cella: * see Endnote 9

(aka naos) Latin for small chamber. inner chamber of a temple in classical architecture.

 

cupolas:

architectural term, small, often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building; used to provide a lookout or admit light & air, usually crowns a larger roof or dome. 

 

vaults (of Gothic naves): * see Endnote 10

architectural term for an arched form providing a ceiling; it exerts lateral thrust requiring counter resistance.  If a vault is built underground, the ground provides the resistance; if above ground, various replacements are employed to supply the needed resistance, such as thicker walls used in the case of barrel vaults or buttresses when intersecting vaults are employed.

 

Archaic sculpture: * see Endnote 11

Spengler posits that the sculptor’s main problem was to stabilize the figure, attach him to the ground.  He observes in these kore & kouros, the legs are disproportionality emphasized, feet planted with full sole, drapery falls straight & part of hem removed to reveal the feet.

Classic relief: * see Endnote 12
“The Classical relief is strictly stereometrically set on a plane, and there is an interval between the figures but no depth.”  To paraphrase Spengler the artists shows volume in the figures themselves, each figure is clearly demarcated from the others but no attempt is made to go beneath the flat uniform surface (to find depth or space) on which the figures are set.

 

stereometrically:

from stereometry- the measuring of volumes

 

Lorrain (Claude): * see Endnote 13

(1600-1682) French painter, draughtsman & etcher, Baroque era; lived in Italy, early landscape artist; his landscapes often masquerade as historical (including a few small figures related to Classical mythology or Bible), a more prestigious genre.  By late 1630s the leading landscapist in Italy, enjoying large fees; his work gradually became larger with fewer figures, carefully painted, done at a slower pace.  Not innovative other than in introducing the sun (rare before him).  A prolific creator of drawings in pen & monochrome watercolour "wash", brown sometimes grey.  His work influenced many other painters.

 

Impressionism:* see Endnote 14

originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence in the 1870s & 1880s; heavily criticised by the conventional art community.  Name derived from a work by Monet (Impression, soleil levant-Impression, Sunrise), provoking Louis Leroy to coin the term as satirical.  Uses relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes; open composition, emphasis on depiction of light in its changing qualities, accentuating passage of time; ordinary subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element of perception & experience, and uses unusual visual angles.

see illustration and see Chapter I: Introduction, page 5

​

barrel vault (roofing): * see endnote 15

simplest ceiling is the barrel vault, semi-circular in shape, a continuous arch, the length being greater than its diameter.

 

Strzygowski:
(1862 -1941)  Polish-Austrian art historian known for his theories pointing to the influence of art of the Near East on European art. In Die Baukunst der Armenier und Europa he argues that Early Christian Armenian architecture influenced early European Medieval architecture; a member of the Vienna School of Art History.

 

Haigia Sophia:

see Chapter III, History(1), page 108

Cathedral of Florence cupola: * see Endnote 16
Il Duomo di Firenze (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower) Florence, Italy, started 1296 in Gothic style (by Cambio), completed 1436; dome engineered by Brunelleschi; exterior faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green & pink bordered by white.  In 1437 the lantern (or cupola) was started.  It was a decorative marble structure that Brunelleschi designed to crown the dome.  It has decorative arcades surmounted by a gold ball.  Although its function is to admit light to the interior, it is a proportional element in the visual design.  A similar approach was used at St. Peter’s in Rome (1506).

 

Bramante:

(1444-1514) Italian architect, introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan & High Renaissance style to Rome. His Tempietto (San Pietro in Montorio, Rome) 1502, marking the spot where Peter was crucified, begins the High Renaissance.  In 1503 Pope Julius engaged him to re-build St Peter's Basilica.  In 1506 the cornerstone of the first great piers of the crossing was laid.  His envisioned a centralized Greek cross, with 4 great chapels in the corner spaces between the equal transepts, each with a smaller dome surrounding the great dome over the crossing.  It was Romano-Byzantine in form.  After his death this was altered by the extension of the nave; although altered his plans formed the basis of Michelangelo’s design.

 

Excelsior:

Latin, translated as "ever upward" or "still higher"

 

Michelangelo & St Peter’s dome: * see Endnote 17

Michelangelo redesigned the dome in 1547. His dome (like Florence) is constructed with 2 shells of brick, the outer one having 16 stone ribs.  As with the designs of Bramante & Sangallo (an earlier architect), the dome is raised from the piers on a drum.  He reduced the encircling peristyle & arcade to 16 pairs of Corinthian columns, each of 15 metres high standing proud of the building, connected by an arch.  They appear to buttress the ribs, but are structurally redundant.  The dome is ovoid, rising steeply (as the dome of Florence) exerting less outward thrust than a hemispherical dome (like Pantheon).  He died in 1564, the dome incomplete.  Work continued under his assistant Vignola.  Pope Pius V insisted that Michelangelo's designs be followed.  Only with the appointment of della Porta (by Pope Sixtus) was the work completed.  Michelangelo's design was largely adhered to.

and see Chapter II, Numbers, page 87 (illustration)

 

Classical grand renunciation (of space):

Spengler’s obtuse & convoluted way of saying that unlike other Cultures (e.g. the Faustian) it failed to produce monumental architecture (the hallmark of Spring) because it could not accept space, even the space of its own architecture.

 

Doric peripteros:

a type of Greek temple surrounded by a portico with columns; refers to the colonnade (pteron) on all four sides of the cella (naos), creating a four-sided arcade (peristasis); the perimeter of a classical temple made up of columns.

see cella above

 

early Doric geometric in opposition to Minoan: * see Endnote 18

Geometric art is an early phase of Greek art, flourished late Greek Dark Ages, 900 -700 BC; based in Athens, spread among the trading cities of the Aegean; refers to geometric patterns of the pottery.

and see Chapter II, Numbers, page 73

Minoan art produced by the Minoan civilization, 2600 to 1100 BC, Bronze Age Crete; the best-preserved (and most instructive) surviving examples are its pottery & palace architecture with frescos.

​

Michelangelo’s transition into Baroque:

see Chapter II, page 87