Art Of The Middle Ages

• Cultural Leadership moved from Mediterranean to France, Germany, and Britain

• Christianity and the Church dominated • Emphasis in art shifted from this world to the afterlife (fear of

Hell)• The body was not beautiful but corrupt

Reliquary Shrine, second quarter of the 14th centuryAttributed to Jean de Touyl (French, died 1349)

Art Was The Servant Of The Church

• Nudes Forbidden• Even clothed bodies ignored anatomy• Lost Greek value of balance between body and mind• Only interested in soul• Wanted to attract and inspire new believers

Tomb Effigy of Jean d'Alluye, mid-13th centuryFrench; Carved in Touraine, Loire Valley

The Annunciation, ca. 1290–1300German; Made in Altenberg-an-der-Lahn, Hesse

Crucifix, ca. 1150–1200Spanish; Made in Palencia, Castile-León

Illuminated Manuscripts

eaf from a Beatus Manuscript: Christ in Majesty with Angels and the Angel of God Directs Saint John to Write the Book of Revelation, ca. 1180; RomanesqueSpanish; Made in Burgos, Castile-León

Tapestry

The Unicorn in Captivity, 1495–1505South Netherlandish

Byzantine Art

• 330 AD- 1453 AD• Centered in Constantinople• Combined Greek Oriental taste for rich decoration and

color with Christian themes

Icons

• Small wood-panel paintings • Rigid frontal poses• Halos, staring wide eyes• Believed to possess supernatural powers

– Carried into battle– Kissed so often the paint is worn away– Idolatry? Banned 726-843

Icon with the Nativity. Byzantine, first quarter of the 15th century. Tempera and gold on wood, priming on textile

Triptych with Virgin and Child and Saints. Nikolaos Tzafouris (act. 1489–93) or Andreas Ritzos (1422–1492). Crete (Candia?), late 15th century.

Mosaics

• Intended to publicize the new religion• Often depicted Christ as teacher• Human figures are flat, stiff, symmetrically placed.• Almond-shaped faces, solemn expressions, no movement

Cathedrals

• Seat of the Bishop and Diocese• Shaped like a Cross• Chavet- Pillow• Draw of Pilgrims• Housed Relics and Tombs

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Hagia Sophia “Holy Wisdom”

Mystical atmosphere• Nearly 3 football fields long• Pendentives- four arches formed a square• Forty arched windows encircle the base of the dome to

give illusion of halo

Romanesque Cathedral

• 1050-1200• Horizontal Emphasis• Stone roof with rounded arches• Thick piers and walls support roof• Smaller windows- dark and solemn

Romanesque Cathedral

Gothic Cathedral

• 1200-1500• Vertical Emphasis- reaches to heaven• Stone roof with pointed arches and ribbed vault• Thin walls and piers supported by Flying Buttresses• Large stain glass windows- airy and “Holy Light”

Flying Buttresses

Stain Glass Windows

• Told religious stories• Symbolism• Honored craftsmen and benefactors

Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, ca. 1175–1180; Romanesque

Rose Window

Sculpture

• Early Gothic- “Long and Lean”– Body was despised

• Late Gothic- more rounded and realistic– Aristotle taught that the body

was “An envelope for the Soul”

Giotto: Death of Christ, Fresco c. 1306

Giotto. Meeting at the Golden Gate. 1304-1306. Fresco. Capella degli Scrovegni, Padua, Italy.

Late Middle Ages

The Annunciation Triptych, Altarpiece, ca. 1425Robert Campin and Assistant (South Netherlandish [Tournai], active by 1406, died 1444)South Netherlandish; Made in Tournai