Notes for the Units Classical to Medieval
Greek Art
900-30BCE
City States
Created independent City-States= (polis) an autonomous region having a city as a political,
economic, religious and cultural center. Each was independent. Not one nation. They were often
at war with one another.
Democracy! = rule by the people- originated with the Greeks in Athens (only Sparta kept an
aristocracy)
Citizenship is an elite male right- idea of citizens with rights and responsibilities was an
important new concept in gov’t.
Also lots of warfare with the Persians- by the Greek cities of Asia Minor (like Troy! -see map)lots of victories back and forth
Humanism
Democracy is fueled by Greek concept of HUMANISM
Man as the measure of all things- exalted the individual and humanity
Concept of human supremacy and responsibility developed into a world view
Olympics 776BCE
Religion
- Like their neighbors, the Greeks believed in a pantheon of gods and goddesses who were
associated with specific aspects of life.
- Greek gods assume human forms! (unlike most of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian gods)
- Gods are different from man only in that they are immortal
- “made their gods into humans and their humans into gods.” Gods had weaknesses, humans had
god-like strengths
Key to Greek Art:
Balance of real and ideal.
Love naturalism- based on keen observation (representing the visual world as we see it)
Love idealism- to perfect
Example artwork
Kouros. Statue of a Youth. c. 610–600 B.C.E. Height 76".
Polykleitos. Spear Bearer (Doryphoros). 450–440 B.C.E. Height 6' 6". Mature Classical
Temples- more influential on the later history of Western Architecture than any other building
built!
- temples were the main form of architecture- houses were modest (no monarchs thus no
palaces until later)
ultimately felt that gods were embodied in the buildings themselves!
- typical plan =
- central room surrounded by single or double row of columns= Peripteral
temple= colonnade runs around all 4 sides
- rectangular overall shape, pitched roof
- altar lay outside on East end (rising sun), people worshipped outside
- temple held cult statue- house of god or goddess not his/her worshippers
- always appeal to Greek sense of symmetry, order, compactness and
mathematical relationships- cosmic order!
- made of limestone and often marble
Architectural Orders
ORDERS: temple elevations- arrangement, proportions, and appearance of columns and
entablatures
Gmaps/line art16
1. Doric- mainland Greece- earliest simplest, most commonly used (capital is simple,
cushion)
2. Ionic- from Asia Minor and the Aegeans- more ornate, generally for smaller temples
(capital is scroll, volute)
3. Corinthian- most intricate- used later and mainly inside- favorite of Romans and used
most by Romans. (capital is overlapping ancanthus leaves)
cornice- projecting horizontal band
Pediment= triangular member found by the slope of the roof at the short ends of temple.
Entablature= horizontal member that bears the weight of the roof including:
1. frieze- contains sculptural decoration (triglyph and metope for Doric) triglyph
probably corresponds to the ends of timber now translated into stone.
2. architrave- solid band for Doric, 3 bands for Ionic
capital
column
Example artwork
Ictinus and Callicrates. Parthenon, view from southwest. Athens, Greece 448–432 B.C.E.
Recap:
 Greek artists create a new way of depicting humans figures in space (contrapposto in
sculpture)
 Canon of proportions- the belief that harmonious proportions create beauty
 Harmonious numerical ratios also used in architecture
Roman Art
509BCE-500CE
ReligionAdopted many Greek gods and myths, added their own gods and added deified emperors.
Example artwork
Portrait of Augustus as general, from Primaporta, Italy, copy of a bronze original of ca. 20
BCE. Marble, 6’ 8” high. Vatican Museums, Rome.
Roman houses
Domestic architecture occupies a prominent place in Roman civilization. Home family and
hearth was sacred.
Emphasized interior not exterior.
Mt. Vesuvius
Volanic eruption in 79AD during early empire.
Forum- public square for daily commerce and for holding festivals- had a chief side, unlike the
Greek building which stood in isolation and could be approached from any side- during the
empire each emperor usually made their own forums including statues that pertained to them or
their family line- it provided each emperor with new space and a chance to present their own
version of history
Basilica- place for the administrative offices like the law court- long afterlife in architectural
history and the Christian Church
CONCRETE- = powdered lime, sand and rubble- mixing in water causes a chemical reaction
that blends the material and hardens it into strong solid mass. Does absorb moisture, so often
faced concrete with a veneer.
Example artwork:
Pantheon, view of entrance. 118–125 C.E. Rome, Italy
Roman Recap:
architectural revolution
- an architecture of SPACE
- concrete
- the arch!
Use of art as political propaganda
- emperor portraits
- triumphal arches
- amphitheatres
(etc. baths, columns)
Early Christian Art
Style:
Early Christian art differs from Pagan art only in subject matter, not style (all Roman).
Naturalism gets broken down and a flat/archaic style dominates variously influenced by the
‘barbarian’ styles flooding in as the empire declines.
** slow eventual change to non-naturalistic figures!***
Period of Persecution and Period of Recognition
Favored medium= mosaic
Example artwork
Vineyard Harvest, vault mosaic, Santa Costanza, Rome Italy, 337-351
Recap:
 Early Christian artists converted the pagan world to Christianity through the eventual
rejection of the classical style and with new non-naturalistic figures
 - syncretism
 - Early Christians establish the iconography (symbolism) of Jesus in art
and the prototype of Christian architecture
 Focus on the spiritual world NOT the natural world!
 - symbolic, message driven art! (very different from the classical)
Byzantine Art
527-1453CE
After Constantine, a united Roman Empire collapses. Western emperor rules from Milan and
then Ravenna, Eastern emperor rules from Constantinople- “New Rome”.
- Byzantine emperors considered themselves earthly vicars of Xst. Their will was God’s will=
Both Pope and Ceasar! Quasidivine!
Byzantine artistic style:
- “abstract,” or anti-naturalistic character.
- If classical art was marked by the attempt to create representations that mimicked reality as
closely as possible, Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this attempt in favor of a more
symbolic approach.
- Byzantine art is an art without solid bodies or cast shadows, with blank golden spaces.
- extremely rich, flat tapestry feel without illusionistic devices- ideal vehicle for conveying the
extremely complex Xtian dogma
- The subject matter of monumental Byzantine art was primarily religious and imperial
Example artwork
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletas, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey, 532-537
Byzantine Recap:
 Christianity divides into the Latin West and Greek Orthodox East (Constantinople, the
capital- Ravenna, Italy a Byzantine stronghold in Justinian’s era)
 rejection of the classical style and new non-naturalistic figures
 thin frontal figures
 Gold backgrounds
 Churches are central plan, domed
Early Medieval Art 500 to 1000CE.
A fusion of Christianity, Greco-Roman heritage and culture of non-Roman/Celtic-Germanic
peoples (called barbarians by Romans) north of the Alps.
Used to be called the Dark Ages (400-1400) A time of ignorance, decline and barbarism between
the two “golden ages” of Greece/Rome and Italian Renaissance. No longer seen as
unsophisticated or inferior despite the current use of the term “Middle Ages”, or Medieval.
Migration Period- The barbarian cultures move in and out of places- seek to settle, find peace,
and then get pressed out by another group. The art that is left of these people are small and
portable- bracelets, pendants and belt buckles often overlooked by past Art Historians.
Example Artwork
Purse Cover, from Sutton Hoo (Hoo means hill) Ship Burial in England, gold glass and
enamel cloisonné, 7.5” long, 625 –discovered in 1938
Early Medieval Art Recap:
 After Western Roman Empire collapses in 476, Western Europe is home to competing
groups of non-Roman people (except for Byzantine Ravenna)
 Small, portable works of art of people constantly on the move
 illuminated manuscripts coming out of the monasteries
Romanesque
11th and 12th c.
European Church architecture that had solid masonry walls, rounded arches and masonry vaults
characteristic of imperial Roman buildings.
Feudalism (plus many monarchies)- economic system involving a complicated series of
interpersonal relationships, obligations and services based on land tenure. Eventually growing
trade results in growing urban centers and feudalism gradually gets displaced.
Pilgrimages- movements of populations to innumerable shrines
- principle feature of Xtian Medieval life
- travel to distant shrines of saints, veneration of powerful relics= salvation
- relics= bodies of saints, parts of bodies, things owned by saints, thought to have
miraculous powers, kept in richly decorated reliquaries
Example artwork
Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca. 1070–1120
The return of Stone sculpture!
1. Desire to beautify churches
2. Changing role of the Church- now serving monasteries, pilgrims and towns (not just
priests and monks)
- begins with portal (door) décor
Romanesque Recap:
- The patrons of art= monasteries, especially along the pilgrimage route
- immense churches with (“Roman like”) stone vaults are built throughout Europe
- Didactic (teaching) relief sculptures adorned church portals and cloisters
- relics of saints were considered important and were kept in reliquaries
- The revival of monumental architecture and sculpture all over Europe
Gothic Art 1140 to 1400AD
Gothic begins in French king’s domain around Paris
Gothic Vault- use of pointed arch rib vault as an integral to skeletal armature
- thinly vaulted webs between arches
new:
- crowns of all arches are at the same height
- not possible in Romanesque semicircular arches
- if an architect uses semicircular (Romanesque) arches the heights of the
arcade arches (along the side nave walls) and the transverse arches (over
your head as you march down the nave) will be different because the
height of a semicircular arch is determined by its width
- e.g. - if you cover a rectangular bay there is a long side and short
side
- Gothic vault is more flexible- permits vaulting of compartments of varying
space
- thinner stone webbing than Romanesque
- pointed arches also channel the weight of the vaults more directly downward
than semicircular arches- less buttressing, more windows
- pointed arch visually leads the eye upward- seems taller!
- technical skill made pointed rib vaulting possible but the focus still was LIGHT
Example artwork
Notre Dame de Chartres, southeast view. 1145–1513
Gothic Recap:
- French architects pioneer a new style beginning in Paris
- Gothic elements= rib vaults, pointed arches, flying buttresses, stained glass, statue lined
portals (doors)
- Verticality and mystical light!
- people = more naturalistic
- themes soften