Glossary

We are happy to provide short definitions and descriptions for several decorative art terms (click term for description).

• Antiquing or Ageing
  
  
  A technique intended to give the appearance of age or wear.
  
  
• Art Deco
  
  
  A style of decorative art developed originally in the 1920's with a revival in the 1960's, marked chiefly by geometric motifs, curvilinear forms, sharply defined outlines, often bold colors, and the use of synthetic materials, as plastics.
  
  
• Caryatid
  
  
  A sculpted female figure used as a column.
  
  
• Crackle
  
  
  A finish in which cracking is intentionally produced, allowing the undercoat to show through the cracks. A rapid drying of topcoat over slow drying undercoat produces this interesting technique.
  
  
• Distressing
  
  
  Also a term used to describe a decorative paint finish that gives the appearance of age and wear.
  
  
• Faux Bois
  
  
  French style of using paint and glazes to imitate realistic wood grain.
  
  
• Faux Finishes
  
  
  Faux is a French word meaning "fake or false". Technically, wood-graining, marbleizing, or other painted finishes that are replicating a natural material are faux finishes. However, this term has become an umbrella name to describe all painted decorative finishes.
  
  
• Faux Wood Grain
  
  
  Creating the illusion of wood using tools and paint.
  
  
• Fresco
  
  
  Historic: Water based pigments painted into wet lime plaster. "Fresco Glaze" method in which the color glazes look to be part of the plaster itself.
  
  
• Frottage
  
  
  This comes from the French word meaning “to rub”. The decorative paint term denotes a technique of applying a wet glaze, then rubbing it with fabric, paper or other materials, to create a texture.
  
  
• Gilding
  
  
  The application of metal in any form (gold or other metallic leaf, metallic foil, metallic paint, metallic powder).
  
  
• Glaze
  
  
  Any clear medium tinted with a variety of coloring agents. Most often used to create translucent finishes in which the glaze color allows a base color to show through.
  
  
• Gold Leaf
  
  
  Gold that is beaten out into very thin sheets and used for gilding and lettering.
  
  
• Grisaille
  
  
  Architectural trompe l'oeil painting done in monochromatic colors suggesting solid form, perspective or decorative plasters motifs.
  
  
• Marmarino
  
  
  A plaster combination that includes lime, marble dust, pigment and other elements, to produce a polished stone-like finish. Also known as Venetian Plaster, or Stucco Venziano.
  
  
• Murals
  
  
  A mural is defined as a painted picture on a wall or ceiling.
  
  
• Patina
  
  
  A layer that forms on a material after periods of exposure to the elements. Also: A thin greenish layer that forms on copper or copper alloys, such as bronze. It gives a surface appearance of something grown beautiful with age or use.
  
  
• Quatrefoil
  
  
  Architecture. a panel-like ornament composed of four lobes, divided by cusps, radiating from a common center.
  
  
• Relievo
  
  
  Italian for “relief”. The elevation of figures or shapes from a flat surface as seen in sculpture or painting.
  
  
• Strie
  
  
  A pattern characterized by vertical lines, usually made by dragging a brush or other tool, through paint or plaster.
  
  
• Trompe L'oeil
  
  
  French expression, meaning "trick the eye". A painting in which the illusion of three dimensions is created on a two dimensional surface, by emphasizing highlights and shadows, often by adding an architectural element that looks built–in, instead of painted on. In art, trompe l'oeil is defined as a 'still life deception', a painting able to make the viewer believe that an object actually exists in 3D space, in relief.
  
  
• Venetian Plaster
  
  
  See “Marmarino”. Lime plaster applied in several coats that can be polished to a high gloss, or left more textured and mat. Often imitated with an acrylic formula.