Art of the Middle Ages

1. Art of the Middle Ages Byzantine, Romanesque, & Gothic Art "Teacher: 'Why do some people call the Middle Ages the Dark Ages?'Student: 'Because there were so many knights?'"

2. Medieval or The Middle Ages…. Middle Ages - The period in European history between the collapse of Rome and the Renaissance, from 476 CE( Common Era) to about 1450. Also known as the medieval period, and as the Dark Ages We think of knights in shining armor, lavish banquets, wandering minstrels, kings, queens, bishops, monks, pilgrims, and glorious pageantry. Life in Europe during the Middle Ages was very hard. Very few people could read or write and nobody expected conditions to improve. The only hope for most people during the Middle Ages was their strong belief in Christianity, and the hope that life in heaven would be better than life on earth.

3. The Dark Ages. That's one of the terms used to describe nearly 1000 years of history-a history that is often hard to understand due to a lack of surviving documents, and often is clouded by myth and legends. Western Europe was under the rule of hundreds of feudal lords and kings. Castles dominated the landscape, and entire cities were built behind protective walls. The Church would be one of the most powerful medieval institutions, controlling publication of books and the making of laws. Much of medieval Europe's art and architecture has a direct connection to the Christian church. The Crusades and brought back with them stories of differing cultures, and began to adopt their architecture, tales of Romance, and advances in medicine. Trade was both a blessing and curse. Merchants began importing silks, cottons and rare spices from all over the known world. But these ships would also bring the horror that became known as the Black Death. The disease ravaged Asia, before wiping out nearly one-third of Western Europe. Wars took their toll There were few years that didn't see battles raging in some part of Europe. This was an era of siege warfare-catapults, trebuchets, battering rams, and towers. Men fought hand-to-hand in the thousands in bloody conflicts using swords, axes, longbows, crossbows, stones and daggers. Medieval Europe saw some humanity-changing developments, such as Gutenberg's moveable types press in the middle of the 15th century. This would bring printed material to the masses, and improve communication between societies. Marco Polo would popularize the account of his voyage to the Orient, and intrigue Europeans about this exotic land.

4. In film and in literature, medieval life seems heroic, entertaining, and romantic. In reality, life in the Middle Ages, a period that extended from approximately the fifth century to the fifteenth century in Western Europe, was sometimes all these things, as well as harsh, uncertain, and often dangerous. For safety and for defense, people in the Middle Ages formed small communities around a central lord or master. Most people lived on a manor, which consisted of the castle, the church, the village, and the surrounding farm land. These manors were isolated, with occasional visits from peddlers, pilgrims on their way to the Crusades, or soldiers from other fiefdoms. In this "feudal" system, the king awarded land grants or "fiefs" to his most important nobles, his barons, and his bishops, in return for their contribution of soldiers for the king's armies. At the lowest echelon of society were the peasants, also called "serfs" or "villeins." In exchange for living and working on his land, known as the "demesne," the lord offered his peasants protection.

5. Falling and Rising Empires Historians mark the fall of Rome as the end of ancient history.    The Medieval Period began with the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. In 410, Rome was conquered. In 476, the Western Emperor was deposed by a Gothic King. Odoacer (435–493), also known as Odovacar was a Germanic general and the first non-Roman ruler of Italy after 476. He deposed the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, However Europe is not united, and never has been. Each country within Europe has its own sovereignty and allegiances The Roman Empire never governed the whole of Europe. Much of Germany, all of Scotland and Ireland were never part of the Roman Empire. The Jutes, Angles and Saxons, for example, invaded Roman Britain from unconquered lands of Europe; the European Franks invaded the areas now called France; and the Huns and the Visigoths invaded other parts of the 'European' extent of the Roman Empire in the first 500 years AD. The fall of the Western part of the Roman Empire as often dated as 476, but individual local sovereignties had already begun to emerge by this time. After the Romans, different groups struggled for supremacy. However, not one of them achieved a united Europe.

6. In 323 Emperor Constantine moved the capitol of the Roman Empire to Byzantium.  It was then renamed Constantinople.  The Eastern part of the empire developed differently then the Western.   The Western Empire fell in 400's with an invasion from the northern Germanic Tribes.  The Byzantium Empire (Eastern section) stayed in tact over a thousand years longer, till the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Turks.  Constantinople was renamed by the Turks Istanbul, which is the name it bears to this day.  The art and architecture reflects differences between the Roman Catholic religion which develops in the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox religion which thrived in the East, in the Byzantium Empire. The majority of the art in this period and place were created for the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox preferred a somber reflected tone to worship instead of the large congregational worship of the West. This focus is also reflected in their art and architecture. The figures in their art appear flat and one dimensional with little use of shadowing to give any life-like appearance.  Figures are almost always from the front with somber and solemn looks coming from starring  eyes.    Faces were long and narrow.  In all, very little attempt was made for realism in the painting and mosaic depictions.  Their architecture was dim with very low light. Hagia Sophia

7. The style of the Hagia Sophia or Church of Divine Wisdom, was to have a large dome in the middle of the structure.   The dome has a unique form in that it rest on 4 massive pillars which are arranged in a square. The dome remained the main focus of the Byzantine Church for the remainder of the empire.  The Eastern Orthodox preferred  a low light, somber, and almost mysterious mood in their services.  The clergy worked often behind the scenes with brief appearances.  They did not embrace the loud organs and congregational  worship which is seen in the western Catholic Church.  So the Hagia Sophia became the model for the Byzantine church because was an architectural style that fit with the type of worship the Orthodox church wanted to emphasize. 

8.   The development of the style of Byzantine Art was developed during the Fifth and Sixth centuries.   From that time to the time the of the invasion by the Turks, very little change occured in the style.  "Byzantine art displayed the same constancy: in the fifth and sixth centuries, it developed a formal expression that was manifested in the thousands of works of art that came to be regarded as sacred and immutable" (Marceau, Jo 1997, pg 136)     During the Eighth and Ninth Centuries, the painting  of people was prohibited by the iconoclasts.  This was started by Emperor Leo III in 726.  He stated that the painting of people was a form of idolatry and that all icons (painting of people) should be destroyed.  This spilt the empire into two sections which became know as the Iconoclastic Crisis.  The painting and mosaics came back again in the Ninth century till the fall of the Empire to the Turks.       Sculpture was very limited in the Byzantine Era.  The only sculpture which developed was limited mostly to small ivory book covers.  

9.     During the early Middle Ages, most paintings were found in the form of illustrated manuscripts.  This remained the chief form of painting for years.   Most were produced in monasteries, which at the time were the centers of learning and art.  It was the wealth of the church which allowed monks to copy books and manuscripts before the invention of the printing press in the late 1400's.     During the time of Charlemagne, a large emphasis was placed on learning.  Though Charlemagne could not read, he supported the development of illustrated texts.  This time became known as the Carolingian art period which lasted from 732-900 A.D.   During the Romanesque time from 800-1100 A.D., painting continued as illustrated manuscripts and extended to mural painting in churches.   Very few of these mural still exist, and those only in fragments.  During this time, we also see an influence from Byzantine art.  At times mosaics were used in place of mural, on the church walls.     Difference can be seen as time passed in the manuscripts.  For example in the early Middle Ages the color use is more muted.  Later during the Gothic period the manuscripts and painting use much brighter colors.    During the Gothic period the manuscripts shifted from being almost exclusively made in the monasteries to include university students and professors also.

10. Middle Ages - The period in European history between the collapse of Rome and the Renaissance, from 476 CE( Common Era) to about 1450. Also known as the medieval period, and as the Dark Ages. The Word Gothic is used to identify a period around the 12 century (1100) to about the end of the 15th century (1490’s) This period was coined Gothic after the Goths. The Goths were members of a Germanic people whose two branches, the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths for centuries, harassed the Roman Empire. This harassment by the Goths and other barbarian tribes had brought about the fall of ROME. How ever none of the Art and Architecture was created by the Goths or the other barbarian tribes! The Word Gothic was used by people who scorned this period in Art because the art and architecture created during this period did not hold to the standards of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

11. People think of the Middle Ages as a very religious period, when the Christian Church was the most important institution and everybody prayed all the time. The smaller churches of the Roman era lead way to the larger cathedrals of the Middle Ages. More people were moving from the country to the cities and these important places of worship needed to accommodate them.

12. The mark of Gothic (Midieval) art is it’s impressive architecture marked by hue cathedrals and buildings with high pointed peaks, spiers, arches, flying buttresses (or braces) and tall pointed, large stained glass windows. These cathedrals were just as impressive inside as they were on the outside. The cathedral at Chartres is so huge that it forces the viewer to move around inside to actually see the whole impressive view.

13. Gothic churches were products of new and prosperous cities. Spire on the gothic cathedral stretched upward to heaven. The pillars, pointed arches and stained glass windows are also unified into an upward surge.

14. Church sculptures were elongated and their feet were pointed downward as if floating upward towards the heavens

15. Cathedral, Laon : Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Laon; France, Laon; about 1160-1235 Cathedral, Bourges : Cathedrale Saint-Etienne de Bourges; France, Bourges; about 1195-1255 Cathedral, Chartres:Cathedral, Chartres; France, Chartres; 1194-1250 Cathedral, Amiens:Cathedral, Amiens; France, Amiens; 1220-1410

16. Illustrated Manuscripts During the Middle Ages books often included drawings and pictures to illustrate the text. These pictures were important as many of the people who looked at the books could not read or write. In some cases the writer of the book did his or her own illustrations. However, most books were produced in a team rather than an individual. Often based in a monastery, the team would include an author, scribe and artist. The most common picture books produced by monks were bibles. These bibles would be illustrated with famous scenes from the life of Jesus. Books on the lives of famous saints such as Thomas Becket were also popular. These religious books were used to teach people about Christianity. One of the books that has survived was produced by Holkham, Leicestershire. The book includes 230 scenes from the Old and New Testaments and would have been very helpful to priests teaching illiterate peasants about religion.

17. Rich people sometimes commissioned scribes and artists to produce books for them called psalters. These books contained the person's favorite psalms (religious songs that were sung or chanted in church). As well as religious pictures these books often included illustrations that were personal to the person who commissioned the book. These books were very expensive to produce. We know this because some of the account books of people who commissioned the illustrated books have survived. In 1383, Abbott Nicholas of Westminster decided he wanted a new missal (a book that contains details of the masses to be performed during the year). The book took two years to produce and cost £34 (several thousand pounds in today's money). In the early Middle Ages nearly all illustrated manuscripts were produced by monks. However, by the 15th century artists in the towns began to takeover this work. Although they rarely signed their work, tax records suggest that these artists were often women.

18. Medieval Paintings During the Middle Ages, European artists painted in a way that emphasized religious images and symbolism rather than realism. Most paintings depicted scenes holy figures and people important in the Christian religion. Even the most talented painters of the Middle Ages paid little attention to making humans and animals look lifelike, creating natural looking landscapes, or creating a sense of depth and space in their paintings. Questions: What parts of these paintings look most realistic to you? What parts look least lifelike? Which objects or people seem closest and most distant in each painting? What clues does the artist give that one object is further away than another?

19. The Dark Ages were anything but dark in other parts of the world. The Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa studied and improved on the works of the ancient Greeks while civilization flourished in sub-Saharan Africa, China, India, and the Americas. Europe began to experience great change by about 1450. Within one hundred years, Columbus had sailed to America, literacy spread, scientists made great discoveries, and artists created work that still inspires us today. Historians call the next period of European history the "Renaissance," or the "rebirth." The Renaissance is the beginning of modern history. Inventions that changed history Large Looms for weaving Windmills Grinding Stone

20. The Middle Ages outside of Europe During the middle ages Asia had become home to some of the most advanced civilizations on Earth. These civilizations flourished while much of Western Europe was swallowed up in chaos, war, and poverty. As Europe declined, Asia excelled. An ancient Native American culture that represented one of the most advanced civilizations in the western hemisphere before the arrival of Europeans. The people known as the Maya lived in the region that is now eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. The Maya culture reached its highest development from about AD 300 to 900. The Maya built massive stone pyramids, temples, and sculpture and accomplished complex achievements in mathematics and astronomy, which were recorded in hieroglyphs (a pictorial form of writing). Mayan Calendar Chinese abacus Chinese compass

21. After the Plague subsided, more than 2/3 of all people in Europe were dead. The Feudal Lords had trouble finding people to harvest their crops and work for them. This led to peasants demanding more money and eventually freedom from their Lords. Joan of Arc contributed to this new idea that people should be loyal to their country, not to their Feudal Landlords. Strong popes, notably Gregory VII , worked for a new Europe guided by a centralized church, a goal that was realized under Pope Innocent III . Militant religious zeal was expressed in the Crusades , which led thousands into the lands of the ancient Greeks and Byzantine society. When they returned to Europe, the Crusaders brought back books and new ideas from these advanced societies. Without the Plague and pure survival to worry about, people began to explore art and sciences, which began the transition to the Renaissance years.

22. The Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture. http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/contents_europe.htm http://www.bnf.fr/enluminures/aaccueil.html Illustrated manuscripts http://www.teacheroz.com/Middle_Ages.htm http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/gothic_arch.html http://www.wga.hu/ The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Romanticism and Realism periods (1100-1850), currently containing over 22.600 reproductions. http://www.zeroland.co.nz/medieval_art.html http://www.teacheroz.com/Middle_Ages.htm