ARTKids - ARTAges Middle Ages in Europe Page 1

ARTAges- Middle Ages in Europe Page 1

Middle Ages
The period of European history between ancient and modern times, AD 476-c. 1450. In reference to art during this period, other non-European movements are also listed on the next page.

Celtic, Saxon, & Hiberno 200 - 732 AD -

This purse lid was found in the 1930's when the Sutton Hoo burial ship was excavated in Northern England. The purse lid make use of elaborate animal interlace (with severe exaggeration of features) and cloisonné, a gold enameling technique.

The Iron Age originated in the Hallstatt periods, the most change occurred during the Iron Age in the shift in artistic styles which marks the onset of the La Tene period. The La Tene period, about 500 BC to 200 B.C., begins the age of Celtic art. The Hibernos (Iberno-Iberians) migrated in to what is now called Ireland.

Linear styles, such as interlacing or knotwork, used in metalwork had a three dimensional aspect. Morphic designs are found in limited amounts throughout Europe. Teutonic forms have the greater amount of zoomorphic (animal based graphics) elements. It is the unique abstract and curvilinear style that makes the La Tene period such a dramatic departure from the Hallstatt styles. The decline in La Tene art (and associated cultures) is directly proportioned to the rise and expansion of the Roman world. As the Romans withdrew a new foreign influence was arriving, the Anglo-Saxons.

" The La Tene forms curiously disappear from almost all other artwork in Southern Britain. It seems likely that, as the market for these objects was limited, the craftsmen either ceased to pass on their knowledge or adopted more profitable forms and media. In either case it was the end of the virtually unchanged and long-lived Brithonic La Tene style and thus the end of traditional Celtic art in Anglo-Saxon dominated Britain.

This image is from the Book of Kells. The Chi Rho Iota (XPI) Page from the Gospel according to Matthew. 'Chi Rho Iota' are the first three letters in the Greek spelling of Christ - and the letters 'Chi' and 'Rho' (XP) are found throughout Christian Iconographic History.

" To summarize, by 500 AD only Ireland and Scotland have been isolated from major foreign influences. It is for this reason that La Tene artistic styles survived in Ireland and Scotland (Dal Riada) and Pictish Art survived in Scotland with little change. Thus the La Tene styles survived only in an abbreviated form in Ireland. These stylistic elements were the sole Celtic and La Tene contributions to the Insular illuminated manuscripts such as the book of Kells.

" It is interesting to note that although the Teutonic, Pictish and Celtic stylistic elements diverged around 500 B.C., they would come together for a last "hurrah" 1000 years later in what many consider to be some of the greatest works of art ever produced in Northern Europe. In the late 8th Century the Viking attack on Lindisfarne began the Norse period in Britain and Ireland. This period brought about so many changes that archaeologist deem it to be the end of the Iron Age and distinguish 800 - 1000 the Norse Period. " Duane Brocious 1998

Byzantine Art 400 - 1453 AD -
" The Byzantine Empire, founded when the capital of the Roman Empire was transferred from Rome to Constantinople in 324, existed in the eastern Mediterranean area until the fifteenth century. The arts and culture of this "New Rome" continued the pan-Mediterranean traditions of the late antique Greco-Roman world, setting the standard of cultural excellence for the Latin West and the Islamic East. The results of the cultural development of the Byzantine Empire during these centuries has had a lasting impact on such modern nations as Albania, Armenia, Belorus', Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Rumania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Syria, Ukraine, and Turkey. "

Quote from Metropolitan Museum NY

" Not since the world was made was there ever seen or won so great a treasure, or so noble or so rich, nor in the time of Alexander, nor in the time of Charlemagne, nor before, nor after, nor do I think myself that in the forty richest cities of the world had there been so much wealth as was found in Constantinople. For the Greeks say that two-thirds of the wealth of this world is in Constantinople and the other third scattered throughout the world. "

Robert of Clara, a French crusader who witnessed the pillage of the city in 1204, describing Constantinople.

Panels from Adam and Eve Caskets
Byzantine, 10th or 11th century
Ivory
Left: Adam and Eve Harvesting
2 3/4 x 3 3/4 in. (7 x 9.5 cm)
Right: Adam and Eve at the Forge
2 5/8 x 3 7/8 in. (6.7 x 9.8 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y. (17.190.138,139)

(SEE BELOW - JUSTINIAN)

Justinian 527 - 565 AD - Christianity spread slowly throughout the Western world, becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century. By that time, however, the empire was falling apart and the capital was moved to Byzantium (now Istanbul). There a stiff and formal style of art, called Byzantine, developed and lasted for hundreds of years. Examples of it may be seen in Istanbul and in some Italian cities, particularly Ravenna, which for a time was the capital of the Byzantine empire in Italy.

Emperor Justinian
526-547 CE
Mosaic
San Vitale