pittura antica

English translation: premodern/pre-twentieth-century painting

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Italian term or phrase:pittura antica
English translation:premodern/pre-twentieth-century painting
Entered by: philgoddard

21:13 Apr 11, 2015
Italian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / History of Art
Italian term or phrase: pittura antica
The exact phrase is from a dedication (a vote of thanks, really) in a piece of academic writing:

"Grazie a _________, cui devo l’avermi riconciliato con gli studi sulle tecniche e le pratiche organizzative e esecutive della pittura antica. "

Now, I'm pretty convinced that this is not simply "ancient painting" in the sense of the painting of Ancient Rome/ Ancient Greece etc. and that in general, "arte antica" is used for much more recent art than we would normally call "ancient" ... see for example the artists covered in this publisher's range of titles on "arte antica":

http://www.skira.net/en/category/arte-antica

or, indeed, the period covered by the Galleria d'Arte Antica in Rome. Really it's almost defined in contrast to "arte moderna" ... really right up through the Renaissance and the Baroque and perhaps a little beyond.

So the question is really, is there a way of expressing this in English without going into a long definition?

Any suggestions welcome.
James Stuart
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:10
premodern/pre-twentieth-century painting
Explanation:
I think you put your finger on it when you say it's everything that's not modern.
Selected response from:

philgoddard
United States
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2premodern/pre-twentieth-century painting
philgoddard
4 +1Traditional painting styles / Traditional art
Lara Barnett
5in the history of art/painting
James (Jim) Davis
3in the history of painting
Tom in London
3old painting
Michael Korovkin
2 +1period painting / art
Wendy Streitparth
3classic art/painting
Rachel Fell


Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


42 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
in the history of painting


Explanation:
= "della pittura antica" - would that work?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 44 mins (2015-04-11 21:58:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

it gets away from the dichotomy between "pittura antica" as understood in art history (ancient Greek and Roman art) and "pittura antica" as understood in a certain Italian parlance, where it means "anything up until the day before yesterday".

Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:10
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 177
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
old painting


Explanation:
all that comes to mindç
"antique" too often refers to the same thing as "antique furniture"
"ancient", you are right, is too specific.
"old" may also be used on, say, EBay to indicate simply ann old arty article. However, in the context of both the phrase and the book dedication I don't see any problem with "old".
I would not use "traditional" for it refers too much to a method

Michael Korovkin
Italy
Local time: 16:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 44
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
premodern/pre-twentieth-century painting


Explanation:
I think you put your finger on it when you say it's everything that's not modern.

philgoddard
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 119
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  James (Jim) Davis: With premodern Phil. Modern art begins more or less with impressionism around the 1860s. Of course Arte Antica can also be used in the narrower sense as ancient art Greek and Roman Art and earlier periods.
16 hrs

agree  contesei
22 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

18 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Traditional painting styles / Traditional art


Explanation:
An idea.

Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 49

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Neptunia: I use "traditional" in place of "antica" frequently.
15 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 day 9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +1
period painting / art


Explanation:
My suggestion

Wendy Streitparth
Germany
Local time: 16:10
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  writeaway
3 hrs
  -> Thanks a lot, writeaway!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 day 15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
classic art/painting


Explanation:
another suggestion

http://www.photowall.co.uk/photo-wallpaper/categories/classi...
http://classic-art.tumblr.com/

Rachel Fell
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:10
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 24
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 day 14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
in the history of art/painting


Explanation:
With the extra context (very late in arrival), couldn't you work something in using the word history as a sort of metonym for the past "kings in history" means "past kings"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 days (2015-04-23 12:36:45 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry Tom! Didn't see yours.

James (Jim) Davis
Seychelles
Local time: 19:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 157
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.


See also:
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search