MEDIEVAL FINE ARTS (500-1500)

MIDDLE AGES (MEDIEVAL OR DARK AGES)

Period: 500 to Jan 1, 1500

SCULPTURE (DIPTYCHS)Ivory consular diptych of Areobindus, Byzantium, 506 AD, Louvre.

501

As an art term a diptych is an artwork consisting of two pieces or panels, that together create a singular art piece these can be attached together or presented adjoining each other. In medieval times, panels were often hinged so that they could be closed and the artworks protected. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a recessed space filled with wax. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

MOZAICS, Zodiac wheel on the floor of the synagogue, this time in Beit Alfa

518

Another zodiac mosaic decorated the floor of the Beit Alfa synagogue which was built during the reign of Justin I (518–27). It is regarded one of the most important mosaics discovered in Israel. Each of its three panels depicts a scene – the Holy Ark, the zodiac, and the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. In the center of the zodiac is Helios, the sun god, in his chariot. The four women in the corners of the mosaic represent the four seasons. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

SCULPTURE

550

The Barberini ivory is a Byzantine ivory leaf from an imperial diptych dating from Late Antiquity, now in the Louvre in Paris. It represents the emperor as triumphant victor. It is generally dated from the first half of the 6th century and is attributed to an imperial workshop in Constantinople. Byzantine art comprises the body of Christian Greek artistic products of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire.

BYZANTINE ICONIC ART (6th or 7th century Coptic icon of Jesus and an abbot shares in more homely form the anti-realist style of Byzantine iconic art.

700

The Icon of Christ and Abbot Mena a Coptic painting which is now in the Louvre museum, in Paris. The icon is an encaustic painting on wood and was brought from the Apollo monastery in Bawit, Egypt. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE, Cloisters of Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, France.

708

The history of RELIGIOUS architecture IN MEDIEVAL AGES is concerned more with religious buildings than with any other type, because in most past cultures the universal and exalted appeal of religion made the church or temple the most expressive, the most permanent, and the most influential building in any community. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

MEDIEVAL ARABIC CALLIGRAPHY

790

Arabic Calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy based on the Arabic alphabet. From an artistic point of view, Arabic calligraphy has been known and appreciated for its diversity and great potential for development. In fact, it has been linked in the Arabic civilization to various fields such as religion, art, architecture, education and craftsmanship, which in return have played an important role in its advancement. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

PAINTING (EVANGELIST PORTRAITS) Carolingian Evangelist portrait from the Codex Aureus of Lorsch, using a Late Antique model, late 8th century

800

Evangelist portraits are a specific type of miniature included in ancient and mediaeval illuminated manuscript Gospel Books, and later in Bibles and other books, as well as other media. Each Gospel of the Four Evangelists, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, may be prefaced by a portrait of the Evangelist, usually occupying a full page. Their symbols may be shown with them, or separately. Often they are the only figurative illumination in the manuscript. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

GESTA KAROLI (POETRY, LITERATURE)

840

Notker the Stammerer, also called Notker I, Notker the Poet or Notker of Saint Gall, was a musician, author, poet, and Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Gall, now in Switzerland. He is commonly accepted to be the "Monk of Saint Gall" who wrote Gesta Karoli. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

CAROLINGIAN ARCHITECTURE, The Palatine Chapel (Octagon) in Aachen, now the central part of the cathedral

844

Carolingian architecture is the style of north European Pre-Romanesque architecture belonging to the period of the Carolingian Renaissance of the late 8th and 9th centuries, when the Carolingian dynasty dominated west European politics. It was a conscious attempt to emulate Roman architecture and to that end it borrowed heavily from Early Christian and Byzantine architecture, though there are nonetheless innovations of its own, resulting in a unique character. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

DOORNENBURG CASTLE (MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE)

900

Doornenburg Castle is a romantic mansion located in the eastern part of central-eastern Dutch province Gelderland. Doornenburg Castle was erected in a beautiful green area, close to the town of the same name and is considered one of the largest, most well-preserved castles in the Netherlands. According to many castle Doornenburg and is the oldest such building in the Netherlands. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

HERMENEUTIC STYLE (WRITING, LITERATURE)

931

The hermeneutic style is a style of Latin in the later Roman and early Medieval periods characterised by the extensive use of unusual and arcane words, especially derived from Greek. Hermeneutics refers to the theory and practice of interpretation, where interpretation involves an understanding that can be justified. It describes both a body of historically divers methodologies for interpreting texts, objects, and concepts, and a theory of understanding. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

LITERATURE, EPIC POEM ( BEOWULF)

975

The poem blends fictional, legendary and historic elements. Although Beowulf himself is not mentioned in any other Anglo-Saxon manuscript. "Beowulf" is the oldest surviving epic poem in the English language and the earliest piece of vernacular European literature. Perhaps the most common question readers have is what language "Beowulf" was written in originally. The first manuscript was written in the language of the Saxons, "Old English," also known as "Anglo-Saxon."

BYZANTINE IVORY, Byzantine Icon of the Crucifixion

1000

Byzantine ivories were highly prized in western Europe, where they survived in church treasuries or were incorporated into deluxe book bindings. The ivory from the panel on the left originally formed the center of a Byzantine three-paneled icon. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

GOODRICH CASTLE (MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE)

1100

Goodrich Castle is a Norman medieval castle ruin north of the village of Goodrich in Herefordshire, England, controlling a key location between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye. It was praised by William Wordsworth as the "noblest ruin in Herefordshire"[1] and is considered by historian Adrian Pettifer to be the "most splendid in the county, and one of the best examples of English military architecture." Removed from google. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

ROMANESQUE PAINTINGS IN FRANCE

1150

Romanesque Mural Painting (c.1150)
St. Pierre Church, Moutiers, France.
Artist Unknown. FRENCH ROMANESQUE MURALS
Church walls and ceilings were
decorated extensively in France
during the 11th and 12th centuries.
Composed mainly of scenes from
the Bible, the aim of this mural
painting was to inform the mostly
illiterate church congregation, and
serve as a form of devotion.
French Romanesque murals were
characterized by abstract,
dynamic and animated imagery.

GOTHIC CASTLE (MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE)

1204

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. Originating in 12th-century France and lasting into the 16th century, Gothic architecture was known during the period as Opus Francigenum ("French work") with the termGothic first appearing during the later part of the Renaissance. Removed from Google.

GOTHIC SCULPTURE, Chartres cathedral c. 1220; the best High Gothic sculpture had largely rediscovered the art of naturalistic figure representation.

1220

A Gothic style in sculpture originates in France around 1144 and spread throughout Europe, becoming by the 13th century the international style, replacing Romanesque, though in sculpture and painting the transition was not as sharp as in architecture. The new architecture allowed for much larger windows, and stained glass of a quality never excelled is perhaps the type of art most associated in the popular mind with the Gothic. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

POETRY (LITERATURE) THE DIVINE COMEDY

1308

An epic poem written by Dante in the early fourteenth century, describing the author's journey through the afterlife. It has three parts, each of which is concerned with one of the three divisions of the world beyond: the Inferno (hell), the Purgatorio (purgatory), and the Paradiso (heaven). REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

MURAL PAINTINGS (Detail of The Effects of Good Government, a fresco in the City Hall of Siena by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1338.)

1338

The Effects of Good Government lays the depiction of The Effects of Bad Government. Overlooking both these murals, the personifications of the allegorical depictions of the virtues of good government are found on the northern wall. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH.

METALWORK CRAFT (PLAQUE)

1350

The medieval metalworker's craft was often closely allied to the draftsman's art, a relationship that was particularly strong in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In this work, calligraphic metal surfaces float against colorful enameled backgrounds, much as drawing and painting interact in manuscripts. A sketch of a head on the reverse of this piece suggests that artists worked out compositions in a graphic mode before attempting completed designs. REMOVED FROM GOOGLE SERACH.

CAROL DANCE STYLE(Medieval Dance scene from the Roman de la Rose, ca. 1350.)

1350

The most documented form of dance during the Middle Ages is the carol also called the "carole" or "carola" and known from the 12th and 13th centuries in Western Europe in rural and court settings.[2] It consisted of a group of dancers holding hands usually in a circle, with the dancers singing in a leader and refrain style while dancing.[3] No surviving lyrics or music for the carol have been identified. SOURCE: GOOGLE SEARCH

BASSE DANCING

1500

The basse danse, or "low dance", was a popular court dance in the 15th and early 16th centuries, especially at the Burgundian court. The word basse describes the nature of the dance, in which partners move quietly and gracefully in a slow gliding or walking motion without leaving the floor, while in livelier dances both feet left the floor in jumps or leaps. The basse danse was a precursor of the pavane as a dignified processional dance (Cole n.d.). SOURCE: GOOGLE SEARCH