ARTS

DURING
MEDIEVAL
PERIOD
The medieval art of the Western
world covers a vast scope of time
and place, over 1000 years of art
history in Europe, and at times the
Middle East and North Africa. It
includes major art movements and
periods, national and regional art,
genres, revivals, the artists crafts,
and the artists themselves.
Art historians attempt to classify medieval art
into major periods and styles, often with some
difficulty. A generally accepted scheme
includes Early Christian art, Migration
Period art, Byzantine art, Insular art, Pre-
Romanesque and Romanesque art, and
Gothic art, as well as many other periods
within these central styles. In addition each
region, mostly during the period in the process
of becoming nations or cultures, had its own
distinct artistic style, such as Anglo-Saxon art
or Norse art.
 The medieval art, in its earliest form,
was most often found in the church,
being shown in the architecture, the
murals and panels found in the religious
setting. As was typical and to be
expected with artwork that originated in
the church, the subjects were religious in
nature, frequently showing stories from
the Old and New Testaments, often
placing them side by side.
 The lives of the saints were also
commonly shown. Early medieval art
forms portrayed their subjects, such as
the Virgin Mary, as iconic and
somewhat two dimensional.
Early Christian art and architecture is
the art produced by Christians or under
Christian patronage from about the year
100 to about the year 500. Prior to 100
there is no surviving art that can be called
Christian with absolute certainty. After
about 500, Christian art shows the
beginnings of Byzantine artistic style.
-The Good Shepherd: Early
Christian catacomb art.
Migration Period art denotes the artwork
of the Germanic peoples during the
Migration period (ca. 300-900). It
includes the Migration art of the Germanic
tribes on the continent, as well as the start
of the Insular art or Hiberno-Saxon art of
the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic fusion in the
British Isles. It covers many different
styles of art including the polychrome
style and the animal style.
Shoulder-clasps from the 7th century
Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton
Hoo. Alternate view. British
Museum.
Byzantine art is the term
commonly used to describe the
artistic products of the Byzantine
Empire from about 4th century
until the Fall of Constantinople in
1453.
The most famous of the
surviving Byzantine mosaics
of the Hagia Sophia in
Constantinople - the image of
Christ Pantocrator on the
walls of the upper southern
gallery. Christ is flanked by
the Virgin Mary and John the
Baptist. The mosaics were
made in the 12th century.
Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon
art, is the style of art produced in the post-
Roman history of Ireland and Great Britain.
The term derives from insula, the Latin term
for "island"; in this period Britain and
Ireland shared a largely common style
different from that of the rest of Europe.
Arts historians usually group insular art as
part of the Migration Period art movement
as well as Early Medieval Western art, and
it is the combination of these two traditions
that give the style its special character.
This page of the
Book of Kells
contains the
lavishly
decorated text
that opens the
Gospel of John.
Pre-Romanesque art and
architecture is the period in
Western European art from either
the emergence of the Merovingian
kingdom in about 500 or from the
Carolingian Renaissance in the late
8th century, to the beginning of the
11th century Romanesque period.
The royal palace,
later church, of
Santa María del
Naranco, an
example of
Asturian
architecture of the
Ramirense period.
Romanesque art refers to the art
of Western Europe from
approximately 1000 AD to the rise
of the Gothic style in the 13th
century, or later, depending on
region. The preceding period is
increasingly known as the Pre-
Romanesque.
The "Morgan
Leaf", detached
from the
Winchester
Bible of 1160-
75. Scenes from
the life of David.
Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that
developed in France out of Romanesque art in
the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent
development of Gothic architecture. It spread
to all of Western Europe, but took over art
more completely north of the Alps, never quite
effacing more classical styles in Italy. In the
late 14th century, the sophisticated court style
of International Gothic developed, which
continued to evolve until the late 15th century.
The Western (Royal)
Portal at Chartres
Cathedral (ca. 1145).
These architectural
statues are the earliest
Gothic sculptures and
were a revolution in
style and the model for
a generation of
sculptors.
Middle Ages artists came from different
walks of life as opposed to the artists of
the early Middle Ages who were
prodominantly monks and priests who
were based in monasteries. The Later
Middle Ages saw the emergence of
Gothic Art and the advances of art in the
Middle Ages which were pioneered by
the great artists of the period.
Donatello
The location of this statue of Mary
Magdalene by Donatello is at Museo
dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence. The
Mary Magdalene statue stands 6 foot
two inches and was sculpted in wood
with gold. The statue of Mary
Magdalene was sculpted by Donatello
between 1454 and 1455.
Giotto
The Last Supper painting by Giotto di
Bondone in tempera on wood is
located in Alte Pinakothek, Munich,
Germany. Giotto di Bondone also
depicted the Last Supper in the fresco
at Cappella Scrovegni (Arena
Chapel), Padua, Italy.
 Other works of art
during the Medieval
Period
Byzantine monumental Church mosaics are
one of the great achievements of medieval art.
These are from Monreale in Sicily from the
late 12th century.
 Detail of The Effects of Good
Government, a fresco in the City Hall of
Siena by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1338.
Scenes of courtly love on a lady's ivory
mirror-case. Paris, 1300-1330.
The jewelled cover of the Codex Aureus of
St. Emmeram, c. 870, a Carolingian Gospel
book.
The small private Wilton Diptych for Richard
II of England, c. 1400, with stamped gold
backgrounds and much ultramarine.
Medieval art was produced in many media,
and the works that remain in large numbers
include sculpture, illuminated manuscripts,
stained glass, metalwork and mosaics, all
of which have had a higher survival rate
than other media like fresco wall-paintings,
work in precious metals or textiles,
including tapestry.
Especially in the early part of the
period, works in the so-called "minor
arts" or decorative arts, such as
metalwork, ivory carving, enamel and
embroidery using precious metals, were
probably more highly valued than
paintings or monumental sculpture. But
the highlighted description of that art is
the emphasis to the CHURCH.
 Sculpture & Portraiture

Effigy of Henry II, 13th c. Bust of Lorenzo de Medici, 15th c.

 Classical
Portraiture

Bust of Pericles, 5th c. BC

King David

Above: Gospel Book of Philip the Fair

Right: Vivian Bible
 Gothic Kings
Chartres Cathedral,
Royal Portal
13th century
Michelangelo’s “David”
“David”
Perspective
Michelangelo’s Detail
 La Gioconda
Leonardo da Vinci
 Medieval
Painting
“Hortus Deliciarum” of
Herrad of Landsberg
c. 1176-96
(19th c. French copy)
Botticelli, “Birth of Venus”
Crucifixion
Masaccio’s “Trinity”
The first known painting to
apply Brunelleschi’s
system of linear
perspective.
Church of Santa Maria
Novella,
Florence
The Last Supper
Gospel Book of Bernward of
Hildesheim, c. 1016
German
 Leonardo da Vinci, “Last Supper”

Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy

“Last Supper” Perspective
da Vinci, “Adoration of the Magi”
Perspective study for “Adoration of the
Magi”
Creation
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel
Raphael’s “School of Athens”
Raphael’s “School of Athens”
Clockwise:
Plato (Leonardo),
Aristotle,
Raphael,
Michelangelo