Key Architectural and Painting Techniques
Architectural Elements
Bonding (Aparejo)
Bonding refers to the way in which blocks of stone or brick are arranged in a wall.
Corbel (Console)
A corbel or console is used to sustain flying elements (such as balconies). Its decoration is related to the historical period of the architecture.
Flying Buttress
A flying buttress is an arch-shaped element designed to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards. It is commonly associated with Gothic church architecture, starting in the 12th century.
Pendentive
A pendentive has a spherical triangular form with curved parts. It is used to transition from a square to a circular form.
Drum
A drum is a cylindrical tower that can be found between the pendentive and the dome.
Squinch
A squinch is used when the dome has an octagonal or spherical shape. It was more commonly used in Gothic cathedrals. It is a construction filling in the upper angles of a square room to form a base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome.
Lintels
Lintels were first used in Egypt and were also used in Greece. The Greeks did not use arches initially.
Arch
An arch is an architectural element used to support the weight of a building over an opening or hollow. It has diverse forms. Architecture using domes is called domed architecture. Arches were used from ancient Rome, gaining great importance in the Middle Ages.
Nave and Corridors
Cathedrals often have one, three, or five naves, with one or more naves crossing, and an ambulatory. These allow pilgrims to walk all over the cathedral without disturbing the ceremony.
Apse
An apse is a semi-circular recess, sometimes with smaller ones on both sides, called apsidoles.
Ambulatory and Radial Chapels
Painting Techniques and Supports
Canvas
Usually linen or cotton (early 20th century), cheaper, though less convenient because it is more hygroscopic.
Wood Panel (Table)
The most widely used woods are walnut, pine, spruce, birch, cedar, or white poplar. In any case, local wood is preferred (in Italy, for example, poplar). During the modern age, tropical woods like mahogany were used.
Oil Painting
Oil painting is the technique par excellence. It has been used since the Middle Ages but became widespread in the Renaissance (first in Flanders and then in Italy). It is used on wood, canvas, or wall. Benefits: Its pastosity and versatility (to make glazes or fillings). Invisibility of brushstrokes. Can be applied on canvas. Gradual drying, allowing slow painting and corrections (regrets). Disadvantages: Slow drying (minimum 48 hours). Yellows and cracks.
Tempera Painting
The solvent is water, and the binder is any animal fat or other organic matter. Usually on board, though, it was often used to retouch fresco murals and add detail. Characteristic of the European Middle Ages (Romanesque and Gothic in Western Europe, and Byzantine and Orthodox icons in Eastern Europe). From the late fifteenth century, it was replaced by oil painting.
Acrylic Painting
Acrylic painting is a kind of paint containing a plasticized material. It is a quick-drying paint, in which the pigments are contained in an acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paint was introduced in the 1950s and is the most widely used today. Benefits: Most are water-soluble, but when dried, they are resistant to it. Fast drying (less than 30 minutes). Disadvantages: Attracts and collects dust easily. Unknown how they conserve. When exposed to freezing temperatures, becomes brittle and cracks.
Fresco Painting
Preparation: Revoke and lime. Plastering: Finer sand and lime. Sinopia (sketch). Applying color. It worked in giornate (working day).
Techniques Over Paper
Pencil or charcoal painting, chalk, watercolor, pastel.