Please select from the menu above
- abbess
- abbey
- abbot
- abstract art
- Abstract Expressionism
- académie
- Académie des Beaux-Arts
- academy
- acanthus
- acrolith
- acropolis
- acroteria
- acrylic
- action painting
- adobe
- aerial perspective
- agora
- ahu ‘ula
- airbrush
- akua ba
- alabaster
- alabastron
- albumen print
- alla prima
- allegory
- altarpiece
- ambo
- ambulatory
- American Scene painting
- amorino
- amphitheater
- amphora
- amulet
- analogous colors
- anamorphosis
- Anastasis
- animal interlace
- animal style
- ankh
- Annunciation
- antefix
- anthemion
- antimony yellow
- apadana
- apocrypha
- apodyterium
- apotheosis
- apotropaic
- appliqué
- appropriation
- apse
- aquamanile
- aquatint
- aqueduct
- arabesque
- arcade
- arch
- Archaic
- architrave
- archivolts
- armature
- Armory Show
- Arretine ware
- Art Brut
- Art Deco
- Art Nouveau
- artist’s proof
- Arts and Crafts
- aryballos
- Ashcan School
- ashlar
- askos
- assemblage
- atelier
- atlas
- atmospheric perspective
- atrium
- attribute
- attribution
- aureole
- automatism
- avant-garde
- axial plan
- axonometric projection
- bacchante
- baldachin
- baluster
- balustrade
- baptismal font
- baptistery
- Barbizon School
- barkcloth
- Baroque
- barrel vault
- bas-de-page
- bas-relief
- basilica
- batik
- battlement
- Bauhaus
- bay
- bay window
- bead and reel
- beaker
- beehive tomb
- belvedere
- Ben-Day dots
- bestiary
- beveled style
- Bible moralisée
- bichrome
- Biedermeier
- bilingual vase
- binder
- biomorphic
- biscuit
- bisque
- bistre
- black-figure technique
- black-on-black ware
- blind arcade
- Blue Rider
- blue-and-white wares
- bodhisattva
- boiserie
- bole
- bone black
- book of hours
- Book of the Dead
- boss
- bow window
- bozzetto
- bracket
- brayer
- breviary
- brocade
- Brücke, Die
- Brutalism
- bucchero
- bucranium
- buon fresco
- burin
- bust
- buttress
- caftan
- cage cup
- caldarium
- calligraphy
- calotype
- cameo
- camera obscura
- cames
- campanile
- canon of proportions
- canopic jars
- cantilever
- capital
- capriccio
- capstone
- caravansaray
- carbon-14 dating
- caricature
- carmine
- Carolingian
- Carolingian miniscule
- carpet page
- Carrara marble
- carta pesta
- cartellino
- cartoon
- cartouche
- caryatid
- casein paint
- casement window
- cassone
- catacomb
- catalogue raisonné
- cathedra
- cathedral
- cavetto
- celadon
- cella
- cenotaph
- centering
- central plan
- chacmool
- chaitya hall
- chalice
- champlevé
- chancel
- chapter house
- chasing
- chasuble
- château
- chatra
- chattri
- cherub
- cherubim
- chevet
- chevron
- chi-rho
- chiaroscuro
- chimera
- chinoiserie
- chiton
- choir
- chrismon
- christogram
- chryselephantine
- ciborium
- cinerary urn
- cinnabar
- cinquecento
- cipollino
- cippus
- circumambulation
- cire-perdue
- cista
- Classical
- clerestory
- cloisonné
- cloister
- CoBrA
- cochineal
- codex
- coffers
- collage
- colonnade
- colonnette
- colophon
- color circle
- Color Field painting
- color wheel
- colossal order
- column
- combine
- complementary colors
- composite order
- composite pose
- composition
- conceptual art
- concrete
- cong
- connoisseur
- conservator
- Constructivism
- Conté crayon
- continuous narrative
- contrapposto
- convention
- conversation piece
- cope
- COR-TEN steel
- corbel
- corbeled arch
- corbeled dome
- Corinthian order
- cornice
- cornucopia
- Cosmati work
- counterchange
- craquelure
- crazing
- crenellation
- cross vault
- crosshatching
- crossing
- crozier
- cruciform
- crypt
- cubiculum
- Cubism
- cuerda seca
- cuneiform
- cupola
- curator
- curtain wall
- cyclopean masonry
- cyclorama
- cylinder seal
- cyma recta
- cyma reversa
- Dada
- dado
- daga
- daguerreotype
- daka
- dalmatic
- damnatio memoriae
- dealer
- death mask
- decalcomania
- Deconstruction
- découpage
- deesis
- dendrochronology
- dentils
- Deposition
- desco da parto
- dharma
- diaper
- digital photography
- diorama
- diptych
- direct painting
- distemper
- divisionism
- Documenta
- dolmen
- dome
- donor
- Doric order
- dormer
- dossal
- dreamings
- drollery
- dromos
- drum
- dry landscape garden
- drypoint
- duecento
- dugento
- earth art
- earthenware
- earthwork
- ebru
- echorché
- eclectic
- effigy mounds
- egg and dart
- Egyptian blue
- ekphrasis
- electrum
- elevation
- emblema
- embrasure
- embroidery
- Empire style
- enamel
- enamel paint
- encaustic
- engaged column
- engraving
- entablature
- entasis
- environmental art
- etching
- ewer
- ex voto
- exedra
- exemplum virtutis
- expressionism
- extrados
- façade
- faience
- fan vault
- fang ding
- fantastic art
- Fauves
- Federal style
- femmage
- festoon
- fête champêtre
- fête galante
- fibula
- figured capital
- filigree
- finial
- fleur-de-lis
- flutes
- Fluxus
- flying buttress
- folio
- folk art
- foreshortening
- forgery
- forum
- Fourmile polychrome
- fresco
- fresco secco
- frieze
- frigidarium
- frit
- fritware
- frontal
- frottage
- Futurism
- gable
- gallery
- gargoyle
- gelatin silver process
- genre painting
- geoglyph
- Geometric
- gesso
- giant order
- gilding
- giornata di lavoro
- gisant
- glaze
- glazing
- golden ratio
- golden section
- Googie
- gorget
- gorgoneion
- Gothic
- gouache
- graffiti art
- granulation
- graphite
- graver
- Greek cross
- Greek key
- Greek Revival
- grisaille
- groin vault
- grotesque
- groundline
- Guerrilla Girls
- guild
- guilloche
- haggadah
- hajj
- half-column
- handscroll
- haniwa
- happening
- Harlem Renaissance
- harmika
- Harrowing of Hell
- hatching
- Hellenistic
- henge
- herm
- hexastyle
- Hiberno-Saxon
- hierarchic scale
- hieroglyphs
- highlight
- himation
- historiated capital
- historiated initial
- history painting
- honeycomb vaulting
- horseshoe arch
- Hudson River School
- huipil
- humanism
- hydria
- hypocaust
- hypostyle
- icon
- iconoclasm
- iconography
- iconostasis
- idealization
- ignudi
- ikat
- illuminated manuscript
- imbrication
- impasto
- impluvium
- impost block
- Impressionism
- infrared reflectography
- inhabited initial
- inlay
- installation
- Insular
- intaglio
- intarsia
- International Style
- intrados
- Ionic order
- Italianate
- Italo-Byzantine style
- iwan
- Iznik ware
- ka
- kachina
- kaftan
- Kakiemon
- kantharos
- karma
- karyatid
- katsina
- keel arch
- keep
- kente
- keyhole arch
- keystone
- khipu
- kiln
- kimono
- kinetic sculpture
- kitsch
- kiva
- kondo
- kore
- kouros
- krater
- Kubachi ware
- kufic
- kyathos
- kylix
- lacquer
- lagynos
- laid paper
- lakshanas
- lamassu
- Lamentation
- lancet window
- land art
- landscape
- lantern
- lapis lazuli
- lararium
- lead white
- lectionary
- lekythos
- levigation
- libation
- lierne vault
- life mask
- linear perspective
- linocut
- lintel
- lithograph
- loculus
- loggia
- loom
- loophole
- lost-wax method
- lotus
- lukasa
- Luna marble
- lunette
- luster
- madder
- madrasa
- maenad
- maestà
- maghrebi
- Magna
- mahiole
- mahlstick
- maiolica
- malagan
- mandala
- mandorla
- manga
- maniera greca
- manifesto
- Mannerism
- manuscript
- maqsura
- maquette
- marquetry
- mashrabiya
- masjid
- mastaba
- matte
- maulstick
- mausoleum
- meander
- medallion
- medium
- megalith
- megaron
- Meissen
- memento mori
- memory board
- menhir
- menorah
- merlon
- metope
- Mexican Muralism
- mezzotint
- mihrab
- milagro
- millefiore
- mina’i ware
- minaret
- minbar
- miniature
- Minimalism
- Minoan
- mirador
- missal
- Mission Revival
- mixed media
- moai
- mobile
- modeling
- module
- molding
- monochrome
- monolithic
- monotype
- monstrance
- moon jar
- Moorish arch
- mortise and tenon
- mosaic
- mosque
- mother of pearl
- motif
- mudbrick
- mudra
- muhaqqaq
- mullion
- muqarnas
- mural
- mushhushshu
- Mycenaean
- Nabis
- nacre
- naos
- Naples yellow
- narthex
- naskh
- nastaliq
- naturalism
- nave
- Nazarenes
- necropolis
- negative space
- nemes
- Neo-Plasticism
- Neoclassicism
- netsuke
- Neue Sachlichkeit
- New York School
- niello
- nimbus
- nirvana
- non-objective art
- nonrepresentational art
- Nouveau Réalisme
- obelisk
- obi
- obsidian
- ocher
- octastyle
- oculus
- odalisque
- oeuvre
- ogee
- ogee arch
- oil paint
- oinochoe
- olpe
- onyx
- Op Art
- opisthodomos
- opus anglicanum
- opus reticulatum
- opus sectile
- opus vermiculatum
- orant
- oratory
- orchestra
- order
- Orientalism
- Orientalizing
- ormolu
- Orphism
- orpiment
- ostrakon
- Ottonian
- outsider art
- pagoda
- palaestra
- palette
- palette knife
- palimpsest
- palmette
- panel painting
- panorama
- pantokrator
- paper marbling
- papier mâché
- papyrus
- parcel gilt
- parchment
- parfleche
- Parian marble
- pastel
- pastiche
- paten
- patera
- patina
- pattern
- pebble mosaic
- pediment
- pelike
- pendant
- pendentive
- Pentelic marble
- pentimento
- peplos
- performance art
- peripteral
- peristyle
- petroglyph
- pewter
- phiale mesomphalos
- photogram
- photogravure
- photomontage
- photorealism
- picture plane
- picturesque
- pier
- pietà
- pietra dura
- pigment
- pilaster
- pilgrimage
- pilotis
- pinax
- pinnacle
- pishtaq
- pithos
- platinotype
- platinum print
- plein-air
- plinth
- podium
- pointillism
- pointing machine
- polychrome
- polyptych
- polyrhythm
- pontil
- Pop Art
- porcelain
- porphyry
- portico
- portrait
- Postmodernism
- potter’s wheel
- pouncing
- power figure
- Pre-Columbian
- Pre-Raphaelites
- Precisionism
- predella
- printmaking
- pronaos
- propylaeum
- Protogeometric
- protome
- provenance
- Prussian blue
- psalter
- pseudoperipteral
- psykter
- pueblo
- pulpit
- punty
- putto
- pylon
- pyxis
- radiocarbon dating
- raffia
- raku
- rayograph
- Rayonism
- readymade
- Realism
- rebar
- recto
- red-figure technique
- refectory
- register
- reinforced concrete
- relative scale
- relic
- relief sculpture
- reliquary
- repoussé
- reredos
- resist
- retable
- retouching
- revetment
- rhyton
- rib vault
- ribbon window
- ridgepole
- rock art
- rock crystal
- Rococo
- Romanesque
- Romanticism
- roof comb
- rose window
- rosette
- rosso antico
- rotunda
- roundel
- runes
- rusticated masonry
- sacra conversazione
- sacral-idyllic landscape
- sacramentary
- sacristy
- salon
- Salon des Indépendants
- Salon des Refusés
- salt glaze
- Samarqand ware
- sarcophagus
- sardonyx
- satin
- saz
- scale
- scarab
- scarification
- school
- School of Paris
- screenprint
- scriptorium
- scumbling
- Secession
- section drawing
- seicento
- semidome
- senmurv
- sepia
- sepia-toning
- serdab
- serigraphy
- serpentine
- Severe style
- sfumato
- sgraffito
- shabti
- shawabti
- shibori
- shofar
- silkscreen
- silverpoint
- simurgh
- sinopia
- site-specific
- situla
- size
- skylight
- skyphos
- slip
- soapstone
- Socialist Realism
- soffit
- spandrel
- sphinx
- spolia
- squinch
- staffage
- stained glass
- stalactite vaulting
- stamnos
- steatite
- stela
- stellar vault
- stigmata
- Stijl, De
- still life
- stoa
- stonepaste
- stoneware
- street art
- stretcher
- stringcourse
- strip window
- stucco
- stupa
- stylobate
- stylus
- sublime
- sumi
- sunken relief
- super-realism
- Suprematism
- surah
- Surrealism
- sutra
- swag
- Symbolism
- synagogue
- synoptic narrative
- tabernacle
- tablinum
- talud-tablero
- tangent buttress
- tapa
- tapestry
- tartan
- tell
- temenos
- tempera
- tenebrism
- tenon
- tepidarium
- terra sigillata
- terracotta
- tessellation
- tesserae
- thangka
- thermoluminescence dating
- tholos tomb
- throwing
- thuluth
- tile mosaic
- tintype
- tiraz
- toga
- tondo
- Torah
- torana
- torc
- torii
- totem pole
- tracery
- transept
- transformation mask
- travertine
- trecento
- trefoil
- tribune
- triclinium
- triforium
- triglyph
- trilithon
- triptych
- triumphal arch
- trompe l’oeil
- tronie
- trumeau
- truss
- tufa
- tughra
- tumulus
- tunnel vault
- Tuscan order
- tusche
- twisted perspective
- tympanum
- value
- vanishing point
- vanitas
- vault
- veduta
- vehicle
- velarium
- vellum
- Venice Biennale
- verde antico
- verdigris
- verism
- vermillion
- vernissage
- verso
- vestments
- Vienna Secession
- viridian
- Visitation
- volutes
- Vorticism
- votive
- voussoir
Wanted to say – found this entirely by accident and so glad I did. Not an art major of any sort but an art enjoyer, found this as a super useful reference since I don’t learn about this in any of my major’s classes. Super interesting and super thorough! Thanks for all the hard work you put into making it.
– An education major from Texas 🙂
Thanks for the kind words. Good luck with your education degree!
Researcher at an archive in Massachusetts. Excellent resource, thanks for the hard work!
When was this site uploaded/origin date of upload? I want to cite this on my bibliography.
I started this in 2013. So you could cite it as 2013-2024. –JT
Great job, you keep updating you glossary content right. There are many more to be included in this glossary
many thanks from an undergrad at uc berkeley 🙂
previous student missing learning all these and more from you! hope youre well found this by accident
This has been great and just what I needed! Very useful for my Master’s thesis. Thank you so much!
– An Art History student from the UK
I love this website and use it frequently. Thank you so much for making this!
-a student from california taking ap art history
Thanks, student-from-cali. I’m happy you are finding it useful. Spread the word!
JT