16 - EUROPE AFTER THE FALL OF ROME -EARLY MEDIEVAL ART - IN THE WEST
Vocabulary: cloisonné, cloister, gallery, monastery, interlace, repouseé, scriptorium(ia), westwork,
c.500-1500, from fall of Rome to Renaissance
-Early Medieval= c. 500 - 1000
-last Roman emperor, d. 476 CE= Flavius Romulus Augustus
-coined by humanists as age of darkness= Dark Ages
-considered crude, "uncultured" period
-Roman authority replaced by strong local leaders
-Germanic Franks, Goths, Saxons, Norse, Celts
-most EMA is portable--time of unrest, nomads, conflicts
-local arts and craftsmen
-geometric designs & animal motifs, abstractions
-manuscript illumination becomes important art form
-great use to missionaries, estab. authority of Church
-What scripture is to the educated, images are to the ignorant
-Pope Gregory the Great, papacy 590-604
-the Western Church took position that images are precious if material is precious
Medieval Fusion - Migrational Art
-Fuses Christianity + Greco-Roman + non-Roman peoples north of Alps
-Christianity spread north and northern art styles migrated south
-Celtic-Germanic Art
-combines abstract and organic shapes
-beautiful, geometric, interlacing patterns
-Animal Style - Celtic, Germanic Style
-SEE: Purse Cover, Sutton Hoo ship burial, FIG 16-2, 625 CE
-#16-3 Animal head post from Oseberg ship burial, c.825
-animal form + interlace
-Hiberno-Saxon Manuscripts
-St. Patrick estab church in Ireland, monastery
-Illumination, interlace, word of God=sacred, copied by monks-scriptoria
-SEE: Lindisfarne Gospels, FIG 16-6 c. 700
-SEE: Chi Rho page from Book of Kells, c. 800
-CAROLINGIAN ART
-c.750-900 CE, principally modern Germany & Austria
-Rome rises again, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Christmas Day, 800 CE
-1st Holy Roman Emperor, Imperial rule once again
-union of Germany + Italy
-Charlemagne's(742-814) influence
-Roman cultural influences, literature, arts, traditions
-on his official seal= renovatio Romani imperii
-United Celtic/Germanic traditions with Mediterranean traditions
-Painting
-scriptoria workshops produced authoritative copies of key religious texts
-scribes & scholars developed uniform Latin script letters
-books played central role in propagating learning and faith
-St. Matthew from Charlemagne's Gospel Book, c.800, FIG 16-12
-gold ink, purple vellum
-Compare to #16-13, St. Matthew from Gospel Book of Archbishop Ebbo, c.825
-SEE #16-15, Lindau Gospels cover, c.870
-Architecture
-Latin Cross churches, chapels, tombs
-Exteriors= weighty, plain, massive
-Interiors= polychromatic, decorative, use of marble
-Palace Chapel of Charlemagne at Aachen, 792-805, FIG 16 & 17
-Odo of Metz=architect
-Classical revival--based somewhat on San Vitale at Ravenna
-#19, Torhalle, Gatehouse, Lorsch, Germany, c.850
-#20, Plan of Monastery at Saint Gall, Switzerland, c. 820
-Sculpture
-Relegated to just a few objects--SEE: Balustrade relief, c.725
-OTTONIAN ART
-Otto I re-established German emperors as heads of the Holy Roman Empire
-Re-established imperial ambitions of Charlemagne
-Architecture
-Latin cross basilica plan prevailed--grew in size and scale
-architects sought to duplicate splendors of Christian architecture of imperial Rome
-Addition of towers, spires, turrets, westworks
-Westwork= monumental entrance structure SEE: St. Pantaleon, Cologne, #16-22
-SEE: St. Michael's--Hildesheim Cathedral, c.1000, FIG #22 & 23
-2 identical transepts
-rigid symmetry
-Sculpture
-Most examples from Germany
-Bishop Bernward bronze doors, St. Michael's, Hildesheim, 1015, FIG #24
-LEFT= Book of Genesis RIGHT= Life of Christ
-SEE: Gero Crucifix, Cologne Cathedral, c. 970, #27
-new lifesize image of Christ suffering
-powerful emotional content
-physical and emotional torment
-Painting
Art of the Book
-Manuscript illumination combined Carolingian and Byzantine elements
-variety and scope, new intensity
-SEE #28, Annunciation to the Shepherds, Lectionary of Henry II, c.1000\
-tempera on vellum
-FIG #29, Otto III Enthroned, Gospel Book of Otto III, c. 1000
-tempera on vellum