Early Europe and America
Unit 5.1: Late Antiquity to Late Medieval
Text: Chapter 7, Chapters 14-17 of Art History
Late Antiquity/Byzantine Key Concepts: transformations: pagan architectural spaces that provide a model for
Christian sacred space; pagan symbols or figures adopted for Christian purposes; early Christianity: key events in
the lives of the Virgin Mary and Jesus; Christian symbols: reading and understanding images; the basilica church;
mosaics; illuminated manuscripts; the importance of Ravenna.
Early Medieval Key Concepts: metal craft; interlace patterns; Viking art; Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts; Classical
and Medieval figural style; the contributions of Charlemagne; monasteries and manuscript illumination; cloisters;
abbey churches
Romanesque Key Concepts: pilgrimages; experiments with vaulting methods to solve the problems associated
with building with stone; reliquaries; Crusades; church architectural vocabulary; Romanesque sculpture style;
tympanums—style and content; illuminated manuscripts and the debate over decoration; the Bayeux Tapestry and
historical document.
Gothic Key Concepts: height and light; cathedral architectural vocabulary; civic pride and competition; Abbey
Church of St. Denis; rib vaulting; stained glass; moralized Bibles
APAH Homework Assignment
Due: __________________________
1. Read the relevant pages in your art history text (top right of this paper) and make clear (but brief) notes on
the background information and applicable art work. This is for deeper contextual understanding.
Anything from the background or assigned artworks in the chapter may show up on your unit testseven if we didn’t go over it.
2. Explain/define (briefly) all words in the “Vocabulary” section that you are uncertain of-use the textbook
glossary or a dictionary. Use loose leaf paper.
3. Answer the study questions. Use loose leaf paper. Study questions and vocabulary will all be turned in
on the day of the test, along with your flash cards.
4. Complete relevant sections of https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-world Note:
anything from Khan Academy’s quizzes may show up on your unit tests.
5. All image flash cards (cue cards).
Key Words and Terms
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
ambulatory
animal style
Annunciation
apse
arcade
archivolt
Ascension
Assumption
atrium
42. Monasteries/monks
43. narthex
44. nave
45. niche
46. Orants
47. pendentive
48. portal
49. reliquary
50. Resurrection
10. basilica
11. bay
12. buttress
13. calligraphy
14. catacombs
15. cathedral
16. central plan
17. choir
18. clerestory
19. cloissone’
20. cloister
21. Codex (codices)
22. compound pier
23. Crucifixion
24. Cruciform plan
25. embroidery
26. Fibula (fibulae)
27. flying buttress
28. homunculus
29. horror vacui
30. Icon
31. Iconoclasm
32. Idol
33. Illuminated manuscripts
34. Imperial attributes
35. interlacing
36. jamb
37. lunette
38. Jesus Christ
39. mausoleum
40. Menorah
41. minarets
51. rib vaulting
52. Rose window
53. squinch
54. tempera
55. tesserae
56. Theotokos
57. transept
58. Transfiguration
59. triforium
60. Triptych
61. trumeau
62. tympanum
63. vellum
64. venerate
65. voussoirs
Homework Questions
1. What was the importance of Constantine in the Christian religion?
2. What was the influence of the Roman basilica on Jewish synagogues and Christian churches?
3. Discuss the appropriation of pagan temple elements in Christian churches.
4. What was the importance of Ravenna, Italy?
5. Who were Justinian and Theodora?
6. What is different about San Vitale than Santa Sabina? Name three differences.
7. What is the difference in Roman art and Early Christian art-how to tell them apart?
8. What are the three “F”s relating to Byzantine art?
9. What is a mosaic?
10. What is the difference in Early Christian art and Byzantine art-how to tell them apart?
11. In Early Medieval art, why was artwork often portable?
12. What important work was done by monks? Describe the process.
13. Why are most Romanesque churches made of stone?
14. What advantage did stone vaults have over wooden roofs?
15. List four modifications made in Romanesque churches along the pilgrimage route to accommodate the
large crowds and the relics they came to see
16. The main drawback to barrel vaulting was:
17. What type of vault offered a solution to the problem of barrel vaulting?
18. What did a Gothic cathedral symbolize?
19. What are the advantages of the pointed arch over the rounded arch?
20. What is the function of a flying buttress and how does it differ from a buttress?
21. What is the importance of the Abbey Church of St. Denis?
22. What innovations of Gothic architects enabled them to lighten the walls and the vaults so as to be able to
admit more light through larger clerestory windows, as well as attain greater height?
23. How does the nave elevation of a Gothic church differ from that of a Romanesque?
24. Why did stained glass windows play such an important role in Gothic religious architecture?
25. Discuss the relationship between stained glass windows and manuscript illumination in the Gothic
period. Why did stained glass windows play such an important role in Gothic religious architecture?
26. What aspects of the artistic style of Giotto later became significant in the development of Renaissance
art?
27. What influence did Giotto show in the composition of his paintings?
1. Label this Romanesque portal: lintel, jamb figures, spandrel, colonnette, jamb column, jamb pedestal,
tympanum
2. Label this Gothic portal: spandrel, archivolts, finial, pinnacle, tracery, gable, lintel, trumeau, jamb figures,
crocket, canopy, tympanum,
3. Be able to label the cross-section of this Gothic Cathedral (Chartres):