For Quatrefoil we have terms and definitions in 4 topics. The topics are Art History, Cathedrals and Castles, Furniture and Heraldry.

Quatrefoil (Art History)

A type of illusionistic decoration in which architectural elements are painted on walls and/or ceilings in such a way that they appear to be an extension of the real architecture of a room into an imaginary space. It was common in Roman art, was revived by Mantegna in the 15th century, and reached its peaks of elaboration in Baroque Italy. The greatest of all exponents of quadratura was probably Pozzo, in whose celebrated ceiling in S. Ignazio, Rome, architecture and figures surge towards the heavens with breathtaking bravura. Unlike Pozzo, many artists relied on specialists called quadraturisti to paint the architectural settings for their figures (see Guercino and Tiepolo, for example).

Quatrefoil (Cathedrals and Castles)

Ornamental tracery in the form of a flower with four symmetrical petals.

Quatrefoil (Furniture)

Gothic decoration consisting of a conventionalized four-leaf clover enclosed in a circle.

Quatrefoil (Heraldry)

(kwa'-ter-foil) A four-leaved grass. This is frequently seen in heraldry.

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