Medieval art

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This article is about art. See also Medieval architecture.

Byzantine art was the high art of the Middle Ages and monumental Church mosaics were the crowning glory. One of the most famous of the surviving mosaics is in the Church of the Holy Wisdom in former Constantinople—the image of Christ on the walls of the upper southern gallery.

Medieval art covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art history in Europe, 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 classify Medieval art into major periods and movements. They are Celtic art, Early Christian art, Migration Period art, Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque art, Gothic art, Byzantine art and Islamic art. In addition each "nation" or culture in the Middle Ages had its own distinct artistic style and these are looked at individually, such as Anglo-Saxon art or Viking art. Medieval art was of many crafts, such as mosaics and sculpture; and there were many unique genres of art, such as Crusade art or animal style.

Contents

1 Overview

1.1 Major art movements

2 Medieval art by region, type and artist
3 See also
4 External links

Overview

Medieval artists in Europe depended, in varying degrees, upon artistic heritage of the Roman Empire and upon the legacy of the early Christian church. These sources were mixed with the vigorous "Barbarian" artistic culture of Northern Europe to produce a remarkable artistic legacy. Indeed the history of medieval art can be seen as the history of the interplay between the elements of classical, early Christian and "pagan" art.

Major art movements

Art in the Middle Ages is a broad subject and art historians traditionally look at it based on about nine large-scale movements, or periods.

Early Christian art covers the period from about 200 (before which no distinct Christian form survives), until the late 7th or early 8th centuries, when Arab conquests and Byzantine iconoclasm halted the production of art in the East. During this period Christian artists adopted the Roman crafts of painting, mosaic, carving and metalwork.

Byzantine art overlaps with or merges with what we call Early Christian art until the iconoclasm period of 730-843 when the vast majority of artwork was destroyed; so little remains that today any discovery sheds new understanding. After 843 until 1453 there is a clear Byzantine art tradition. It was often called the best art of the Middle Ages in terms of quality of material and workmanship, the production of which was centered on Constantinople. Byzantine arts crowning achievement were the monumental frescos and mosaics inside domed churches, most of which have not survived due to natural disasters and the re-appropriation of churches to mosques.

Celtic art in the Middle Ages describes the art of native Celtic speaking peoples of Ireland and Britain from about the 5th century, with the Roman withdrawal, to about the 12th century establishment of Romanesque art. The 5th to 7th centuries were mainly a continutation of the late Iron Age La Tène art with some Roman modifications, while in the 7th and 8th centuries saw a fusion with Germanic traditions through contact with the Anglo-Saxons creating what is called the Hiberno-Saxon style, and then finally late in the period some Viking inspirations were added in Ireland.

Migration Period art describes the art of Germanic peoples on the move during the Migration Period from about 300-900, also including the Hiberno-Saxon period in Britain and Ireland. It examines how these influence interacted with Christian art, as well as the characteristics of the Animal style and the Polychrome style.

Pre-Romanesque art is the period from the crowning of Charlemagne in 800 to the start of the Romanesque period in the 12th century. It includes Carolingian art, Ottonian art (Germany), Anglo-Saxon art (England), as well as the art of France, Italy and Spain. During this period Roman classical influences are activly absorbed and Carolingian art becomes the seed from which would later emerge Romanesque and Gothic art.

Romanesque art (to be completed)

Gothic art is a fragmentary term depending on the craft, place and time. The term originated with Gothic architecture in 1140, but Gothic painting did not appear until around 1200 (this date has many qualifications), when it diverged from Romanesque style. Gothic sculpture was born in France in 1150 and spread throughout Europe, by the 13th century it had become the international style, replacing Romanesque. International Gothic describes Gothic art from about 1360 to 1430.

Islamic art during the Middle Ages covers a wide variety of crafts including illustrated manuscripts, textiles, ceramics, metalwork and glass. There was an early formative stage from 600-900 and the development of regional styles from 900-1500.

Medieval art by region, type and artist

Medieval art by region or culture
*Eastern European
**Armenian art (Armenia)
**Bosnian art (Bosnia)
**Bulgarian art (Bulgaria)
**Constantinople art (Constantinople)
**Coptic art (Coptic)
**Croatian art (Croatia)
**Crusader art (Crusader states)
**Cypriot art (Cyprus)
**Kiev Rus art (Kiev Rus)
**Comnenan art (Byzantine art / Comnenus)
**Macedonian art (Macedonia)
**Mesopotamia art (Iraq)
**Old Russian art (Kievan Rus and successor states)
**Novgorod art (Novgorod)
**Palaeologan art (Byzantine art / Palaeologus)
**Romanian art ((Byzantine art / Borzesti)
**Russian art (Russia)
**Sassanid art (Sassanid Empire)
**Serbian art (Serbia)
*Islamic
**Abbasid art (Abbasid)
**Almohad art (Almohad)
**Almoravid art (Almoravid)
**Andalusia art (Andalusia)
**Ayyubid art (Ayyubid)
**Baghdad art (Baghdad)
**Fatimid art (Fatimid)
**Ghaznavid art (Ghaznavid)
**Hafsid art (Hafsid)
**Hispano-Mauresque art (Hispano-Mauresque)
**Mamluk art (Mamluk)
**Marinids art (Marinids)
**Mecca art (Mecca)
**Mozarabic art (Mozarabic)
**Mudejar art (Mudéjar)
**Persian art (Persia)
**Samanid art (Samanid)
**Seljuk art (Seljuk Turks)
**Timurid art (Timurid Empire)
**Umayyad art (Umayyad)
*Other
**Jewish art (Jewish culture)
*Western European
**Anglo-Norman art (Anglo-Norman)
**Anglo-Saxon art
**Asturias-León art (Asturias-León)
**Carolingian art (Pre-Romanesque art)
**Dugento art and Trecento art (Italian art)
**English art (English culture)
**Flemish art (Dutch)
**Hiberno-Saxon art (see also Celtic art)
**Lombard art (Lombards)
**Merovingian art (Migration Period art / Merovingian)
**Mosan art (French art / Belgian art)
**Ottonian art (Pre-Romanesque art)
**Palermo art (Palermo / Italian art)
**Pictish art (Picts)
**Roman art (Rome)
**Spanish art (Spanish culture)
**Viking art (Viking / Norse art)
**Visigothic art (Visigoth)

Medieval art by genre
*Animal style
*Medieval antiquarian (Antiquarian / Archaeology) (collected Classical art)
**Spolia (plundered Classical art)
*Apocalypse art (Apocalypse)
**English Apocalypse Manuscripts
*Allegory art
*Dancing in the Middle Ages (Dance)
*Death art (Memento mori, Death)
*Koran art (Koran)
*Plateresque style
*Synagogue art (Synagogue)
*Unicorn

Notable medieval artists
*Andrei Rublev

Notable medieval art
*List of illuminated manuscripts
*List of Late Antique, Early and Medieval Christian art monuments
*Sutton Hoo

External links

[Medieval Art on the Web], Art History resources.

Middle Ages
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