyptian
 Kore – statue of a draped female figure
Archaic vase painting
 Major Greek industry and form of art – only surviving Greek painting can be seen
on vases
 Black figure
 Red figure
Classical
 HAIR – Heroic, Aloof, Idealized, and Restrained
Warrior of Riace
 Heroic warrior stands in contrapposto
 Made out of hollow-cast bronze
 Idealized body
Athenian Acropolis
 Fortified hilltop in Athens that contained the holy structures of Athens
 Parthenon was the most important temple, dedicated to Athena Parthenos (Athena
the Virgin); Parthenon is a Doric temple
 Other buildings include the Propylaia (gatehouse), Erectheion, Temple of Athena
Nike (Athena the Victorious)
Hellenistic – Greek art after the death of Alexander the Great
Winged Victory
 Dramatic statue of Nike, goddess of victory, landing on the prow of a ship
 Found in the Louvre
Venus de Milo
 Partially nude statue of Venus; demonstrates erotic side of Hellenistic art
 Found in the Louvre
Laocoon and his Sons
 Statue depicting the death of a Trojan priest (Gods sent snakes to kill him and his
sons after he warned the Trojans not to accept the horse left by the Greeks during
the Trojan War)
 Very expressionistic – typical of Hellenistic period
 Sculpted by Hegesandros, Polydoros, and Ahtanadoros of Rhodes
Ancient Rome
Etruscans
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
Predecessors to the Romans in central Italy
Had a thriving civilization that traded with ancient Greece (collected Archaic
vases)
 Reclining couple sarcophagus – shows a husband and wife reclining;
demonstrates the elevated status women enjoyed in the Etruscan civilization;
made out of terracotta (clay)
Republican Roman portrait busts
 Before the Caesars became the rulers of the Roman Empire
 Aristocratic Roman families kept portrait busts of deceased loved ones
 Portrait busts were a record of their lineage and were brought out during funeral
processions
 Made from marble, show gravitas (seriousness) and are veristic (very truthful) in
appearance – unidealized realism
Alexander Mosaic aka Battle of Issus
 Depicts climactic moment in famous battle in which Alexander the Great defeated
King Darius III of Persia
 Based on a well known Hellenistic painting that no longer exists but was written
about by Roman historians
Arch of Titus
 Dedicated to Emperor Titus, who led the conquest of Jerusalem in 70 CE
 Relief on the inside of the arch shows the Roman soldiers plundering Jerusalem
(one soldier carries a menorah)
 Example of historical narrative – Romans recorded their achievements
Late Roman Empire
 Rome began to decline in power
 Christianity became a major religion in the Roman Empire
Old Saint Peter’s Basilica
 Built during the reign of Constantine – one of the last Roman emperors and first
emperor to accept and legalize Christianity
 Located in Rome
 A basilica – a long rectangular building; basilicas became the main form for
churches in Western Europe
 Basilicas had a central nave, wooden roof, and clerestory windows
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
 Coffin of Junius Bassus, prefect (mayor) of Rome ca. 350 CE
 Junius Bassus became a Christian and wanted his sarcophagus to reflect his new
religious beliefs
 Niches on the side of sarcophagus show figures from the Bible
 Contains Christian figures but still has some Roman features
Early Christian art often shows Christ as the Good Shepherd
Byzantine Art
When Constantine came to power he moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome
to Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople
 Rome was conquered by the barbarians


Constantinople still stood
Byzantine Empire viewed itself as what was left of the eastern part of Roman
Empire
 Christianity was the dominant religion
Byzantine churches
 Often central plan (circular or square) with a dome in the ceiling
 Hagia Sophia – dome supported by PENDENTIVES – concanve, triangular stone
supports that transfer the weight from dome to the corner piers, helped create light
inside the church
Byzantine mosaics
 Found in Byzantine churches
 Teach about Christianity, show biblical figures
 Flat, floating, and frontal with golden backgrounds
Icons and iconoclasm
 Small wooden panels with images of holy figures
 Iconoclasm – period during which icons were being destroyed
Islamic Art
 Focused on Islamic religion, worshipping Allah
 No images of people or animals allowed in Islamic holy structures; therefore,
there are no narrative works of art in mosques
 Parts of a mosque include: a hypostyle hall (used for communal prayer), qibla
(wall that shows the direction of Mecca), and minaret (a tower from which
someone calls people to pray)
Early Medieval Art
Western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire but before the Romanesque period
(1000 CE0
Art of the Warrior Lords aka Animal Style
 Christianity had not really spread through Europe yet
Sutton-Hoo purse cover
 Purse cover was discovered at the Sutton-Hoo ship burial in England
 Made using the technique of cloisonné
 Contains abstract animal imagery in the design
Hiberno-Saxon
 Art created in the British Isles
 Shows the influence of Christianity
 Celtic crosses become popular
Illuminated Manuscripts
 Produced by monks in scriptoria, part of Hiberno-Saxon tradition
 Lindisfarne Gospels – the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, also
contains carpet pages – pages that are extensively decorated with interlace designs
Carolingian art
 800s in France and Germany

Charlemagne and the revival of the Roman empire; called the Holy Roman
Emperor
 Revival of learning – illuminated manuscripts spread
Ottonian art
 900s in Germany
 Bishop Bernward and the bronze doors of Saint Michael’s at Hildesheim
Romanesque
Style popular in Western Europe from 1000 – 1150, a time of many religious pilgrimages
to visit the relics of various churches in Europe
Key elements
 Round arches, barrel vaults – when the ceiling looks like a row of round arches
resembling a barrel, heavy stone construction, use of columns
 Use of exterior stone sculpture – had not been done since the Late Roman Empire
 Different from Roman architecture – Romanesque architects adapted Roman
elements to fit their interests – Christianity. Romanesque churches are ornately
decorated with sculpture on the exterior and often have towers on the corners
 Oriented toward the east – the holy city of Jerusalem – the apse, ambulatory, and
choir are oriented toward the east
Romanesque basilicas
 Churches often are long and rectangular but have a cruciform shape made up of
the nave and transept
 Crossing square – where nave and transept intersect, is the main unit of
measurement for the size of other parts of the church
 Three-dimensional sections/modules of the church are called bays
 Nave covered by a barrel vault
 Built in response to the rise of pilgrimages
Saint Lazare at Autun
 Famous tympanum (lunette-shaped area above the door) depicting the Last
Judgment
Leaning Tower of Pisa
 Actually a campanile or bell tower
Gothic
Became popular in the late 1100’s through the 1300’s; based on recommendations for
church architecture made by Abbot Suger and his remodeling of Saint-Denis cathedral
Key characteristics
 Greater height with multiple levels (nave arcade, triforium, clerestory)
 Large areas of stained glass windows in the clerestory
 Pointed arches
 Ribbed groin vaults in the ceiling
 Use of flying buttresses on the exterior of the building for support
Gothic sculpture

Figures often stand in a position called the Gothic S-curve – an attempt by the
artist to show greater naturalism but still conceals the anatomy of the people
under their clothing – Gothic S-curve is different from contrapposto used by
Greeks, Romans, and Renaissance artists
 Example: Virgin of Jeanne d’Evreux – famous small, golden reliquary statue that
shows Mary holding baby Jesus; statue conveys a feeling of spirituality
Illuminated manuscripts
Stained-glass windows – along with illuminated manuscripts was one of the main forms
of two-dimensional art during the Gothic period
Precursors of the Renaissance – 1300’s
Artists who began to show glimpses of the rise of realism and naturalism that would be
realized 100 years later during the Renaissance
 Figures appear to have more body mass and artists use more realistic shading
 Greater sense of depth, illusion of a three-dimensional space
Main precursors of Renaissance
 Pisano – famous sculptor who sculpted a pulpit for baptistery in Pisa
 Giotto – painted famous fresco cycle in Arena Chapel
 Duccio – famous Sienese painter who painted La Maesta
Giotto’s Lamentation
 Famous scene from Arena Chapel of Christ laying on the ground after Crucifixion
surrounded by mourners
 Figures look realistic in both body proportions and sense of emotion
 Bodies have sculpturesque form
Duccio’s La Maesta
 Famous altarpiece produced for Siena Cathedral
 Shows strong Byzantine influence
 Painted in tempera (using egg yolks)
Renaissance
Basic characteristics of Renaissance painting
 Influence of humanism aka classical Greco-Roman culture – includes elements of
mythology as well as realistic but also idealized human figures
 Compositions are balanced and orderly often relying on a careful geometric plan
such as a pyramid composition
 Three-dimensional illusionism – Renaissance painters wanted to create the
illusion of a three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional space; that’s why they
used chiaroscuro and linear perspective
Early Renaissance – 1400s or 15th century
 Florence is the main center
Donatello-famous sculptor of early 1400s
 Created the first free-standing nude statue since antiquity (classical) time – David
 Created the first monumental equestrian statue – Gattamelata – which depicts a
famous Italian warlord
Brunelleschi-famous architect of early 1400s
 Discovered rules of linear perspective
Masaccio-famous painter of early 1400s
 Painted Tribute Money fresco – part of a series of frescoes in a chapel
 Saint Peter is the focal point; he is shown three times aka continuous narration
Alberti
 Famous architect, painter, and writer of the Renaissance
 Wrote books on painting, sculpture, and architecture
 Wrote about rules for linear perspective
Botticelli-famous painter of later 1400s
 Painted Birth of Venus and La Primavera for the Medici family
 Tempera painting
 Based on a neoplatonist poem (show interest in humanism aka study of classical
culture)
Pollaiullo – famous painter who also became famous for producing one of the earliest
engravings called Battle of the Ten Nudes
Perugino
 Painted Delivery of the Keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter in the Sistine Chapel
 It is a fresco on one of the side walls along with several other frescoes by
Renaissance artists
 Figures look balanced and solid – bodies look natural
 Besides Jesus, Saint Peter is the focal point
 It contains the techniques of chiaroscuro and linear perspective
High Renaissance – early 1500s or 16th century
 Rome becomes the center of the arts with patronage from the Renaissance Popes
such as Julius II
Leonardo
 Great artist, scientist, and inventor of the High Renaissance
 Born in Vinci, a small town near Florence
 Painted the Mona Lisa, which brings together some of the greatest Renaissance
painting techniques
 Mona Lisa has a great sense of depth through the use of linear and atmospheric
perspective
 Leonardo used sfumato to blend the forms together and make the painting look
more realistic
 Leonardo painted Mona Lisa in a three-quarters pose, which was innovative for
the time
Michelangelo
 David – symbol of Florence; Michelangelo was a proud Florentine; the city of
Florence commissioned him to make David which was displayed in the town
square
 Carved Moses for Tomb of Julius II
 Created a series of unfinished slave statues
 Fresco cycle in the Sistine Chapel
Raphael
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Famous for his Madonna paintings
Combined elements of Leonardo and Michelangelo to create his own style
Painted Galatea – part of fresco cycle based on mythology – Galatea is trying to
get away from the Cyclops Poylphemus by riding away on a shell pulled by
dolphins; Cupid sends putti to shoot her with arrows to make her fall in love
Isabella d’Este – greatest female patron of the arts during the Renaissance period
Venice during the High Renaissance
 Became a major artistic center
 First area in Italy to embrace oil painting
 Giorgione, Bellini, and Titian were three famous Venetian artists
Palladio
 Great 16th century Venetian architect
 Famous for his villas on the Venetian mainland
Northern Renaissance
Began in Flanders during the 15th century aka Flemish Renaissance
Pioneers of oil painting who shared the painting technique with Italian artists
Basic characteristics
 Tremendous detail in surface textures and backgrounds
 Vibrant and rich colors because of the use of oil paint
 Use of symbols – hidden meanings in the guise of everyday objects
 More Gothic style proportions – different from Italian Renaissance because not
influenced by classical sculpture
 Later during the Northern Renaissance, artists such as Durer were influenced by
the Protestant Reformation
Jan van Eyck – famous 15th century Flemish painter
 Painted the Arnolfini Marriage portrait
Bosch
 Fantastical scenes that are enigmatic
 Influenced the Surrealists of the 20th century
Albrecht Durer
 Multi-talented artist of Germany called the “Leonardo of the North”
 Famous for his engravings ex. Fall of Man (Adam and Eve committing Original
Sin)
Mannerism
1530s through 1600 – period of art that came after High Renaissance but before Baroque
Basic characteristics
 Figures are twisted in figura serpentinata
 Unusual lighting effects
 Elongated body parts especially the hands
 Exaggerated and asymmetrical compositions
El Greco
 Famous painter who spent most of his career in Spain
 His paintings exhibit stylistic qualities similar to Mannerism
Baroque
Major artistic period of the 1600s or 17th century; swept through Western Europe; took
different forms depending on the region of Europe
Italy, Spain, and Flanders
 Baroque art was influenced by the Catholic Counter-Reformation Church – art
was used to attract people to come to Catholic Church
 Leaders of the Catholic Church such as popes and cardinals as well as monarchs
are the main patrons of the arts
Caravaggio
 Italian Baroque painter
 Made tenebrism – shadowy background with dramatic spotlight effect – popular
 Focused on the most dramatic moments of a story – made his paintings popular
with the Catholic Church
 Used everyday people as models for the characters in his paintings
 Inspired many followers called the Caravaggisti – Such as Artemesia Gentileschi
(painted Judith Beheading Holofernes)
Bernini
 Famous sculptor and architect of Italian Baroque period
 Created a statue of David – very dynamic and twisting, shows the moment of
dramatic tension as he is about to release the stone that will kill Goliath – similar
to the expressionistic qualities of Hellenistic art
 Bernini also created the baldacchino (bronze canopy) that is under the dome of
Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome
Velazquez
 Spanish Baroque painter
 Painted Las Meninas
 Contains lighting effects that are similar to Caravaggio – tenebrism
 Spanish Royal family (Philip IV) was Velazquez’ main patron
Dutch Baroque
 Some differences from Italian Baroque
 Dutch were Protestants who disapproved of religious art in churches
 Dutch were successful merchants and businesspeople – they became the major
patrons of art
 Dutch liked vanitas still-lifes, portraits and group portraits, and landscapes (Dutch
were proud of their land)
Famous Dutch Masters
 Frans Hals
 Rembrandt van Rijn
 Vermeer
 Jacob van Ruisdael
Judith Leyster
 Studied with Frans Hals
 Painted famous self-portrait – concerned with showing her skill and status
Versailles
 Commissioned by Louis XIV
 Famous Hall of Mirrors
 Architects: Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Charles Le Brun
Louis XIV
 Greatest patron of the arts in Europe during late 17th century – early 18th century
 Commissioned work from Rigaud (portraits), Bernini, as well as the building of
Versailles
Rococo
Popular style in Spain and France during the early 1700s or 18th century
Popular with noble and wealthy families – “nobles at play”
Basic characteristics
 Playfully erotic, light-hearted, lack deep meaning
 Use of pastel colors and soft brushwork
 Fete galantes – outdoor festive gatherings
 Rococo buildings are known for their ornate decorations
Neoclassical
People grew tired of the frivolity (meaninglessness) of Rococo; they wanted to be
inspired; they wanted paintings that had rationality and order to them not playful, erotic
paintings
William Hogarth – not really a Neoclassical painter but a good example of how people
grew tired of aristocrats aka the nobles
 Painted Marriage a la Mode, a satirical series of paintings that poked fun at the
behavior of the nobles
Pompeii and Herculaneum was discovered in 1748 – interest in the classical world was
rekindled
Neoclassical art and architecture was popular in the later part of the 1700s-early 1800s or
late 18th-early19th centuries
Basic characteristics:
 Moralizing messages – paintings and sculpture that inspire people to want to
sacrifice themselves for the state Ex. David’s Oath of the Horatii
 Idealized, classical looking body-types
 Rational, orderly compositions
 Classical architecture references – round arches, columns, and temple-like
buildings
 Highly finished appearance
Jacques-Louis David
 Most famous Neoclassical painter of the late 18th century
 Interested in political revolution – Remember that during the late 1700s France
was experience the French Revolution
 Oath of the Horatii – based on a Roman play, morally uplifting message – selfsacrifice
Antonio Canova – sculpted Cupid and Psyche
 Famous Neoclassical sculptor of the early 1800s
Napoleon Bonaparte
 Major patron of David
 Most frequently depicted figure by Neoclassical artists
Jean-August-Dominique Ingres
 Student of David
 Last great champion of Neoclassical values in art – continued painting in a
Neoclassical style into the mid-19th century
 Painted the famous Princesse de Broglie in the Met (the woman with the blue
dress)
Romanticism
Early 1800s until 1840s or the first half of the 19th century
Romantics despised the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment; Romantics believed that
life and art should be inspired by feeling and emotion
Neoclassical art was too rational and orderly for Romantics
Basic characteristics:
 Emotional
 Interest in nature – nature doesn’t follow the rule of reason; it’s raw and untamed
 Heroic struggles against the odds
 The brushwork is less finished aka there is more emphasis on color – expresses
the emotion of the artist
 Exotic places – Turkey, Morocco, India
Theodore Gericault – Painted Raft of the Medusa
 An real event: survivors of a shipwreck were abandoned by the government and
had to struggle to survive at sea; most of them died
 Gericault challenged the government for appointing an incapable captain and then
minimizing the incident (only 15 people were rescued out of 150 people)
 Gericault used Baroque lighting effects to heighten the drama and used a
composition that created a sense of immediacy
Eugene Delacroix
 Most famous French Romantic painter
 His paintings such as Death of Sardanapalus, Liberty Leading the People, and
Tiger Hunt express the values of Romantic art
Caspar David Friedrich – painted Wanderer Above a Sea of Mist
 Famous for his landscapes that show a solitary figure from behind trying to be at
one with nature
J.M.W. Turner
 Famous English Romantic painter
 Paintings have very expressive brushwork and are considered precursors of
modern abstract art
 The Slave Ship – a painting based on an actual event in which a slave ship captain
ordered that his sick and dying slaves be thrown overboard; the painting shows
the sublime force of nature aka the power of the sea
Realism
Popular in the 1850s, rejected Neoclassical and Romantic art
Basic characteristics:
 Interested in real people and real events of their time
 Use drab or muted colors to express their time
 Interest in the struggles of the working class and peasants
 Criticized the government and the establishment
Gustave Courbet
 Quoted as saying: “I cannot paint and angel because I have never seen one.”
Francois Millet
 Painted realistic scenes of peasants at work in the countryside
Honore Daumier
 Painted Third Class Carriage and did lithographs for the popular press; his
lithographs challenged the government and he was famous for doing caricatures
of leaders of his time
Photography
Invented during the 19th century
Created both a challenge as well as an aid for painting
 Photographs can accurately capture the appearance of a person – challenge to
traditional portraiture
 Photography could be used to help artists paint more realistic pictures – wouldn’t
need to have a person sit for many hours while painting a portrait – artist could
use the photograph
Impressionism
Inspired by Realism – direct observation of the world and nature; popular during the
1870s – 1880s
Basic characteristics:
 Interest in the fleeting effects of natural light on color; avoided using black; often
juxtaposed complimentary colors
 Liked to paint outdoors to capture natural sunlight; painted several versions of the
same location to show the effects of light on color
 Interest in bourgeois aka middle-class life
 Use of short, choppy brushstrokes – painters had to work quickly to capture the
moment; shows the influence of Romantic painting
 Edges are cropped – shows the influence of photography (capturing a moment in
time/ a slice of life) and Japanese woodblock prints (ex. Great Wave off
Kanagawa)
Monet
Degas
Renoir
Post-Impressionism – 1890s
Period after Impressionism; artists were influenced by Impressionism but dissatisfied
with it
Vincent Van Gogh
 Used color and swirling and choppy brushstrokes as well as thick application of
paint to express his unique view of the world around him
 Different from Impressionists who wanted to record the fleeting effects of light
during a specific moment; Van Gogh did observe the world around him but
brought his own personality into his paintings
20th century art
Dorothea Lange
 20th century American photographer
 Famous for her photography Migrant Mother
 Took many photographs of poor migrant workers out west during the Great
Depression
Abstract Expressionism
 1950s
 Artists use paint to express their inner selves without thoroughly planning out
their works; let their inner selves come out onto the canvas
 Jackson Pollock
 Chromatic abstraction – a different type of Abstract Expressionism from Pollock
and de Kooning in which artists use abstract blocks of color to express their inner
feelings
 Chromatic abstraction is also known as “color fields”
 Mark Rothko – big blocks of color on monochromatic backgrounds
 Helen Frankenthaler – “color stain” paintings
Hard Edge art
 1960s
 Reaction against all the expressive qualities of Abstract Expressionism
 Abstract art that has very straight lines and flat application of color; basic
geometric forms
 Hard Edge artists wanted to demonstrate the basic elements of art – color and line
– removing the feelings of the artist
Pop Art
 1960s
 Used images of everyday society such as comic books, advertisements, movies,
and television
 Andy Warhol – best known for doing multiple copies of the same image whether
it was Campbell’s Soup, Coca Cola, Marilyn Monroe, or Elvis
 Roy Lichtenstein – best known for comic strip style paintings; to make his
paintings look even more like comic strips, Lichtenstein painted with tiny dots
called benday dots

Claes Oldenburg – best known for enlarged sculptures of everyday objects such as
food items
Environmental Art
 1960s and 1970s
 Often site-specific – works of art that have to exist in a certain environment to
have meaning
 Robert Smithson and Spiral Jetty
 Nancy Holt and Sun Tunnels
 Christo and Jeanne-Claude – using fabrics in nature; wrapping up structures in
fabric
Key Terms
Encaustic – a painting medium that uses melted wax applied while still hot
Sarcophagus – a large stone or terracotta coffin popular with the Egyptians, Etruscans,
and Romans
Repousse – a metal-working technique that involves hammering a design from one side
of the metal, punching out the design to the other side of the metal; Mycenaean and the
Death Mask of King Tut used repousse
Hypostyle Hall – a room filled with columns; Egyptian pylon temples had them, the
Palace of Knossos in Crete had one, and mosques have hypostyle halls used for
communal prayer
Cartoon – a preliminary drawing or painting done as a rough draft before a major finished
painting; Renaissance and Neoclassical painters often created cartoons
Grisaille – painting with grayish tones to simulate sculpture and architecture
Triptych – a three-paneled work of art
Genre painting – paintings of everyday life; genre paintings were popular with both 17th
century Dutch Baroque artists and Realists of the 19th century
Benday dots – tiny dots of color used in comic books; instead of using colors like pink,
comic strip printers use red benday dots on white to make it look pink; Roy Lichtenstein,
the famous Pop Artist used benday dots in his paintings