Barbarian to Carolingian
Art
End of the Classical Era
• The collapse of the
economy of the West
meant that skilled workers
departed for the East.
• Even had the new
barbarian rulers an interest
in preserving city life,
there were no longer the
technical skills to do so.
The West simply ran down
through neglect.
End of the Classical Era
• The Barbarians who
came to settle in what
had been the Western
Roman Empire
brought their own
artistic traditions with
them.
Dark Ages?
• The dark ages were not so dark as
many imagine them.
• Classical culture lived on and classical
art was much valued, even by Rome’s
barbarian conquerors.
• However, trade and the organization
needed to maintain a civilized, urban,
culture collapsed.
Dark Ages?
• There was no sudden
disappearance of
Classical forms – just
a fading out of the
Classical World as the
barbarians took over.
Barbarians – Warrior’s Boar
Helmet
Barbarians – Warriors With Boar
Helmets
Barbarians & the So-Called Dark
Ages
• Barbarian art differed
from Classical art in
many ways.
• First and foremost, it
reflected pagan, and often
animist traditions.
• Nature deities replaced
man and God as the
measure of all things.
Barbarians & the So-Called Dark
Ages • Abstract and
organic shapes
were merged in
highly original
designs.
• Art objects tended
to be portable, since
the Germanic tribes
were mobile.
Tara Brooch (Celtic)
Celtic/Germanic Art
• Most such art
existed in small,
portable, forms.
– Jewelry
– Textiles
– Weaponry
Purse Cover from the Sutton Hoo
Treasure
Celtic/Germanic Art
Celtic/Germanic Art - Viking
Jewelery
Celtic/Germanic Art
• Naturally textiles and
wood have mostly
been lost.
• Some Norse artifacts,
which are culturally
similar, but from a
later period, do
survive.
Wooden Prow of a Viking Longship
Celtic/Germanic Art
• Long lasting work in
metal does survive and
provides evidence of a
rich artistic tradition.
Gundestrup Cauldron – beaten
out of 10 kg. Of silver
Celtic/Germanic Art
• Much surviving
craftsmanship
consists of weaponry.
Celtic/Germanic Art
Celtic/Germanic Art – Saxon
Literature -- Beowulf
• In a word where literacy was
limited to the clergy alone, an oral
tradition was vital.
• Poet-singers, called troubadours,
trouveres or minnesanger, told or
sang stories and perpetuated
legends.
• One such legend was Beowulf.
Celtic/Germanic Art; Anglo –
Saxon Literature --Beowulf
Christianity
• Between the 5th and
9th centuries a
fusion of the
Classical and
Germanic worlds
would take place.
• The catalyst for this
change was the
Roman Catholic
Church.
Christianity
• The advance of Christianity in the
Barbarian West is the most significant
development of the early Middle Ages.
• Missionaries and monks from Ireland in the
North-West and from Rome eventually
Christianized all of Western Europe.
• Their monopoly of literacy and learning
made them invaluable to Kings and
powerful rulers.
Monasticism
– As towns fell into disrepair, small,
often remote, monastic communities
preserved what they valued of the
classical world, including literacy
and some technology.
– The chief strength of the Church was
that it preserved learning in the West.
Kings and chiefs needed the skills
that only the clergy possessed
Monasticism
• From their
fortress-like
communities,
monks
laboriously
copied
manuscripts,
worked and
prayed.
Christian Influence
• The fusion of
Christian and
Celtic-Germanic
styles is seen in
Irish and Scottish
stone crosses.
Monasterboice
Cross
Moone Cross
Early Medieval Illumination
• The Christian influence is
also particularly apparent in
manuscript illuminations, the
work of Irish monks.
Illumination of a page from the Book of Kells
Early Medieval Illumination
Gospel of
Luke
Early Medieval Illumination
Halberstadt
Gospels
Early Medieval Illumination
Lindisfarne
Gospels
Early Medieval Illumination
Book of Kells
Lindisfarne Gospels
Early Medieval
Illumination
• In this early art, man becomes
a stylized and unrealistic
image.
The Carolingian Renaissance
• The so-called Carolingian
Renaissance was shortlived.
• Art and learning were
encouraged and the great
king nearly restored order
to Europe.
• Unfortunately his
successors were less
capable and outside
invasions destroyed his
empire’s unity.
The Carolingian Renaissance
Light Green areas inherited by Charlemagne
Dark Green areas added by the time of his death
The Carolingian Renaissance
Charlemagne
Coin
The Carolingian Renaissance
The Supposed Sword of Charlemagne
Carolingian Texts
Codex Aureus
Carolingian Texts
St. Gall Gospel
Back Cover
The Carolingian Renaissance
• Charlemagne encouraged
learning and literacy.
• Monks copied and
created illuminated
works of great beauty,
such as Ebbo’s Gospel
Book.
St. Mathew’s Gospel
Carolingian Texts
Charlemagne’s
Gospel of St.
Mark
The Carolingian Renaissance
• An important development
in Carolingian scriptoria
was the invention of a new
kind of writing –
Carolingian miniscule –
which used both upper and
lower case letters.
The Carolingian Renaissance
From the Stuttgart
Psalter
The Carolingian Renaissance
• Wonderful work in
metal and crystal
adorned abbeys and
palaces.
The Carolingian Renaissance
Reliquaries
Supposed
True Cross
Reliquary
The Carolingian Renaissance
Reliquaries
The Carolingian Renaissance
Ivory
Dyptich
The Carolingian Renaissance
Portable Art
A Carolingian
Purse
The Carolingian Renaissance
• Few mosaics survive,
but they were
important and likely
reflect links to the
Byzantine Empire
Ceiling of Charlemagne’s
Palatine Chapel, Aachen
The Carolingian Renaissance
Fresco
St. Rabanus
The Carolingian Renaissance
• In politics, Charlemagne linked the
Mediterranean and Atlantic worlds.
• They were now also linked politically.
• Classical realism reappear, somewhat.
• It is also linked with Byzantine symbolism
and Germanic decoration.
End of the Carolingian
Renaissance
• Charlemagne’s
death left the
empire in
weaker hands.
• By the treaty of
Verdun, the
Frankish
Empire was
divided among
his grandsons.
End of the Carolingian
Renaissance
• Outsiders also
threatened the
empire.
• From the North
came the Vikings.
• From the East
came the Magyars.
• From the South
came the Moslems
Ottonian Art
• The advances of the Carolingian
Renaissance were not completely lost,
however.
• Otto I established a line of Saxon kings that
gained control over most of Italy and
present-day Germany
Ottonian Art
• Otto II married a
Byzantine princess,
strengthening ties
between East and West
and bringing
Byzantine artists into
his Holy Roman
Empire.
Holy Roman Emperor Otto
III, Note the similarity of this
picture with Byzantine
portraiture
Ottonian Art
• Around 870 AD,
master craftsmen
created an opulent
image of the
crucifixion on the
cover of the Lindau
Gospels.
• No attempt was made
to present the scene
realistically.
Ottonian art
• This may be a
crucifixion, but the
figure on the cross is
very much alive.
• He does not suffer in
the least.
Ottonian Art
• Only a century later there is
an entirely new depiction of
the same scene.
• Christ’s agonized portrayal
in the Gero Crucifix, though
not wholly realistic, is an
entirely compassionate
portrayal.
• It also marks the
reappearance of
monumental sculpture
Ottonian Art
• The Gero image pulls
on the heart-strings of
the observer.
• Muscles strain.
• The body is contorted.
• Christ suffers – and,
he suffers for man.
Finis