CHAPTER 11
EARLY MEDIEVAL
EUROPE
Historical Background
• The great technological breakthroughs of
the Romans were lost to history
• This was the age of mass migrations
sweeping across Europe
• Many groups did much to destroy any
remains
i off the
th R
Roman civilization
i ili ti – so
desperate historians called this the “Dark
A
Ages”
”
Patronage and Artistic Life
• The monasteries were both the place of
knowledge in the midst of an illiterate
population and the greatest center of art
production.
• Artists who could both write and draw were
particularly
p
yp
prized in the creation of
manuscripts
• The text is an exact copy of the books/Bible
and the illustrations allow the artist some
freedom of expression.
expression
Map of the Mediterranean region,
region
Islam, and northern Europe circa 800
Map of Germanic Invasions.
4th-8th centuries
Art of the Warrior Lords
• Because of their migratory nature
nature, various cultures
produced art that was small and portable but much
of it was lost.
lost
• Art that exist consisted of small possessions such
as buckles, helmets, fibulae, and utilitarian objects.
• Small pieces of fine art of precisely shaped pieces
of metal,, and some with jewels
j
were discovered in
ship burials in Europe
• Artists were inspired byy prehistoric models that
emphasized animals and spirals in elaborate
interlacing patterns.
Vocabulary
• animal style: a medieval
art form in which animals
are depicted in a stylized
and often complicated
pattern, usually seen
fighting with one another
• horror vacui: type of
artwork in which the
entire surface is filled with
objects, people, designs,
and ornaments in a
crowded, sometimes
congested way
11-2: Merovingian looped fibula (decorative pin)
Fish
Other fibula
Zoomorphic - having or representing animal
forms or g
gods of animal form.
Frankish round fibula.
6th & 7th centuries
Interlacing:a ribbon that interweaves throughout the design
repeatedly (Islamic Art called: arabesques)
Cue Card
Z
Zoomorphic
hi
11-3: Purse cover
from the Sutton Hoo ship burial
Suffolk, England
Cloisonné – enamelwork in which colored
areas are separated by thin bands of metal,
usually gold or bronze
ca. 625
gold, glass and enamel cloisonné with garnets and emeralds
7 1/2 in. long
Cue Card
11-3: Purse cover, from the
Sutton Hoo ship burial
Heraldic – symmetrical
on either side
Shoulder Clasp
Cue Card
11-4: Animal-Head Post from Oseberg
Ship-Burial
g, Norwayy
Oseberg,
ca. 825, wood
approximately 5 in. high
11-4: Animal Head post, from Oseberg Ship-Burial
•Pagan
P
ttraders
d
and
d
pirates were known as
Vikings
•Theyy destroyed
y the
Christian monastic
communities especially
in England
•Lavishly carved animal
head, roaring beast
located on Viking ship.
Typical Norse design with
animal head biting the ring
to keep away evil spirits.
11-5: Wooden portal, stave church, Urnes, Norway
Intertwined figures, plant stalks
Hib
Hiberno-Saxon
S
Art
At
Hiberno-Saxon Art
• A
An art style
l that
h flourished
fl i h d in
i the
h monasteries
i
of the British Isles in the early Middle Ages –
also called Insular
• Art of the British Isles – Hibernia was an ancient name for Ireland and Saxon
for England
• Began
g Christianization of the Celts
• These people wanted independence
• Artwork is similar to the Art of the Warrior Lords
Illuminated Manuscripts
• Monks settled in isolated areas in Ireland,
Scotland and some areas of England
• The main artistic expression is illuminated
manuscripts
– Th
The borders
b d
off the
th illustrated
ill t t d pages h
harbor
b animals
i l iin
stylized patterns, sometimes called the animal style.
– Art relies on complicated interlace patterns in a frenzy
of horror vacui
– Each section of the illustrated text opens with huge
i iti l th
initials
thatt are rich
i h fifields
ld off ornamentation
t ti
– Monasteries established scriptoria (the writing
studio of a monastery.
11-6: Man (Matthew),
Book of Durrow
Ink and tempera
p
on
parchment
ca. 660-680
One of the earliest
surviving decorated
Gospels
Book of Mark & opposing carpet page
Cue Card
11-7: Lindisfarne Gospels
Ca. 698-721
tempera on vellums
Cue Card
Another Cross and
Carpet Page
Front Cover
Cross and Carpet Page
The Four Evangelists: first four books of the New Testament:
Mathew, Mark, Luke & John
Cue Card
Lindisfarne Gospels
11-8: Saint Matthew
Saint Mark
Saint Luke
Saint John
11-1: Chi-rho-iota (Christ in Greek) page, Book of Kells
Late 8th or early 9th century, Tempera on vellum
Cue Card
Another portion of the Book of Kells
with zoomorphic shapes & interlacing
Annuals of Ulster commented in 1003 that this
was “the chief relic of the western world”
11-9: High Cross of Muiredach
•Largest fine cross
•Marked grave
•Fantastic animals
•Panels of Christ’s story
The Carolingian Period, ca 750-987
750 987
Why Carolingian Art
• On Christmas day of 800
800, Pope Leo III
crowned Charles the Great (Charlemagne)
as emperor of Rome
• Charlemagne came to be seen as the first
Holy (Christian) Emperor
• The setting for Charlemagne's coronation
was Saint
S i t Peter’s
P t ’ Basilica
B ili iin R
Rome – Built
B ilt
by Constantine
• He gave his name to the entire period.
Carolingian Art
• Th
The artt off Charlemagne
Ch l
can b
be seen as
the first revival of classical art.
• Carolingian churches are characterized by
elaborate westworks, consisting of a
centralized entrance beneath a second
story chapel, both flanked by towers.
• Churches were sometimes accompanied
y monastic buildings,
g which housed the
by
religious in a self-sufficient community.
Medieval Scriptorium
• Monks and nuns ate, slept, and created
artworks in an open-air courtyard called a
cloister.
• Scriptorium was a workshop for the
production of books
p
• They were written on pages of vellum or
parchment
• Produced by scribes and illustrators
– Signature on last page
page, called colophon
11-12: Equestrian portrait of Charlemagne(?) or
Charles the Bald
from Metz, France, early 9th century
bronze
Cue Card
9 1/2 in. high
•Leo III crowned Charles the Great
•1st HOLY Royal emperor
•Outstretched hand in which he holds
the globe (world power)
Compare
p
to the
Equestrian statue
of Marcus Aurelius
Coronation Gospels
(Gospel Book of
Charlemagne)
g )
Cue Card
11-13: Saint Matthew
p
portrait
of
Menander, c 70 ce,
Pompeii
St John
St.
St. Mark
Cue Card
11-14: St. Matthew from the
Ebbo Gospels
Compare with
Coronation Gospels
St. Mark, Gospel Book
11-15: Psalm 44, detail of folio 24 recto of the
Ut ht P
Utrecht
Psalter,
lt
• Richly illustrated ink drawings of the
psalms of the Bible
Cue Card
Pearls, jewels, gems
stones, and repousse
11-16: Crucifixion front cover
p
Lindau Gospels
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York
ca. 870
gold precious stones and pearls
gold,
13 3/8 x 10 3/8 in.
Cue Card
Odo of Metz
11-18: Interior of the Palatine Chapel
of Charlemagne
Aachen Germany
Aachen,
ca. 792-805
Cue Card
•Imported
I
t d purple
l marble
bl
•Like San Vitale
•1st vaulted structure of the
Middle Ages
g north of the Alps
p
•Royal chapel
Altar
Throne
Compare to
San Vitale
11-18: Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne, Aachen
•Plan of an ideal self-sufficient monastic
community of about 3000 people
•Church symbolically and literally in the
center
•This was never built
redrawn after a 9th century manuscript
11-19: 9th C. and a 20th C. model
St Gall,
St.
Gall Switzerland
ca. 819
11-20: Westwork,
Abbey church,
Corvey, Germany
Later addition
Westwork: a monumental
entrance to a Carolingian
church in which two towers
flank a lower central entrance
Ottonian Empire – 10th to 13th c.
c
Ninth and tenth centuries
Ottonian empire - blue
Ottonian Art
• Ottonian art is influenced by the Rome and
the Early Christian past.
• Large stone monuments dominate existing
Ottonian architecture.
• A common th
theme off architecture
hit t
is
i that
th t
interior arches and windows do not line up
one atop
t th
the other.
th
11-21: Saint Cyriakus, Genrode, Germany
Alternate
Support
system
Nave
Ottonian
11-22: Abbey Church of St. Michael’s
Hildesheim Germany
Hildesheim,
Built by Bishop Bernward, a great art patron
ca. 1001-1031
Cue Card
11-22 to 11-23:
St. Michael’s,
Hildesheim, Germany
Cue Card
Nave
•Doors tell the story of original sin
•Adam and Eve - emotional impact
•Fall of Man, Redemption of Man
•The
The left door illustrate from
Genesis with Adam and Eve (at
the top) and ending with the
murder of Adam ((at the bottom))
•The right door recounts the life of
Jesus (reading from the bottom
up) starting with Annunciation to
Christ after his resurrection
•Made for St. Michael in 1015
•Only monks could pass through the
doors
11-24: Doors with relief panels
Genesis, left door - Christ, right door
Hild h i Germany
Hildesheim,
G
2 Doors 16’ tall
ca. 1001-1031
Cue Card
Doors,,
St. Michael’s
Lost wax casting
Narrative relief column
ill t ti the
illustrating
th lif
life off
Christ, the story starts
at the top
St. Michael’s
Roman influence
Column of Trajan
11-28: Crucifix commissioned
By Archbishop Gero,
Cologne Cathedral
ca. 970, painted wood
6’2”
Cue Card
A compartment in the
back of the head held
bread for the Eucharist
Like a Byzantine suffering
Christ
Blood streaks his forehead
(missing crown)
Compare to Justinian
The Four
Provinces
bringing
tribute to Otto
11-29: Otto III Enthroned from the
Gospel Book of Otto III
St Luke
Christ Washing
The Feet of
Peter
Byzantine
influence
Summary – Key Ideas
• The
e po
political
ca cchaos
aos resulting
esu g from
o the
e Fall
a o
of Rome
o e
set in motion a period of migrations. The unifying
force in Europe was Christianity which were
powerful
f l centers
t
off learning
l
i especially
i ll iin IIreland.
l d
• The Migratory period of the Early Middle Ages
featured portable works that were done in the
animal style.
• Characteristics of Early
y Medieval art include horror
vacui and interlacing patterns
• Art at the court of Charlemagne begins the first of
many western European revivals of ancient Rome.
• Ottonian art revives large scale sculpture and
architect re
architecture.