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Painting Terminology

Painting: Terminology

This page is mainly about the craft of painting – although some of the terms are used in other art forms as well as painting.

Renoir's 'Queen of colours' Click to show or hide the answer
The Virgin Mary is usually depicted wearing Click to show or hide the answer
Putto Click to show or hide the answer
Italian word meaning 'light-dark': used to describe the technique of using strong contrasts between light and dark, to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures Click to show or hide the answer
Network of small cracks on old varnish Click to show or hide the answer
Work of art (or any object) with two or more flat plates hinged together Click to show or hide the answer
Latin words used by Pontius Pilate in the Vulgate translation of St.John's Gospel, when he presents Jesus – scourged, bound, and crowned with thorns – to a hostile crowd shortly before the Crucifixion; usually translated into English as 'behold the man'; used in art to describe depictions of the scene Click to show or hide the answer
A burin is a tool used in Click to show or hide the answer
Form of engraving where the design is bitten into the plate by acid Click to show or hide the answer
Painting onto wet plaster Click to show or hide the answer
Deep yellow pigment: named after a tree, native to Cambodia, from which it's obtained as a resinous gum (the name of the tree is said to come from the Latin name for Cambodia) Click to show or hide the answer
Poster paint made by mixing watercolours with gum arabic Click to show or hide the answer
Italian word for 'dough' or 'mixture', used for the technique of laying on paint in thick layers so that the brush strokes are clearly visible Click to show or hide the answer
Oil used for oil paints Click to show or hide the answer
The name (from German or Dutch) for the stick used to support the hand with which the artist holds the brush Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Work of art composed by combining existing pictures Click to show or hide the answer
Made from tesserae Click to show or hide the answer
Halo (of light) over a holy figure Click to show or hide the answer
A mix of styles, or an imitation of another style – comes (via French) from the Italian word for a pie crust Click to show or hide the answer
Representation of the Virgin Mary supporting the dead Christ Click to show or hide the answer
Dark blue pigment – one of the first synthetic pigments – the colour familiar from blueprints – probably first synthesised in Berlin around 1706, by paint maker Johann Diesbach, as a substitute for the prohibitively expensive ultramarine Click to show or hide the answer
Colour that signifies royalty Click to show or hide the answer
The name of the cuttlefish genus, given to the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish Click to show or hide the answer
Brown pigment named after a town in Tuscany Click to show or hide the answer
Paintings of inanimate objects (typically flowers, fruit, game, etc.) Click to show or hide the answer
Painting by mixing pigments with egg yolks Click to show or hide the answer
Blue pigment obtained from lapis lazuli Click to show or hide the answer
Pigment derived from clay – name from the Latin for “shadow”, via the region of Italy where it was first extracted (Umbria) – can be raw or burnt Click to show or hide the answer
Flemish painter after whom a moderate brown colour is named Click to show or hide the answer

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23