AP Art History : Fourteenth- Through Sixteenth-Century Architecture
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Art History
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Fourteenth Through Sixteenth Century Architecture
The Italian architect and theorist Palladio was instrumental in developing the architectural style known as __________.
Rococo
Baroque
neo-classicalism
modernism
neo-classicalism
Palladio lived and worked around Venice in the mid-sixteenth century, constructing a series of large villas and important buildings. Much of Palladio's work harkened back to styles prominent in Ancient rome, as he created buildings with lots of columns, large colonnades, and domes. His influential architectural textbook, The Four Books of Architecture, helped spread these ideas in the architectural movement known as neo-classicalism.
Example Question #2 : Fourteenth Through Sixteenth Century Architecture
In an arch, the central piece of masonry that allows all the pressure to be placed throughout the arch is called __________.
the lintel
the transverse
the buttress
the keystone
the beam
the keystone
An arch is able to remain in its appropriate position because of the way that pressure is placed throughout the entire arch. Pressure can only be appropriately distributed because of the placement of the keystone. The keystone is the central stone in an arch, which is shaped in order to push the weight down through every piece of stone.
Example Question #2 : Renaissance To Contemporary Architecture
What technological discovery (or rediscovery) was necessary for the completion of the dome atop Florence's Il Duomo in 1436?
Concrete
Calculus
Flying Buttresses
Steel support
Aqueducts
Concrete
The rediscovery of concrete was the key to completing the dome atop Il Duomo. Filippo Brunelleschi found the lost recipe for concrete, a recipe that was lost in the Middle Ages; prior to the Middle Ages, concrete was used often by the Ancient Romans.
Example Question #3 : Fourteenth Through Sixteenth Century Architecture
The architecture of the Renaissance saw a resurgence of features from the architecture of which ancient civilization?
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Sumeria
Mesopotamia
None of these
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Renaissance architecture made use of attributes of Ancient Roman architecture. Namely, Renaissance architects utilized Ancient Roman column types, such as Doric, Ionic, Tuscan, Composite, and Corinthian, often used decoratively rather than structurally.
Example Question #3 : Understanding Terminology That Describes Fourteenth Through Sixteenth Century Architecture
A _____________ is a wedge-shaped block used in the construction of an arch.
lintel
archivolt
voussoir
trumeau
voussoir
The "voussoir" is a wedge-shaped block that makes up a true arch.
Example Question #3 : Fourteenth Through Sixteenth Century Architecture
A key difference between churches built after the Protestant Reformation and those before the Protestant Reformation in Protestant areas is that __________.
there is more division between the spaces for clergy and spaces for congregants
the architectural details are more ornate
the altar becomes a more central part of the church structure
there is less statuary and religious imagery
there is less statuary and religious imagery
Protestant theology greatly changed church architecture in Northern Europe after the sixteenth century. Catholic churches, even for the tiniest, poorest parishes, featured ornate statuary and imagery before the Reformation. The Protestant-built churches, by contrast, were much less ornate, featuring fewer images, with altars creating less of a barrier between clergy and congregants.
Example Question #4 : Fourteenth Through Sixteenth Century Architecture
Who was the Renaissance architect whose guidebook and personal neoclassical style was widely influential during the Enlightenment?
William de Keyser
Andrea Palladio
Inigo Jones
Leonardo da Vinci
Christopher Wren
Andrea Palladio
The Italian architect Andrea Palladio was well known for his own buildings in his native Venice, but gained greater fame for the work of architectural theory he composed in 1570, The Four Books of Architecture. Drawing on Greek and Roman influences, Palladio called for symmetry, domes, columns, and grand spaces. Each of these elements would become hallmarks of neoclassical architecture during the eighteenth century.
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