Art During the Middle Ages, Medieval Art

• 1000 years of art divided into major periods including Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic art

• 400-1300 AD

Sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass,

metalwork, mosaics, architecture

Medieval art reflected the growing popularity of Christianity

• Medieval artists didn’t make art in the round, or 3dimensional. Art was flat. This was because they were trying not to make false idols of their work.

The art was a fusion of art from the Middle East, Africa, and Europe

• Interlaced patterns and geometric forms

• Were common

Early Christian Art

• Began using religious iconography

• Icon:object, character, figure, or color used to represent abstract ideas or concepts

•  Ex:Matthew: Angel (man) Mark: Lion Luke: Ox John: Eagle

•  Anchor-Hope• Apple-original sin• Ashes- humiliation• Books-Show how

educated the Saints were.

• Butterfly-resurrection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gqHOjCNMTk

Nobles began reading during

the Middle Ages.

Illuminated manuscripts• Called this because

they often had gold leafing on the pages

• Artists would travel around the country looking for work. The best held rank of court artist.

• Very expensive books

The Book of Hours-illuminated manuscripts found in the homes of the wealthy. Used for their prayers

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuNfdHNTv9o

Byzantine art is the name for the artistic products of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, as well as the nations and states that

inherited culturally from the empire.

• Almost all art from this period has to do with Christianity

Byzantine Mosaics 

• Over 10,000 craftsmen were employed to decorate a cathedral

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM5DESzGhDw

Romanesque

• Refers to the architecture, which retained many basic features of Roman architectural style – most notably round-headed arches, barrel vaults, apses, and leaf decoration

The decoration is often quite simple, using geometric shapes rather than floral designs

.

barrel vaulting -simple, semicircular roof vaults

Apse• a semicircular recess

covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an Exedra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xff4Z5xMMro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPAgU39b0PI

Gothic Art

• Style that developed out of Northern France and spread to the rest of Europe.

• Secular art is starting to be produced because people other than the church can now buy art. Secular art is art that is separate from Christian art.

The word Gothic means barbaric

• Other artists and art critics thought the work was barbaric. Raphael made this statement:

• the pointed arches of northern architecture were an echo of the primitive huts the Germanic forest dwellers formed by bending trees together

Gothic Architecture

• characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress

Pointed arch:

Ribbed Vault: This type of vaulting allowed for the addition of windows higher up in the building's

walls

Flying Buttress• They resisted the lateral

forces pushing a wall outwards by redirecting them to the ground. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ux4LC1kdQI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMwnyWP52Ys

Which type of architecture is the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.

Byzantine, Romanesque, or Gothic?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAalbbkeL0whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAFoH8QNZfo

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un2qxIlqLP8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqzq01i2O3U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFcF_qfLHeQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhiIFXS9C6Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV7CanyzhZg&list=PLy0B6ncmGtqcLNRmMA43e2cNFD2v5ZoF2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4zQnNLRW3w