The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of
ART AND
ARTISTS
margin patterns (as in Celtic examples) to miniatures and full-page ills, often of a formal and
grandiose kind (as in Byzantine mss). Rich
colours are a common feature, in particular a
luxurious use of gold and silver. I. survived the
advent of printing for some time and only died
out with the rise of printed illustration in the
16th c. Well-known examples are: The *Book
of Hours, The Book of Kells, The Lindisfarne
Gospels, The Luttrell Psalter and Les Tres Riches
Heures du Due de Berry.
Illusionism. Term used in painitng of a style
which exploits all the technical procedures of
perspective, etc., not merely to represent 3dimensional space in 2 dimensions but rather
to give the impression that the pictorial space is
an extension of the real space; sculptured 3dimensional figures are often integrated into
paintings to heighten the fusion of real and
artistic space. The term is especially used of
Baroque art.
imago pietatis (Lat. image of piety).
Representation, especially in the late
Middle Ages, of the dead Christ standing
in his grave, sometimes supported by other figures. Emblems of the Passion are often included
to stress the redemptive significance of his
suffering.
impasto.l)n oil painting, thick heavy application of pamt. Where the strokes of the brush or
palette-knife are very pronounced, causing the
paint to stand up in relief, the term loaded i. is
used.
Impressionism. The major movement in I9thc. art. The name comes from a painting
exhibited by C. Monet in 1874, catalogued as
Impression Sunrise. The word was used as a label
for the whole group of artists who exhibited as
the 'Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers'.
It has been said that I. was not a style but a
moment in time. Nevertheless, the term is
applied most frequently to paintings where the
artist has aimed to capture the visual impression
made by a scene, usually of a landscape, and not
make a 'factual' report on it; Impressionist
painters are characteristically absorbed by the
play of light on a scene. In a sense an Impressionist picture is the sketch as opposed to
the finished picture; in Monet's own words 'a
spontaneous work rather than a calculated one'.
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The ist Impressionist exhibition was in 1874,
but Impressionist works had been seen in the
Salon des Refuses in 1863. The i86os were the
formative years in which the possibilities of
working in the open air, using a light palette,
and close analysis of the actual colours in landscape were explored. Monet, Renoir and Sisley
were students together and formed the most
close-knit group. In the 18705 the group experienced much opposition, and their exhibitions
were generally unsuccessful. The Impressionist
painters were divided as to who should exhibit,
Degas arguing that work by conventional
painters would make the exhibitions more
accessible to the general public. Manet never
exhibited with the Impressionists although his
work strongly influenced them. Their interest in
the effects of light on landscape was not at first
acceptable, nor was the time of day they chose
to paint — clear sunny afternoons, as opposed to
scenes of twilight or early morning. In the i88os
these subjects had become more general, and
the movement achieved slow recognition and
success. But I. became less coherent and less of
a common style: Monet continued to analyse his
visual perceptions with extreme care, and Sisley
continued to paint landscapes; but Renoir
turned to a style which stressed line, became
accepted as a portraitist, and began to paint
many important figure paintings, especially
nudes. C. Pissarro came under the influence of
Seurat's *Divisionist theory, and exhibited
works in this style from 1886, the year of the last
Impressionist exhibition, at which Seurat and
Signac also showed work. Other Impressionists
include J.-F. Bazille, G. Caillebotte, M. Cassatt
and B. Morisot.
I. became widely accepted as an artistic style
from the late 1890$, spreading through Europe.
No sculptor was directly associated with the
movement, but both Degas and Renoir did
sculpture (Renoir at the end of his life working
through an assistant). Rodin has been called
Impressionist because of the interest he took in
the effects of light on his sculpture, and Medardo
Rosso's evocative technique has caused his work
to be so called.
Independants Salon des. *Salon
Independent Group. Group of British artists,
architects and art critics (among them
R. ^Hamilton and *Paolozzi) who met
for discussion at the I.C.A. (Institute of
Contemporary Arts) in London in the middle
and late 19505. The I. G. was responsible for
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