Trompe l’œil: Means ‘trick of the eye’ and refers to the technique of using realistic imagery to create an optical illusion of depth.
Tympana, plural of tympanum: The word comes from Latin and Greek meaning ‘drum’. This is a semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, door or window, which is bounded by a lintel and an arch.
Typography: The art or procedure of arranging type or text.
V Vanishing point: The point at which receding parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge.
Vanitas: A painting that is a reminder of death and the futility of earthly achievements.
Vault: A roof based on the structural principles of the arch. Vellum: The skin of a calf prepared for writing.
Visual culture: Visual culture is a way of studying a work that uses art history, humanities, sciences and social sciences.
It is intertwined with everything that one sees in day-to-day life, including advertising, landscape, buildings, photographs, movies, paintings and apparel. Anything within our culture that communicates through visual means.
Vitrine: A large glass cabinet used for displaying art objects.
Volute: A scroll-shaped architectural ornament often found on pediments or capitals. Voussoirs: The wedge-shaped stones forming an arch.
W
Woodcut: A method of relief printing from a block of wood cut along the grain. Z
