06/15 06 — Renaissance to Neoclassicism Free Online FlashCards

What defined Renaissance architectural culture?

Renaissance architecture emphasized humanism, classical antiquity, mathematical proportion, and architecture as an intellectual art.

What is a modular bay in Renaissance design?

A modular bay is a repeated geometric unit that organizes dimensions such as column spacing, entablature height, and arcade depth.

How did Brunelleschi’s Florence Cathedral dome solve its construction challenge?

Brunelleschi’s dome used a double-shell construction, interlocking masonry, and ribs to span a large octagonal opening without massive temporary wooden centering.

How did Alberti organize Santa Maria Novella’s façade?

Alberti connected the two façade zones with large volutes, linking the broad lower level to the narrower upper level beneath a triangular pediment.

What are key features of Palladio’s Villa Rotonda?

The Villa Rotonda uses a centralized plan, four temple-like porticos, symmetry, and axial organization to connect elite residence with classical ideals and the landscape.

How did Baroque architecture create theatrical experience?

Baroque architecture used curves, dramatic light, sculptural ornament, rich materials, and unexpected spatial sequences to create movement, spectacle, and emotional force.

What did Bernini’s Baldacchino represent?

Bernini’s Baldacchino marks Saint Peter’s high altar and Saint Peter’s burial place while making papal authority, apostolic continuity, and Catholic triumph visible.

How did Baroque urbanism shape movement through Rome?

Baroque Rome used streets, fountains, bridges, stairways, churches, and piazzas to choreograph movement and create sequences of visual discovery.

How did Bernini’s and Borromini’s approaches to space differ?

Bernini favored grand, legible gestures, while Borromini pursued restless geometric effects through concave and convex walls, complex curves, and interlocking forms.

What values shaped Enlightenment architecture?

Enlightenment architecture emphasized reason, empirical knowledge, classification, functional differentiation, hygiene, and public improvement.

What did Laugier’s primitive hut theory argue?

Laugier’s primitive hut presented columns, lintels, and pediments as forms derived from basic construction, linking beauty to structural clarity and natural principles.

What intensified Neoclassicism’s study of antiquity?

Archaeology, travel, illustrated publications, and excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum gave Neoclassicism a more historically informed understanding of antiquity.