Glossary 1039oculus (pl.oculi)—Latin, “eye.” The round central
opening of a dome.Also, a small round window in
a Gothic cathedral.
odalisque—A woman in a Turkish harem.
ogee arch—An archcomposed of two double-
curving lines meeting at a point.
ogive (adj.ogival)—The diagonal rib of a Gothic
vault;a pointed, or Gothic,arch.
Ogoga—A Yoruba king.
oil painting—A painting techniqueusing oil-based
pigments that rose to prominence in Northern Eu-
rope in the 15th century and is now the standard
medium for painting on canvas.
Olympiad—The four-year period defined by the
staging of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece.
oni—An African ruler.
Op Art—An artistic movement of the 1960s in which
painters sought to produce optical illusions of
motion and depth using only geometric forms on
two-dimensional surfaces.
opere francigeno—See opus francigenum.
opisthodomos—In ancient Greek architecture, a
porch at the rear of a temple, set against the blank
back wall of the cella.
optical mixture—The visual effect of juxtaposed
complementary colors.
opus francigenum—Latin, “French work.” Architec-
ture in the styleofGothicFrance;opere francigeno
(adj.), “in the French manner.”
opus modernum—Latin, “modern work.” The late
medieval term for Gothicart and architecture.
Also called opus francigenum.
opus reticulatum—An ancient Roman method of
facing concrete walls with lozenge-shaped bricks
or stones to achieve a netlike ornamental surface
pattern.
orant—In Early Christian art, a figure with both
arms raised in the ancient gesture of prayer.
oratory—The church of a Christian monastery.
orbiculum—A disklike opening.
orchestra—Greek, “dancing place.” In ancient Greek
theaters, the circular piece of earth with a hard
and level surface on which the performance took
place.
order—In classicalarchitecture, a stylerepresented
by a characteristic design of the columns and
entablature.See also superimposed orders.
Orientalizing—The early phase ofArchaicGreek art
(seventh century BCE), so named because of the
adoption of forms and motifs from the ancient
Near East and Egypt. See also Daedalic.
Orphism—A form ofCubismdeveloped by the
French painter Robert Delaunay in which color
plays an important role.
orrery—A mechanical model of the solar system
demonstrating how the planets revolve around the
sun.
orthogonal—A line imagined to be behind and per-
pendicular to the picture plane; the orthogonals
in a painting appear to recede toward a vanishing
point on the horizon.
orthogonal plan—The imposition of a strict grid
planon a site, regardless of the terrain, so that all
streets meet at right angles. See also Hippodamian
plan.
Ottonian(adj.)—Pertaining to the empire of Otto I
and his successors.
overglaze—In porcelain decoration, the technique of
applying mineral colors over the glaze after the
work has been fired. The overglaze colors, orenamels,fuse to the glazed surface in a second fir-
ing at a much lower temperature than the main
firing. See also underglaze.
oxidizing—The first phase of the ancient Greek ce-
ramic firing process, which turned both the pot
and the clay slip red. During the second (reduc-
ing) phase, the oxygen supply into the kiln was
shut off, and both pot and slip turned black. In the
final (reoxidizing) phase, the pot’s coarser mater-
ial reabsorbed oxygen and became red again,
whereas the smoother slip did not and remained
black.
pagoda—An East Asian tower, usually associated
with a Buddhist temple, having a multiplicity of
winged eaves;thought to be derived from the In-
dian stupa.
pala—A panel placed behind and over the altar in a
church.
palaestra—An ancient Greek and Roman exercise
area, usually framed by a colonnade.In Greece, the
palaestra was an independent building; in Rome,
palaestras were also frequently incorporated into
a bathing complex.
Paleolithic—The “old” Stone Age, during which
humankind produced the first sculptures and
paintings.
palette—A thin board with a thumb hole at one end
on which an artist lays and mixes colors;any sur-
face so used. Also, the colors or kinds of colors
characteristically used by an artist. In ancient
Egypt, a slate slab used for preparing makeup.
palette knife—A flat tool used to scrape paint off the
palette.Artists sometimes also use the palette
knife in place of a brush to apply paint directly to
the canvas.
Pantokrator—Greek, “ruler of all.” Christ as ruler
and judge of heaven and earth.
papier collé—French, “stuck paper.” See collage.
papyrus—A plant native to Egypt and adjacent lands
used to make paperlike writing material; also, the
material or any writing on it.
parade helmet—A masklike helmet worn by Roman
soldiers on special ceremonial occasions.
parallel hatching—See hatching.
parapet—A low, protective wall along the edge of a
balcony, roof, or bastion.
parchment—Lambskin prepared as a surface for
painting or writing.
parekklesion—The side chapel in a Byzantine
church.
parinirvana—Image of the reclining Buddha, a po-
sition often interpreted as representing his death.
parthenos—Greek, “virgin.” The epithet of Athena,
the virgin goddess.
passage grave—A prehistoric tomb with a long stone
corridor leading to a burial chamber covered by a
great tumulus.
Passional—A Christian book containing the lives of
saints.
pastel—A powdery paste of pigment and gum
used for making crayons; also, the pastel crayons
themselves.
paten—A large shallow bowl or plate for the bread
used in the Eucharist.
patrician—A Roman freeborn landowner.
patron—The person or entity that pays an artist to
produce individual artworks or employs an artist
on a continuing basis.
pebble mosaic—A mosaicmade of irregularly
shaped stones of various colors.ural world that was at the core of the classical
tradition.
Naturalistic Surrealism—See Surrealism.
nave—The central area of an ancient Roman basilica
or of a church, demarcated from aislesby piersor
columns.
nave arcade—In basilica architecture, the series of
arches supported by piers or columns separating
the nave from the aisles.
nduen fobara—A Kalabari Ijaw (Nigeria) ancestral
screen in honor of a deceased chief of a trading
house.
necropolis—Greek, “city of the dead.” A large burial
area or cemetery.
nembutsu—The six-syllable Japanese prayer pro-
fessing faith in the compassion of Amida Buddha.
nemes—In ancient Egypt, the linen headdress worn
by the pharaoh,with the uraeuscobra of kingship
on the front.
Neoclassicism—A styleof art and architecture that
emerged in the late 18th century as part of a gen-
eral revival of interest in classicalcultures. Neo-
classical artists adopted themes and styles from
ancient Greece and Rome.
Neo-Expressionism—An art movement that
emerged in the 1970s and that reflects artists’ in-
terest in the expressive capability of art, seen ear-
lier in German Expressionism and Abstract
Expressionism.
Neo-Gothic—The revival of the Gothic stylein archi-
tecture, especially in the 19th century.
Neolithic—The “new” Stone Age.
Neoplasticism—The Dutch artist Piet Mondrian’s
theory of “pure plastic art,” an ideal balance be-
tween the universal and the individual using an
abstract formal vocabulary.
Neue Sachlichkeit—German, “new objectivity.” An
art movement that grew directly out of the World
War I experiences of a group of German artists
who sought to show the horrors of the war and its
effects.
ngatu—Decorated tapa made by women in Tonga.
niello—A black metallic alloy.
nihonga—A 19th-century Japanese painting style
that incorporated some Western techniques in
Japanese-style painting, as opposed to yoga
(Western painting).
nimbus—A halo or aureole appearing around the
head of a holy figure to signify divinity.
nio—A Japanese guardian figure.
nipote—Italian, “nephew.”
nirvana—In Buddhism and Hinduism, a blissful
state brought about by absorption of the individ-
ual soul or consciousness into the supreme spirit.
Also called moksha.
nishiki-e—Japanese, “brocade pictures.” Japanese
polychrome woodcut printsvalued for their sump-
tuous colors.
nkisi n’kondi—A power figure carved by the Kongo
people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Such images embodied spirits believed to heal
and give life or to be capable of inflicting harm or
death.
nomarch—Egyptian, “great/overlord.” A regional
governor during the Middle Kingdom.
Nun—In ancient Egypt, the primeval waters from
which the creator god emerged.
nymphs—In classicalmythology, female divinities of
springs, caves, and woods.
oba—An African sacred king.