MEDIEVAL ART IN EUROPE
(From the Fall of the Roman Empire
to the Reanissance)
400-1453 (1492) CE.
The Roman Empire at its Height
• The Roman Empire
became huge
• It covered most of
Europe, North Africa,
and some of Asia
• The Empire reached
its height under
Emperor Diocletian
(284-305 CE)
MIDDLE AGES
• The period of European history from the
fall of the Roman Empire in the West
(5th century) to the fall of
Constantinople (1453), or to the socalled discovery of America by
Christopher Columbus in 1492 or, more
narrowly, from circa 1000 to 1453.
TIMELINE
1492
Columbus
discovers”
America
0
Jesus Christ
was born
600-400 B.C.E
Ancient
Greece
100 B.C.E.-500 C.E.
Roman Era
(Republic
and Empire)
600-1400 C.E.
The “Dark Ages”:
castles, knights and
barbarians
1400-1600 C.E.
Renaissance
1. FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
• Multiple causes: internal and external
(barbarian invasions)
• Empire first divided into two halves (West and
Eastern)
• Eastern Empire (Byzantine Empire) survived
with Constantinople as its capital.
• Western Empire disappeared as different
Roman Barbaric kingdoms (the most important
the Frankish kingdom) spawned its former
territories.
• New Religion: Christianity
Multiple Causes of the Fall of Rome
Contributing Factors
POLITICAL
Office seen as
a burden
Military
interfered
SOCIAL
Decline in
interests
Low
confidence
Economic
Poor harvests
Disruption in
trade
Military
Threats in
North
Low funds for
defense
Inflation
Civil war
Division of
Empire
Lack of
Patriotism
Tax burden
Rich/Poor
contrast
Gap between
rich and poor
Decline in
population
Immediate Causes = Germanic Tribes and Huns
Decline in
population
Christianity
• Christianity started in the Roman province of
Judea (mod. Palestine)
– Early Christians, as citizens of the Roman Empire, could
travel freely throughout the empire
– There was a significant number of Christians in Rome
by 64 CE, the year Nero blamed them for the fire (ca. 30
years after Jesus died)
• Christianity finally gained acceptance with the
Edict of Milan (313 CE) and Constantine’s
conversion
– Future Roman emperors were Christians
– As the Western Roman Empire fell apart, Rome
became the headquarters of the Roman Catholic
Church
• The Pope used the imperial title “Pontiff”
• The Church ended up ruling the city of Rome and surrounding
areas
• Church used Roman administrative districts, such as dioceses,
in its administration
The Barbarian Invasions
• From Asia:
Huns and
Magyars
• From the
Germanic
north:
Saxons,
Angles, and
Goths
Medieval Polities
• POLITY: an organized society; a state as a
political entity.
• 1. Frankish Kingdom (Christian, Catholic)
• 2. Byzantine Empire (Christian, Orthodox)
• 3. Muslim Caliphate
ART IN THE FRANKISH KINGDOM (and
Medieval Feudal Western Europe)
• Under the feudal system, the king
awarded land grants or fiefs to his
most important nobles, barons,
and bishops, in return for their
contribution of soldiers for the
king's armies.
MEDIEVAL LIFE
Cooperation and Mutual
Obligations
KING
MANORIALISM:
ECONOMIC SYSTEM
FEUDALISM:
POLITICAL SYSTEM
Fief and Peasants
 Decentralized, local
government
 Dependent upon the
relationship between
members of the nobility
 Lord and his vassals
administered justice
and were the highest
authority in their land
 Agriculture the basis for
wealth
 Lands divided up into
self-sufficient manors
 Peasants (serfs) worked
the land and paid rent In
exchange for protection
 Barter the usual form of
exchange
Military Aid
Loyalty
LORDS (VASSALS TO KING)
Food
Protection
Shelter
Military Service
Homage
KNIGHTS (VASSALS TO LORDS)
Food
Protection
Farm the
Land
PEASANTS (SERFS)
Shelter
Pay
Rent
Carolingian Renovatio
Carolingian
Palatine
Chapel at
Aechen
(Germany)
Monasticism
ILLUMINIATED MANUSCRIPTS
Monasteries were places where monks and nuns
copied manuscripts.
The papyrus scroll used from Egypt to Rome was
replaced by the vellum (calfskin) or parchment
(lambskin) codes, made of separate pages bound
at one side.
Manuscripts were considered sacred objects
containing the work of god. They were decorated
lavishly, so their outward beauty would reflect
their sublime contents. Covers were made of gold
studded with precious and semiprecious gems.
•Until printing was developed in the 15 th century,
these manuscripts were the only form of books in
existence, preserving not only religious teachings
but also Classical literature.
•Painters mainly
worked on elaborate
decorations for Bibles
and Prayer books
• Elongated figures and
elegant insignificant
details are rendered
with so much care that
they become the
dominant feature.
Page from illuminater
Gospel, early
15th century
Ethiopia, Lake Tana region
Wood, vellum, pigment; H. 16 1/2 in. (41.9
cm)
Rogers Fund, 1998 (1998.66)
Leaf from a
Beatus Manuscript:
Christ in Majesty with
Angels and the Angel of
God Directs Saint John
to Write the Book of
Revelation, ca. 1180
Spanish; Made in
Burgos, Castile-León
Tempera, gold, and ink
on parchment, metal
leaf; 17 1/2 x 11 13/16 in.
(44.4 x 30 cm)
Purchase, The Cloisters
Collection, Rogers and
Harris Brisbane Dick
Funds, and Joseph
Pulitzer Bequest, 1991
(1991.232.3)
Gothic Art/ Height and Light
1200-1500
• The Gothic Cathedral
Medieval architecture’s
greatest triumph
• The solid, heavy
Romanesque structures
were replaced with
structures of lightness
and grace
•
Gothic Style
In Europe in the twelfth century, many people moved into towns. Workers (stone carvers, carpenters, etc.), organized into
guilds (unions) , where apprentices were taught by masters. A wealthy merchant class, with pride in their
growing cities, and religious faith led to the building of huge cathedrals.
• Two developments in architecture_ the pointed
arch and the flying buttress, along with the
use of the vault allowed them to make taller
buildings whose walls were perforated with
stain glass windows that changed the light to
a rich, glowing color and educated the
illiterate with Biblical Stories being reveled in
glass.
•
•
•
Gothic cathedrals were such a symbol of civic
Pride that an invader's worst insult was to pull down the tower of conquered town’s cathedral. Communal devotion was
So intense that Lords and ladies worked beside butchers and masons, dragging carts loaded with stone from quarries.
Buildings were so elaborate tat construction literally took ages—6 centuries for Cologne Cathedral.
Chartres Cathedral (9th century)
A multi-media masterpiece. Its Stain glass
windows, the most intact collection of
medieval glass in the world, measure 8
kms. in total area. Illustrating the Bible,
the lives of saints, even traditional crafts
of France, the windows are like a gigantic,
glowing, illuminated manuscript.
Stain glass windows s
Stain glass windows replaced frescos to instruct illiterate masses
Arches
Arches (formed by
narrow stone ribs
extended from tall
pillars)
Ribbed vault
(ceiling supported by
pointed arches)
Flying buttresses
Flying buttresses
are arm like stone
beams.
Ribbed Vault
GIOTTO (1288-1337)
Giotto was an artist that formed a bridge between the
Medieval times and the Renaissance.
Giotto
He moved toward realism in his depiction of figures
Late Gothic Period 1266 or 7-1337
and used naturalistic backgrounds (his skies were
blue).
He led the way to a new manner of painting that
transformed the flat surface into what appears to be
an open space filled with people.
B. BYZANTINE EMPIRE
• From 330 A.D. (conventional) to 1453 A.D.
• 1204 A.D. First Fall of Constantinople (4th
Crusade)
• 1453 A.D. Final Fall by the hands of Mehmet
the Conqueror
CONSTANTINOPLE
• A GREEK COLONY FOUNDED BY SOME MEGARIANS in
663 B.C. under the name of BYZANTIUM
• The Roman Emperor SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS rebuilt the
city in the mid-3nd century A.D.
• Foundation of CONSTANTINOPLE
by the Emperor CONSTANTINE I in 324-330 A.D.
• Constantinople= Polis of Constantine I (312337 A.D.)
Zeuxippus’ Baths
Tetrapilon
Julian’s Harbour
MILION
ROMAN BATHING
STRIGIL WITH FLASK
HYPOCAUST
Apodyterium
SYSTEM
JUSTINIAN (6th century)
BINBIRDIREK (The Cistern of 1001 columns)
HAGIA SOPHIA
EARLY ISLAM (622-850 CE)
UMAYYAD CALIPHATE (650s-750s A.D.)
Church of the Holy Sepulchre- Jerusalem
Dome of
The RockJerusalem
UMAYYAD DESERT CASTLES
ABBASIDS
BAGDHAD-The new capital of the
Abbasid Caliphate