Medieval Design
Discussant:
Anna Katrina N. Rint
Medieval Era or Middle Ages
CHARACTERISTICS
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Rich colors
Heavily outlined
Flat and stiff figures showing no depth
Religious Icons
Architecture is influenced by Greek and Roman –
Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic styles
emerged from this period.
• Mosaics replaced carved decoration
• Large Domes central to the church
Art of the Early
Middle Ages
Justinian as world conqueror
(Barberini Ivory)
mid-6th century
ivory
1 ft. 1 1/2 in. x 10 1/2 in.
Christ enthroned with Saints
(Harbaville Triptych)
ca. 950 , ivory, 9 1/2 in. x 5 1/2 in. high
Theodora and attendants , south wall apse mosaic, San Vitale,
Ravenna, Italy
ca. 547, mosaic
Medieval art almost always depicted religious topics.
(Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images)
MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE
• Two styles of architecture emerged:
1. Romanesque
2. Gothic style
3. Bryzantine
The Leaning Tower of Pisa,
begun in 1173, is considered
a Romanesque structure.
(Medioimages/Photodisc/Ph
otodisc/Getty Images)
Romanesque
Architecture
-Thick walls
-Semi circular
Arches
-Heavy in visual
weight
San Vitale
Ravenna, Italy
526-547
San Vitale
Ravenna, Italy
526-547
Notre Dame of Paris
One of the finest examples of gothic architecture and most well known
churches in the world – Notre Dame de Paris
Hagia Sophia
***Known as one of the grandest
examples of Byzantine Architecture.
A view of the DOME
Hagia Sophia
Constantinpole, (Istanbul), Turkey
532-537
Byzantine
Hagia Sofia, (eye-ya
SO-fia)Turkey &
St. Catherines
Monestary, Egypt
Gothic
– St. Patricks, NYC
Romanesque –St. Vitale,
Revenna, Italy
St. Patrick's Cathedral Tour
Glass Window from Troyes Cathedral,
Troyes, France - 1200
Monastery of St. Catherine
Mount Sinai, Egypt, 6c.
Getty Images of St. Catherines start at 2min
Illuminated Manuscripts
• are books that have been decorated,
sometimes elaborately, with precious paints
and gold leaf
• monks in scriptoriums
• decorated, sometimes with gold, other
precious metals and gemstones
In an illuminated
manuscript, the first letters
of paragraphs were
decorated, and illustrations
could be a half or whole
page. (Photos.com/Photos.c
om/Getty Images)
Ireland's Book of Kells, the
most beautiful illuminated
manuscript that survives from
the early Middle Ages. It
consists of four Gospels written
in Latin. Only two of its 680
pages are without color.
Gerona Bible Master, Bologna, Italy, 1285
Historiated initial R from the
frontispiece of a 12th-century
manuscript of St. Gregory's Moralia
in Job, Dijon, Bible
Medieval Painting
• It depicts religious subjects or topics of war
• Human faces in paintings throughout the era were very
flat, unrealistic and looked alike
• Human and animal body parts are disproportionate
and usually elongated
• Architecture and landscapes are awkward.
The human figure in
medieval paintings looks
flat and
disproportionate. (Photos.
com/Photos.com/Getty
Images)
Madonna from the Annunciation,
1340-1344 Simone Martini, c.12841344
Tempera on panel
Late 1400’s mural - dawning on realistic representations and attempt at perspective
Medieval Sculpture
• depict topics of religion and war
• human bodies are disproportionate and
perspective is not realistic
• common kind of medieval sculpture technique
is the RELIEF (180 degrees of the figure are
visible)
These figures on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris seem to have
their backs glued to the wall. (Hemera
Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images)
Christ as Savior of
Souls,
early 14th century
tempera, linen and silver on
wood
3 ft. 1/4 in. x 2 ft. 2 1/2 in.
• First to use Flying Buttresses (Arched exterior support system
to accommodate higher and thinner walls)
• Famous for the use of water spouts, or gargoyles
• Completed in 1345
• The “rose window” contains symbolism – center is
blessed virgin mary and child who are surrounded
by prophets and saints.
6th or 7th century
Icon of Jesus and an
abbot shares in the
anti-realist style of
Byzantine iconic art,
Monastery of Saint
Catherine, Mount
Sinai, Egypt
The Enthroned Virgin and
Child with Saints and
Angels, 6th century, perhaps
the earliest iconic image of
the subject to survive at
Monastery of Saint
Catherine, Mount Sinai,
Egypt
This ICON is believed to have
originated in Tuscany c. 1300, and
influenced a wide number of paintings
from the following century as well as
Florentine sculptures from the 1440–
1450s. This version was in turn widely
copied across Italy and northern Europe
during the 14th and 15th centuries –
THIS WORK SERVED AS A
BRIDGE FROM BYZANTINE TO
EARLY RENAISSANCE