VI. Relief

1. ACTIVE VOCABULARY

Match the words/word combinations and their translation.

relief

plaster

low-relief

high-relief

background

основа

горельеф

барельеф

штукатурка

рельеф

2. READ THE TEXT

There are different degrees of relief depending on the degree of projection of the sculpted form from the field, for which the Italian appellations are still sometimes used. The full range includes high relief (alto-rilievo), where more than 50% of the depth is shown and there may be undercut areas, mid-relief (mezzo-rilievo), low-relief (basso-rilievo, or French: bas-relief), and shallow-relief or rilievo schiacciato, where the plane is scarcely more than scratched in order to remove background material. There is also sunk relief, which was mainly restricted to Ancient Egypt. However the distinction between high relief and low relief is the clearest and most important, and these two are generally the only terms used to discuss most work. The definition of these terms is somewhat variable, and many works combine areas in more than one of them, sometimes sliding between them in a single figure; accordingly some writers prefer to avoid all distinctions. The opposite of relief sculpture is counter-relief, intaglio, or cavo-rilievo,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relief - cite_note-4 where the form is cut into the field or background rather than rising from it; this is very rare in monumental sculpture. Reliefs are common throughout the world on the walls of buildings and a variety of smaller settings, and a sequence of several panels or sections of relief may represent an extended narrative. Relief is more suitable for depicting complicated subjects with many figures and very active poses, such as battles, than free-standing "sculpture in the round". Most ancient architectural reliefs were originally painted, which helped to define forms in low relief. The subject of reliefs is for convenient reference assumed in this article to be usually figures, but sculpture in relief often depicts decorative geometrical or foliage patterns, as in the arabesques of Islamic art, and may be of any subject.

The revival of low relief, which was seen as a classical style, begins early in the Renaissance; the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, a pioneering classicist building, designed by Leon Battista Alberti around 1450, uses low reliefs by Agostino di Duccio inside and on the external walls. Since the Renaissance plaster has been very widely used for indoor ornamental work such as cornices and ceilings, but in the 16th century it was used for large figures (many also using high relief) at the Chateau of Fontainebleau, which were imitated more crudely elsewhere, for example in the Elizabethan Hardwick Hall. In later Western art, until a 20th-century revival, low relief was used mostly for smaller works or combined with higher relief to convey a sense of distance, or to give depth to the composition, especially for scenes with many figures and a landscape or architectural background, in the same way that lighter colours are used for the same purpose in painting. Thus figures in the foreground are sculpted in high-relief, those in the background in low-relief. Low relief may use any medium or technique of sculpture, stone carving and metal casting being most common. Large architectural compositions all in low relief saw a revival in the 20th century, being popular on buildings in Art Deco and related styles, which borrowed from the ancient low reliefs now available in museums. Some sculptors, including Eric Gill, have adopted the "squashed" depth of low relief in works that are actually free-standing. Mid-relief, "half-relief" or mezzo-rilievo is somewhat imprecisely defined, and the term is not often used in English, the works usually being described as low relief instead. The typical traditional definition is that only up to half of the subject projects, and no elements are undercut or fully disengaged from the background field.

3. READING COMPREHENSION

Fill in the blanks with suitable words from the exercise 1.

1) Most ancient architectural ________ were originally painted.

2) Since the Renaissance plaster has been very widely used for indoor ____________ work.

3) The revival of _______ begins early in the Renaissance.

4) The full range includes _______, mid-relief, low-relief and shallow-relief.

5) In shallow-relief the plane is scarcely more than scratched in order to remove ____________ material.

4. READING COMPREHENSION

Given below are certain statements. Write ‘T’ against true statements and ‘F’ against false statements

1) There is no distinction between high relief and low relief.

2) The revival of low relief begins early in the Renaissance.

3) Most ancient architectural reliefs were not originally painted,

4) In the 16th century plaster was used for miniatures.

5) Low relief may use any medium or technique of sculpture.

5. SPEAKING PRACTICE

Discuss with your groupmates the history of relief origination.