The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (446 page)
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Authors: Ian Chilvers
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Signorini , Telemaco
.
.
silhouette
.
.
An outline image in one, solid, flat colour, giving the appearance of a shadow cast by a solid figure. The term is applied particularly to profile portraits in black against white (or vice versa), either painted or cut from paper, which were extremely popular from about 1750 to about 1850, when photography virtually killed the art. The word silhouette derives from Etienne de Silhouette (1706–67), French finance minister under Louis XV, who was notorious for his parsimony and cut shadow portraits as a hobby; hence the phrase ‘à la silhouette’ came to mean ‘on the cheap’. In Britain silhouette portraits were generally called ‘shades’ or ‘profiles’ up to the end of the 18th cent.
silk-screen printing
(or serigraphy)
.
(or serigraphy)
.
A modern colour printing process based on stencilling. A cut
stencil
is attached to a silk screen of fine mesh which has been stretched on a wooden frame, and the colour is forced through the unmasked areas of the screen on to the paper beneath by means of a squeegee. This method is an improvement on the simple stencil where, for example, a letter O required connecting pieces to prevent the centre from falling out—a problem which does not arise if the stencil is supported by the silk mesh. By a further improvement in the process the cut stencil is dispensed with altogether, its equivalent being painted directly on to the screen with opaque glue or
varnish
. The process, which originated in the early 20th cent., has been widely used for commercial textile printing, but in the 1930s it was developed, particularly in the United States, as an artists' medium. Andy
Warhol
was a notable exponent.
stencil
is attached to a silk screen of fine mesh which has been stretched on a wooden frame, and the colour is forced through the unmasked areas of the screen on to the paper beneath by means of a squeegee. This method is an improvement on the simple stencil where, for example, a letter O required connecting pieces to prevent the centre from falling out—a problem which does not arise if the stencil is supported by the silk mesh. By a further improvement in the process the cut stencil is dispensed with altogether, its equivalent being painted directly on to the screen with opaque glue or
varnish
. The process, which originated in the early 20th cent., has been widely used for commercial textile printing, but in the 1930s it was developed, particularly in the United States, as an artists' medium. Andy
Warhol
was a notable exponent.
Siloe , Diego de
(
c.
1495–1563).
Spanish architect and sculptor, one of the leading figures in the transition from
Gothic
to
Renaissance
in Spanish art. He was the son of
Gil de Siloe
(d.
c.
1501), who is of uncertain origins (contemporary references suggest both Orleans and Antwerp as his native city) but who settled in Burgos and is regarded as the outstanding Spanish sculptor of the 15th cent. and the last great exponent of the Gothic tradition. Gil's extant work includes two royal tombs (1489–93) in the monastery of Miraflores, Burges: the first of John II of Castile and his wife Isabella of Portugal, the second of their son Prince Alfonso . Diego presumably trained with his father, but he formed his style in Italy, where he collaborated with Bartolomé
Ordóñez
. By 1519 he had returned to Burgos, where he carried out several important commissions in the cathedral. They included the tomb of Bishop Luis de Acuña (1519) in the Chapel of St Anne and the altarpiece for the same chapel (1522), but his greatest work there is the
Escalera Dorada
(Golden Stairway) of 1519–23, and it was as an architect rather than as a sculptor that he emerged as one of the great figures of Spanish art. His masterpiece is Granada Cathedral, where he took over as architect in 1528.
c.
1495–1563).
Spanish architect and sculptor, one of the leading figures in the transition from
Gothic
to
Renaissance
in Spanish art. He was the son of
Gil de Siloe
(d.
c.
1501), who is of uncertain origins (contemporary references suggest both Orleans and Antwerp as his native city) but who settled in Burgos and is regarded as the outstanding Spanish sculptor of the 15th cent. and the last great exponent of the Gothic tradition. Gil's extant work includes two royal tombs (1489–93) in the monastery of Miraflores, Burges: the first of John II of Castile and his wife Isabella of Portugal, the second of their son Prince Alfonso . Diego presumably trained with his father, but he formed his style in Italy, where he collaborated with Bartolomé
Ordóñez
. By 1519 he had returned to Burgos, where he carried out several important commissions in the cathedral. They included the tomb of Bishop Luis de Acuña (1519) in the Chapel of St Anne and the altarpiece for the same chapel (1522), but his greatest work there is the
Escalera Dorada
(Golden Stairway) of 1519–23, and it was as an architect rather than as a sculptor that he emerged as one of the great figures of Spanish art. His masterpiece is Granada Cathedral, where he took over as architect in 1528.
silver point
.
.
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