Early Medieval Art PDF

Early Medieval Art Dr. Marques Great best motif Early Medieval Art ● ● Great beast stone, erected in 965 by King Harald Bluetooth in Jelling, Denmark Demonstrates a few things ○ ○ ○ Practice of stone monuments Unity of Norway and Denmark under his rule The emergence of Christianity in Northe...

Early Medieval Art Dr. Marques Great best motif Early Medieval Art ● ● Great beast stone, erected in 965 by King Harald Bluetooth in Jelling, Denmark Demonstrates a few things ○ ○ ○ Practice of stone monuments Unity of Norway and Denmark under his rule The emergence of Christianity in Northern Europe Early Medieval Art ● ● ● ● Tenth century all about cultural and religious exchange Pre-Christian beliefs came into contact with and merged with Christianity to form distinct versions of the erstwhile new religion Process known as Syncretism Jelling stone is a perfect example Early Medieval Art ● ● ● ● Jelling stone also demonstrates how wealth, power, and religion often went hand in hand. This period in European history (c. 700–1200) includes so many diverse cultures—Angles, Saxons, Danes, Jutes, and more—that it is challenging to give it an appropriately inclusive name. “Viking” for example, is incredibly inaccurate. For everyone from warrior kings to devout holy figures, spheres of influence and control could be pinpointed, advertised, and extended by means of visual imagery. Early Medieval Art ● ● Jelling stone is part of a long tradition in north sea regions The mystical powers circulating at such locations would extend beyond the stones themselves, available for both kings and holy men to harness for worldly purposes. Early Medieval Art Irish dolmens Early Medieval Art ● Examples of stone structures include ○ ○ ○ ● In a more intimate manner, gold and silver objects also exemplified the power of shifting cultural and religious patterns ○ ○ ● ● Ring of Brodgar The many stone structures that aligned the cost of all north sea regions Even stonehenge I.e. the Golden Lunula The Coggalbeg and Broighter Hoards Cloisonne enameling also dominated Leads to amazing jewelry and reliquaries Early Medieval Art ● Permanence, or the sense of timelessness, dominated stone monuments. ○ ● ● ● Left: Muiredach’s High Cross Christianity borrowed from this tradition In England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, sculptors began to erect monumental ringed crosses carved with intricate designs and figural imagery. In Scandinavia, standing stones were decorated with interlace designs and symbols depicting pre-Christian and Christian elements side by side. Early Medieval Art ● ● ● Most of the crosses are carved with scenes from the Bible and the Lives of the Saints, as well as intricate geometric designs. They were erected to mark sacred places in the landscape, and some may have included visual reinforcements for real-world power structures. Visible from a great distance, the crosses could indicate the location of a sacred monastery and the Christian ownership of the land. ○ while the relief decorations could signal earthly power structures. Early Medieval Art ● ● ● In Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, large stones carved with geometric designs and runic letters appear around the 10th century C.E. Taking their name from the runic letters inscribed into the stones, these “Rune Stones” retained the natural shape of the rock Surfaces were decorated with brightly painted relief decorations. Early Medieval Art ● ● Despite the popularity of large stone monuments, surviving stone buildings are less common throughout the region. Wood appears to have been a more popular material for church building, and it is likely that many early wooden structures simply did not survive. Early Medieval Art ● In Scandinavia, wooden Stave Churches have been dated to the 12th century, and many archaeological excavations have included evidence of postholes for wooden structures. Early Medieval Art ● Small stone buildings survive in some locations, and larger, more complex stone buildings were constructed in the later Middle Ages. On the remote island of Skellig Michael(LEFT)for instance, early medieval stone huts tell the story of isolated hermits and monks, religious people who left society to pray, study, and meditate. Early Medieval Art ● ● ● Small objects also making their way through the region Similar wealth displays to other, larger objects like the stones Most popular were Fibulae ○ ● ● ● Small brooch type objects We found most of these things in what are known as hoards Huge archaeological digs Wealth? Status? Also targets of attacks Early Medieval Art ● ● The fact that such valuable items were rapidly collected and hidden underground suggests conflict, and reinforces the idea that the items contained in the hoard were the target of an attack, an effort to confiscate wealth and transfer both its economic and its symbolic power. Hoards continue to be unearthed, including these discovered within the last few decades, such as the Staffordshire Hoard and the Galloway Hoard. Early Medieval Art ● Portable precious items have also been recovered as grave goods in elite burials, another example of pre-Christian and Christian practices appearing alongside one another in the early medieval Northern Seas. Early Medieval Art Key theme to remember: Portable Power What is it? ● the idea of combining a person’s mortal remains with the precious items that articulated their earthly status or military strength. Their status travels with them into the afterlife Early Medieval Art ● ● Precious Items have secular uses, obviously, but the big change her is the confluence of Christianity and power throughout the North Sea region Think crosses, pattens, chalices, and especially reliquaries The Cross of Cong (commissioned by Toirrdelbach Ua Conchobair king of Connacht and high king of Ireland), 1123, oak core within cast bronze, rock crystal, gold filigree, gilding, silver sheeting, niello and silver inlay, glass, and enamel, 76 x 48 x 3.5 cm Early Medieval Art ● ● Reliquaries were the ultimate expression of status in early medieval churches Reliquaries showed the community that the Church had valuable resources and also that the holy leaders had the power to contain the sacred energy itself, which came in the form of the relic within Saint Patrick’s Bell and Shrine; bell: 8th–9th century C.E., iron; shrine: c. 1100 C.E., copper-alloy box, silver gilt, gold, silver, gilt-copper, rock crystal, colored stones, 26.7 x 15.5 cm Early Medieval Art BOOKS! SO MANY BOOKS! ● ● ● Books were another type of sacred, portable item that conveyed both holy and royal power. Christian books were especially precious, both because the Bible specifically proclaims that its words contain holy power and because making manuscripts was a costly and labor-intensive process. Some books were encased in precious reliquaries, while others simply conveyed power by their very existence. Early Medieval Art ● ● Book of Kells, Lindisfarne Gospels, all vital to understanding the nexus of power, art, and Christianity all coming together during the 7-12 centuries. Most important according to me. The Lindisfarne Gospels Lindisfarne Gospels, St. Matthew (detail), Second Initial Page, f.29, early 8th century (British Library) The Lindisfarne Gospels ● ● ● It is in fact a copy of a Latin Codex, beautifully illuminated The book is a spectacular example of Insular or Hiberno-Saxon art—works produced in the British Isles between 500–900 C.E., a time of devastating invasions and political upheavals. A Northumbrian monk, very likely the Bishop Eadfrith, illuminated the codex in the early 8th century. Two-hundred and fifty-nine written and recorded leaves include full-page portraits of each evangelist; highly ornamental “cross-carpet” pages, each of which features a large cross set against a background of ordered and yet teeming ornamentation; and the Gospels themselves, each introduced by an historiated initial. The codex also includes sixteen pages of canon tables set in arcades. Here correlating passages from each evangelist are set side-by-side, enabling a reader to compare narrations. The Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels ● 793 the priory is attacked? How do we know? The Gospels themselves tell us The Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels The Book of Kells The Book of Kells The Utrecht Psalter ● ● Psalters are small little books that only carry the psalms Utrecht Psalter reproduces the Psalms of David in three columns of Latin capital letters emulating the script and page organization of ancient books. Psalm 44, Utrecht Psalter Lindau Gospels ● ● ● Fashioned later under the successors of Charlemagne Cover is gold with raised Jewels Youthful, early Christian style Christ rendered in repoussé or hammered/pressed relief. Early Medieval Architecture ● Aachen Cathedral Germany ○ ○ ○ Charlemagne encouraged Roman building techniques across his “empire”. Purple Marble columns The Carolingian conversion of a complex, subtle Byzantine prototype into a building that expresses robust strength and clear structural articulation foreshadows the architecture of the 11th and 12th centuries and the style called Romanesque St. Gall ● ● The widespread adoption of the Early Christian basilica, at Saint Gall and elsewhere, rather than the domed central plan of Byzantine churches, was crucial to the subsequent development of western European church architecture. Corvey Notice anything? Ottonian Art ● Charlemagne was buried in the Palatine Chapel at Aachen. His empire survived him by fewer than 30 years. ○ ● Treaty at Verdun in 843 ○ ● Partitioned the Frankish lands into western, central, and eastern areas, very roughly foreshadowing the later nations of France and Germany and a third realm corresponding to the Netherlands and Belgium to Rome. Intensified Viking incursions helped bring about the collapse of the Carolingians. ○ ● When his son Louis the Pious died in 840, Louis’s sons—Charles the Bald, Lothair, and Louis the German—divided the Carolingian Empire among themselves. The empire’s breakup into weak kingdoms, ineffectual against the invasions, brought a time of confusion to Europe. Complementing the Viking scourge in Europe were the invasions of the Magyars in the Byzantine East and the plundering and piracy of the Saracens (Muslims) in the Mediterranean. Mid 10th century, new Saxon line named the Ottonians Early Medieval Art ● Who are they? ○ ○ ● Family descended from and named for the first three kings all named Otto First crowned by the pope in 962, this first Otto assumed the title of emperor of Rome. The 3 Ottos do well against invaders and enriched earlier Carolingian period. ○ ○ They also cement ties with Italy and the Papacy By the time of Henry II in the 11th century even the invaders had Christianized Early Medieval Art ● Architecture remains somewhat unchanged from the early Carolingian period ○ ○ ● Saint Cyriakus in Gernrode. ○ ○ ● Basilican Churches with towering spires and westworks. New features introduced at places like Gernrode and Hildesheim Centerpiece of a convent founded in 961 Reveals how Ottonian architects enriched the basilica form. ■ Eastern Transept with a square choir ■ First nave in Western Europe to incorporate a gallery ■ No idea what they were for ● Maybe artwork? Maybe the choir sang there? ■ Developed alternate support system (heavy square piers and columns) Abbey Church of Saint Michael at Hildesheim ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Commissioned by Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, tutor of Otto III (983-1002) Constructed between 1001-1003 Double Transept plan, tower groupings, and westwork. Almost complete loss of traditional Basilica form thanks to lateral entrances The builders used a modular approach Saint Michael's Heidelsheim Early Medieval Art ● Same basic principles applied to sculpture and art ○ ○ ● Each cast was done in a single piece, which is ridiculous. ○ ○ ○ ○ ● ● That is, inspiration from old Roman and Byzantine forms with some minor modifications. Hildesheim Doors, on the Cathedral, likely inspired by similar doors in Santa Sabatina. Doors are 16 feet talls Left door is book of Genesis Right door is the life of Christ Together they tell the story of sin and redemption Much like early Christian art, the Old Testament was assumed to prefigure the New Testament Many of the drawings themselves are derivative of Carolingian manuscript illuminations ○ ○ Much of the force can be seen in the gestures Simplicity + emotional impact Early Medieval Art ● Hildesheim Column ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Another example of large scale bronze casting. 7 spiraling bands tell the story of Jesus’ life The stories here are the ones not included on the doors. Narrative goes from Bottom to top, exactly like trajan's column Once again, a Roman monument served as inspiration. Early Medieval Art ● Gero Crucifix ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Commissioned by Archbishop Gero for the Cathedral in Cologne in 970 Carved in Oak and then painted in gold, it stands 6 feet tall. Both a cross and a reliquary Dramatically different image of Christ, old instead of youthful, the beard more similar to Byzantine depictions, Christ is a human martyr, muscles stretched to their limit. Quite possibly the most powerful characterization of agony during this period Early Medieval Art ● Uta Codex ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ● Produced for Uta, abbes of Niedermunster. Demonstrates the carolingian tradition of illumination Good example of the role women could play in religious life. This dedicatory page (right) shows the virgin mother with child in her lap We call this the Virgo Virginium Lectionary of Henry II ○ ○ ○ Gift to Bamberg Cathedral from Henry II the last Ottonian Emperor While the image of the annunciation is special we note it for the way it announced the majesty and power of god more than anything. Highly successful fusion of Carolingian-Ottonian fusion of styles, although both take inspiration from early Christain art Lectionary of Henry II Early Medieval Art ● Gospel Book of Otto ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The last of the three Ottos who dreamed of a revived empire He moved his court to Rome, died at 21, and saw all his dreams fail. He does get a generous portrayal in a Gospel book named after him Conforms to a Christian iconographic tradition.