USEFUL INFORMATION - Glossary of Fine Art Terms

 

 

 

 

Fake
Any object that is made or sold with the intention of deceiving the buyer into believing it is an authentic piece.

 

Fête Champêtre
In painting (qv), a representation of a rural feast or open-air entertainment (From French: rural feast or garden party).

 

Fête Galante
Sometimes used synonymously with fête champêtre (qv), it more accurately refers to a specific kind of fête champêtre: a more graceful, usually aristocratic scene, in which groups of idly amorous, relaxed, well-dressed figures are depicted in a pastoral setting (From French: fête galante = gallant feast).

 

Figural
A pictorial composition of human or animal figures.

 

Figurative - Figurative Art
Works of art, particularly paintings (qv) and sculpture (qv), which are clearly derived from real life and are therefore, by definition, representational. The term can apply to landscape and architectural art but is more usually taken to refer to that which represents the human (or animal) figure in realistic or semi-realistic terms. More generally the term also applies retrospectively to all art before Abstract or non-objective art.Also referred to as ‘Representational Art’.

 

Filet
A narrow moulding used with matting (qv) to surround an artwork within a frame (qv).

 

Filler
An inert pigment (qv) added to paint (qv) to increase its bulk. Also called an ‘Extender’.

 

Film
A thin coating or layer of paint (qv), ink (qv), etc.

 

Fine Art
Any art form created primarily as an aesthetic expression to be enjoyed for its own sake.

 

Fixative
A solution, usually of shellac and alcohol, sprayed onto drawings (qv), to prevent their smudging or crumbling off the support (qv).

 

Flaking - Flake
The loss of adhesion between any or all layers of paint (qv), ground (qv) and support (qv). In ‘active flaking’, paint and ground has started to fall off.

 

Foreshortening
A method of portraying form on a two-dimensional surface so that it appears either to project or recede from the pictorial plane (qv).

 

Foxing - Foxed
The brown or reddish spots that appear with age on paper or card.  Foxing is caused by mould or the oxidation of iron particles. The name may derive either from the ‘fox-like’ reddish-brown colour of the stains or the rust chemical ferric oxide. Paper thus affected is said to be foxed.

 

Frame
A framework, typically rectangular in shape and made of wood or metal, in which a picture or other object is mounted in order to enhance its presentation, to make it easier to display, and/or to protect it. Sometimes referred to as the ‘chassis’.

 

Fresco
A wall painting process in which the artist paints directly onto wet, freshly-applied intonaco (qv) or plaster. The paint pigments (qv) bind with the drying plaster to form a very durable image. Limited retouching and detail work could subsequently be carried out on the dry plaster, a technique known as a secco (qv). (From Italian: secco = dry).

 

Frottage
To rub a crayon (qv) or other tool onto paper or other material laid over a textured surface in order to create the texture of the underlying surface on the paper. (From French: scrubbing action).

 

Fugitive Colours - Fugitive
Pigment (qv) or dye colours that fade when exposed to light.

 

 

 

 

Genre - Genre Painting
The depiction of subjects and scenes of ordinary people and everyday life. Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Flemish, c.1525-1569) is generally credited as the father of genre painting. Carracci (Agostino Carracci or Caracci, Italian, 1557-1602) and Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian, 1571-1610) subsequently developed genre painting in Italy, but it was in 17thC Holland, with Vermeer (Johannes or Jan Vermeer, Dutch, 1632-1675), that it became an independent art form and reached its greatest heights. In a general sense, the term is also used to describe a particular branch or category of art such as landscape painting or portraiture. (From French: genre = type).

 

Gesso
An under-coating (qv) or under-painting (qv) medium consisting of animal glue mixed with plaster of Paris, or chalk (qv) and water to create a white, chalky liquid.  It is used to prime (qv) the canvas (qv) and prepare the surface for painting (qv) or gilding (qv). Gesso can also be carved and used to decorate mounts and fine frames. (From Italian: plaster).

 

Gilding
The process of applying a thin layer of gold or other metal to a surface, typically a frame (qv) or mirror.

 

Glaze - Glazing
A thin, translucent layer of paint (qv) through which earlier layers of paint can be seen. The effect is usually to increase the sense of depth and luminosity (qv) but if the painting is dirty or has an old surface varnish (qv), the effect of the glaze can be lost.

 

Gloss - Glossy
Having a shiny lustre. The opposite of matt (qv).

 

Golden Mean
See Golden Section.

 

Golden Section
In painting (qv) and architecture, a formula meant to provide the most aesthetically-satisfying proportions for a picture or a feature of a building. It was arrived at by dividing a line unevenly, so that the shorter length is to the larger as the larger is to the whole, a ratio of approximately 8:13.  The golden section (sometimes referred to as the golden mean) was thought to express the perfect harmony of proportions and played an important role in Renaissance theories of art. (From Latin: sectio aurea = golden section).

 

Gouache
A heavy, opaque (qv) watercolour paint (qv) also referred to as bodycolour (qv). Gouache has greater reflective qualities than conventional watercolour and can be diluted with water, as for all water-based media.

 

Graver
See Burin.

 

Grissaille
A monochromatic (qv) painting (qv) in tones (qv) of one colour, usually grey. Grisaille paintings were often intended to imitate sculpture (qv).  (From French: gris = grey).

 

Ground
Material applied to a canvas (qv) or support (qv), on top of the size (qv), to prepare it for painting (qv). It is usually comprised of one or several layers of gesso (qv) or oil paint (qv).

 

Gum Arabic
A secretion or gum extracted from Acacia trees, used in solution as a medium for watercolour paints (qv). Also used on the surface of some antique, hand-coloured prints to add depth and texture to the image (usually discernable by holding the print at an angle to the light).

 

Gum Turpentine
See Turpentine.

 

 

 

 

Halftone(s)
The reprographic (qv) process that simulates continuous tone (qv) imagery through the use of dots, which can vary either in size or spacing. Also refers to the resulting image.

 

Hand Colouring
See Pochoir.

 

Hand Illustration
See Pochoir.

 

Harmonic Proportions
See Proportions.

 

Hatching
In a drawing (qv), printmaking (qv) or painting (qv), a series of close parallel lines of varying width, darkness and spacing, that create the effect of shadow, and therefore three dimensionality.  In cross-hatching (qv) the lines overlap.

 

Haut-Relief
See Relief.

 

Herringbone Perspective
See Perspective.

 

High Relief
See Relief.

 

History Painting

Painting (qv) concerned with the representation of scenes from the Bible, history (usually classical history), and classical literature.  From the Renaissance to the 19thC it was considered the highest form of painting since its subject matter was considered morally uplifting.

 

Hue
The perceived colour (qv) of an object, identified by a common name such as red, yellow, and blue.

 

 

 

 

Ignudo (plural: Ignudi)
Male nude(s), the best known of which are the 20 seated male figures whom Michelangelo (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Italian, 1475-1564) incorporated in the ceiling frescoes (qv) of the Sistine Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City, Rome (1508-12). Michelangelo created the term to describe these images of the male human figure in its most idealised naked form. (From Italian: nudo = naked).

 

Impasto
A technique most commonly used in oil painting (qv) where paint (qv) is applied onto the canvas (qv) in thick or heavy layers so that the brush or palette knife (qv) strokes are visible, thus deliberately creating a textured as opposed to a smooth or flat surface. (From Italian: dough).

 

Impression(s)
In printmaking (qv), the number of copies made as authorised by the original artist.

 

Imprimatura
A thin veil of paint (qv), or paint-tinted size (qv), applied to a ground (qv) to lessen its absorbency or to tint (qv) the ground to a middle value (qv).

 

Infrared Reflectography
An imaging technique for investigating under-drawing (qv) using infrared light to penetrate the upper layers of paint (qv) absorbed by the under-drawing. The resulting ‘hidden image’ can then be captured by infrared-sensitive camera film.

 

In-painting
See Retouching.

 

Ink(s)
A liquid containing various pigments (qv) and/or dyes used for writing or to create an image, using a pen, brush or quill. Thicker inks, in paste form, are used in printing and printmaking (qv). Roman emperors signed their names in purple ink.

 

Intaglio
In printmaking (qv), a group of processes in which the image is incised by etching (qv), engraving (qv), drypoint (qv), aquatint (qv) or mezzotint (qv) into the surface of a plate (qv) or matrix (qv), most usually made of copper or zinc (qv). To print an intaglio plate, ink is applied to the surface and then rubbed with tarlatan cloth (qv). Newspaper or the pages from old public telephone books have traditionally been used for the final, smooth wipe, leaving the ink in the incisions only. A damp piece of paper is placed over the incised surface of the plate and both are placed a press. Under pressure the ink from the recesses of the plate is transferred onto the paper.

 

Intensity
The degree of purity or brilliance of a colour (qv). Also known as ‘Chroma’ or ‘Saturation’.

 

Intonaco
In fresco painting (qv), the final, very thin and smooth layer of plaster which is painted on whilst the plaster is still wet, in order to allow the pigment to penetrate into the intonaco itself.

 

Ionic
See Orders of Architecture.