Art History: Early Christian and Medieval Art

Understanding Early Christian Artoffers an insightful, erudite and lavishly illustrated analysis of the meaning and message of early Christianity as revealed in the texts and images of its first practitioners. Robin Margaret Jensen examines the motifs and subjects of early Christian art, integrating them with the symbols and themes of Christian literature and liturgy. Beginning with an analysis of the non-narrative subjects of the early art--the Good Shepherd, the praying figure, fish and birds--Jensen goes on to explore the narrative images found in Roman catacomb painting, sarcophagus relief sculpture, early mosaics, ivories, and manuscript illumination. Finally, the book examines iconographic themes such as Jonah, Daniel, Abraham offering Isaac, and Adam and Eve.

In the 1320's AD the Emperor Constantine moved the capital of his Empire from Rome to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople, and until its fall in453 remained a major artistic centre. Under successive emperors and empresses for more than a thousand years, artists, architects and craftsmen introduced superb and intriguing works ranging from the grandest public
buildings to the smallest and most personal items.

Between the third and sixth centuries, the ancient gods, goddesses, and heroes who had populated the imagination of humankind for a millennium were replaced by a new imagery of Christ and his saints. Thomas Mathews explores the many different, often surprising, artistic images and religious interpretations of Christ during this period. He challenges the accepted theory of the "Emperor Mystique," which, interpreting Christ as king, derives the vocabulary of Christian art from the propagandistic imagery of the Roman emperor. This revised edition contains a new preface by the author and a new chapter on the origin and development of icons in private domestic cult.

Picturing the Bibleexplores the vast tradition of Christian art at its very beginnings in the third century A.D., just as Christianity was emerging from its outlawed, clandestine status to become the state religion of the Roman Empire. What images did these Christians use to express their faith openly? Were they the first believers to part with Mosaic law by creating “graven images”? What Jewish and pagan sources, if any, did they look to for inspiration? When did they begin to depict the life of Jesus? This beautifully illustrated book takes up such questions, revealing the story of how Christian art began through insights from recent discoveries. The essays are complemented by extensive new archaeological research on a range of more than one hundred objects, drawn from major museums of America and Europe. Frescoes, marble sculpture and sarcophagi, silver vessels and reliquaries, carved ivories, decorated crosses, and illuminated Bibles are illustrated in new color photographs, allowing the reader an unprecedented encounter with Early Christian art.

This revisionist study challenges the received opinion that in its earliest manifestations Christianity was a form of religiosity opposed both on principle and in fact to the use of pictures. Paul Corby Finney argues that the well-known absence of Christian pictures before A.D. 200 is due to a complex interplay of social, economic, and political factors, and is not, as is commonly assumed, a result of an anti-image ideology. The book documents the origins of Christian art based on some of the oldest surviving Christian archaeological evidence, and it seeks to show how the Christian products conformed to the already-existing pagan types and models.

A bold synthesis of art and intellectual history and the history of religion, it will certainly become recognized as the definitive study of symbolism during the first five hundred years of Christianity. Drawing on a wealth of primary materials--including the works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of the apostle Paul, and the mystical zoologist Physiologus--Ladner interprets for a modern audience the myriad of symbols used in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Throughout, Ladner grounds his discussion with references to extant art, illustrations of which are interspersed liberally with the text.

The coverage of this book focuses on the art of Constantinople from 330 to 1453 and the stages this went through in reaction to historical circumstances as the city progressed from the Christian centre of the Eastern Roman Empire, to the crisis of attack from the new religion of Islam, torevived medieval splendour and then, after the Latin capture of 1204 and the reoccupation by Byzantine after 1261, to a period of cultural reconciliation with east and west. The book shows how changes in society led to changes in art by focusing on particular cases and objects.

This splendid book is dedicated to the art of the Middle Byzantine period (843-1261), demonstrating its wide influence through a celebration of its most beautiful and meaningful works of art. The magnificent religious and secular objects created in Byzantium had a profound impact on neighboring Christian and Islamic states and on the Latin West. In this volume more than 50 contributing scholars explore not only works from Byzantium proper but also those from beyond its borders, providing new insights into the cultures of Eastern Europe. The 17 essays are accompanied by descriptions and full-color reproductions of more than 400 objects as well as photographs of architectural sites and comparative illustrations.

- This book is the catalogue for an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (March 23 to July 4, 2004).

An anthology of translated histories, chronicles, saint's lives, theological treatises, and accounts present an in-depth analysis of Byzantine art. Focusing on Constantinople, Mango chronicles the arts, and places them in historical, political, and theolo

Artistic representations were of significant value to early Christian communities. In Christ the Miracle Worker in Early Christian Art, Lee Jefferson argues that images provided visual representations of vital religious and theological truths crucial to the faithful and projected concepts beyond the limitations of the written and spoken word. Images of Christ performing miracles or healings functioned as advertisements for Christianity and illustrated the nature of Christ. Using these images of Christ, Jefferson examines the power of art, its role in fostering devotion, and the deep connection between art and its elucidation of pivotal theological claims.

For more than a millennium, from its creation in 330 CE until its fall in 1453, the Byzantine Empire was a cradle of artistic effervescence that is only beginning to be rediscovered. Endowed with the rich heritage of Roman, Eastern, and Christian cultures, Byzantine artists developed an architectural and pictorial tradition, marked by symbolism, whose influence extended far beyond the borders of the Empire. The magnificence of the palaces, churches, paintings, enamels, ceramics, and mosaics from this civilisation guarantees Byzantine art's powerful influence and timelessness.

This book presents an historical overview of the Frankish realms in Central Europe during the Carolingian period. Against this background Part II of the book examines the cultural inventory deposited by the scribal culture in Central Europe as represented by manuscripts, crystals, ivories and gem encrusted liturgical art. Part III deals with such examples of Carolingian wall painting and architecture as are still evident in Central Europe. Though some examples are derivative, many are original. To reflect the splendor of the objects and surfaces discussed in Parts II and III, the book is lavishly ornamented with pertinent color illustrations. Black and white illustrations generally serve the representation of architecture.

Beginning with the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the West in A.D. 800, John Beckwith guides us through the architecture, painting, sculpture, illuminations and ivories of the three great periods of early medieval art. The Ottonian period, perhaps best known for the great center of art and craftsmanship attached to the court, presented an artistic style which had developed from early Christian and Carolingian sources--a style which was the gateway to the great artistic revival in the eleventh and twelfth centuries--the Romanesque period.

Contents:
Art from the end of the Roman empire to Carolingian times
Art of the tenth and early eleventh centuries; Ottonian art.

This book deals with the art of church treasuries and cloisters in the early middle ages in Europe - the work of goldsmiths, ivory carvers, bronze casters, enamellers and wood carvers. These so-called 'Minor Arts' played a major creative role alongside the other pictorial arts and architectural sculpture. The book traces the unbroken development of the Sacred Arts and their interrelationships throughout Europe from the Renovatio of the arts - the 'Rebirth of Antiquity' - encouraged under the Emperor Charlemagne in the late eighth century, until a renewed and fresh appreciation of the natural world - the Gothic - began to replace the powerful stylisations and the last vestiges of the classical tradition of the Romanesque in the early thirteenth century.

Presents the Romanesque period, from 1050 to 1200 A.D., through an entirely new approach; including discussions of issues important to the period. The book emphasizes society, the role of women, patronage, and the development of institutions such as the monastery and the university. This approach serves to enliven a period in art and culture that had been previously burdened by reference as ";the Dark Ages."; It also provides a social and political context for a discussion of the period and presents broader survey scope through references to Islam, Judaism, and other non-Christian cultures.

Subjects include the sculptures of the cloister and the portal in the French abbey of Moissac, as well as the manuscript paintings and stone sculptures from the Castilian abbey of Silos. Schapiro applies evidence from numerous sources, such as literature, folklore, and political history, to reconstruct and interpret this rich artistic period.

"A collection of essays examining Romanesque art and thought in the twelfth century. Issues of reception, innovation, nationalism, iconography, technology, dating, and geographic coverage are explored, as well as larger issues relating to Gothic and medieval art history"--Provided by publisher.

In art history, the term 'Romanesque art' distinguishes the period between the beginning of the 11th and the end of the 12th century. This era showed a great diversity of regional schools each with their own unique style. In architecture as well as in sculpture, Romanesque art is marked by raw forms. Through its rich iconography and captivating text, this work reclaims the importance of this art which is today often overshadowed by the later Gothic style.

The first millennium saw a rich and distinctive artistic tradition form in Europe. While books had long been central to the Christian religious tradition, education, and culture, they now became an important artistic medium, sometimes decorated with brilliant colours and precious metals.Lawrence Nees explores issues of artist patronage, craftsmanship, holy men and women, monasteries, secular courts, and the expressive and educational roles of artistic creation. He discusses early Christian art within the late Roman tradition, and the arts of the newly established kingdoms ofnorthern Europe not as opposites, but as different aspects of a larger historical situation. This approach reveals the onset of an exciting new visual relationship between the church and the populace throughout medieval Europe, restoring a previously marginalized subject to a central status in ourartistic and cultural heritage.

This beautifully produced survey of over a thousand years of Western art and architecture introduces the reader to a vast period of history ranging from ancient Rome to the age of exploration. The monumental arts and the diverse minor arts of the Middle Ages are presented here within the social, religious, and political frameworks of lands as varied as France and Denmark, Spain and Turkey. Marilyn Stokstad also teaches her reader how to look at medieval art-which aspects of architecture, sculpture, or painting are important and for what reasons. Stylistic and iconographic issues and themes are thoroughly addressed with attention paid to aesthetic and social contexts. Significantly updated, this second edition of 'Medieval Art' spans the period from the second to the fifteenth centuries and includes over 4000 illustrations, over 100 in color, detailed maps, a time-line, glossary, bibliography, and index-all in a larger 8 by 10 inch trim size.

This refreshing new look at Medieval art conveys a very real sense of the impact of art on everyday life in Europe from 1000 to 1500. It examines the importance of art in the expression and spread of knowledge and ideas, including notions of the heroism and justice of war, and the dominant view of Christianity.
Taking its starting point from issues of contemporary relevance, such as the environment, the identity of the artist, and the position of women, the book also highlights the attitudes and events specific to the sophisticated visual culture of the Middle Ages, and goes on to link this period to the Renaissance. The fascinating question of whether commercial and social activities between countries encouraged similar artistic taste and patronage, or contributed to the defining of cultural difference in Europe, is fully explored.

Describes the times in which the art was created as well as the issues of patronage, function, and ultimately, the public's reception of the art as it was produced. Providing a magnificent overview of medieval painting, sculpture, and architecture in Italy, Byzantium, Germany, and France from the 4th to the 14th centuries–including Early Christian, Byzantine, Pre-Romanesque Hiberno-Saxon, Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque, and Gothic art.

This book offers an exciting introduction to the richness and quality of the medieval treasures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Highlighted in these pages -- and in the accompanying exhibition -- are more than 315 of the acquisitions made since 1978, many of them unpublished until now. An essay by William D. Wixom, the chairman of the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, provides fascinating insights into the collecting process. The catalogue entries, written by members of the curatorial staff, focus on about 200 of the most important secular and religious objects, many of them illustrated in color. These include stained glass, metalwork, sculpture, panel paintings, and illuminated manuscripts.

The Cloisters is the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. This splendid new guide, richly illustrated with more than 175 color pictures, offers a broad introduction to the remarkable history of The Cloisters as well as a lively and informative discussion of the treasures within.Assembled with Romanesque and Gothic architectural elements dating from the twelfth through the fifteenth century, The Cloisters is itself a New York City landmark, overlooking sweeping vistas of the Hudson River in Upper Manhattan. Among the masterworks of medieval religious and domestic life housed in The Cloisters are exceptional examples of carved ivory, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, silver- and goldsmiths’ work, and tapestries, including the famous 'Unicorn in Captivity'. Enriched by the latest scholarship from The Cloisters; expert staff of curators, educators, and horticulturalists, this volume will stand as the definitive source on the collection for years to come.

A Companion to Medieval Art brings together cutting-edge scholarship devoted to the Romanesque and Gothic traditions in Northern Europe. Brings together cutting-edge scholarship devoted to the Romanesque and Gothic traditions in Northern Europe. Contains over 30 original theoretical, historical, and historiographic essays by renowned and emergent scholars. Covers the vibrancy of medieval art from both thematic and sub-disciplinary perspectives. Features an international and ambitious range - from reception, Gregory the Great, collecting, and pilgrimage art, to gender, patronage, the marginal, spolia, and manuscript illumination.

Contents:
Romanesque France. --
Early Gothic of the twelfth century. --
High Gothic of the early thirteenth century. --
From Rayonnant to Flamboyant.

The face in medieval sculpture was an exploration in human identity, marked not only by evolving nuances of style but also by the ongoing drama of European history. The 81 magnificent sculpted heads featured in this volume provide a sweeping view of the Middle Ages, from the waning days of the Roman Empire to the dawn of the Renaissance. Each sculpture bears eloquent witness to its own remarkable history, whether it was removed because of changing tastes or for political reasons, such as being cut off the head of a king on a grand cathedral facade. The book is organized into seven thematic sections which explore the process of reconnecting these works to their origins using both traditional art historical methods as well as the latest scientific technology.

Offering original analysis of the convergence between "sacred" and "secular" in medieval works of art and architecture, this collection explores both the usefulness and limitations of these terms for describing medieval attitudes. The authors consider medieval material culture from a broad perspective, addressing works of art and architecture from England to Japan, and from the seventh to the fifteenth century. The contributors consciously frame their interpretations in terms and perspectives derived from the Middle Ages, thereby demonstrating how the present art-historical terminology and conceptual frameworks can obscure the complexity of medieval life and material culture.

This survey of Gothic art in Europe takes a fresh look at the meaning of the term "Gothic" and examines the art of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in terms of the way it is seen. It views painting, sculpture, architecture, manuscript illumination and applied arts in various contexts, including public and private are, devotional and secular art, and art related to the new forms of learning (science and the universities).

Developments in medieval science that elevated sight above the other senses found religious expression in the Christian emphasis on miracles, relics, and elaborate structures. In his incisive survey of Gothic art and architecture, Roland Recht argues that this preoccupation with vision as a key to religious knowledge profoundly affected a broad range of late medieval works. In addition to the great cathedrals of France, Recht explores key religious buildings throughout Europe to reveal how their grand designs supported this profusion of images that made visible the signs of scripture. Metalworkers, for example, fashioned intricate monstrances and reliquaries for the presentation of sacred articles, and technical advances in stained glass production allowed for more expressive renderings of holy objects. Sculptors, meanwhile, created increasingly naturalistic works and painters used multihued palettes to enhance their subjects; lifelike qualities. Reimagining these works as a link between devotional practices in the late Middle Ages and contemporaneous theories that deemed vision the basis of empirical truth, Recht provides students and scholars with a new and powerful lens through which to view Gothic art and architecture.

Emile Male's book aids understanding of medieval art and medieval symbolism, and of the vision of the world which presided over the building of the French cathedrals. It looks at French religious art in the Middle Ages, its forms, and especially the Eastern sources of sculptural iconography used in the cathedrals of France.

Celebrating the Virgin Mary as both an object of religious affection and a focus of civic pride, artists of fourteenth-century Siena established for their city a vibrant tradition that continued into the early decades of the next century. Such celebratory portraits of the Virgin were also common in Siena's extensive subject territories, the contado. This richly illustrated book explores late medieval Sienese art -- how it was created, commissioned, and understood by the citizens of Siena. Examining political, economic, and cultural relations between Siena and the contado, Diana Norman offers a new understanding of Marian arts and its political function as an expression of civic ideology.

Drawing on extensive unpublished archives, Norman reconstructs the circumstances surrounding the commission of Marian art in the three most prestigious locations of fourteenth-century Siena: the cathedral, the Palazzo Pubblico, and the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala. She analyzes similarly important commissions in the contado towns of Massa Marittima, Montalcino, and Montepulciano. Casting new light on such topics as the original site for the reliquary tomb of Saint Cerbone, patron saint of Massa Marittima, and the identity of the patrons of the Marian frescoes in the rural hermitage of San Leonardo al Lago, the author deepens our insight into the origins and meaning of Sienese art production of the late medieval period.

Contents:
v. 1. Interpretative essays -- The essays contain discussions of the politics and the economics of the cities during the 14th century; the major practitioners of painting, sculpture and architecture; the significance of communal and familial patronage of art in the three cities; the relation of art to the religious belief and devotional practice and to the broader intellectual ambience of the cities; and the impact and significance of various historiographical traditions.
v. 2. Case studies. -- This second volume focuses on major works of art produced in Siena, Florence or Padua or executed by artists associated with the three cities. The case studies include discussions of the evolution of two important building types (town halls and cathedrals); the devotional and liturgical contexts of pre-eminent 14th-century altar-pieces; interpretation of the major fresco cycles in the Arena Chapel, Padua, and the Sala dei Nove, Siena; the significance of sculpted representations of the body; and the distinctive impact of familial or specifically female patronage.

The eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed a thoroughgoing transformation of European culture, as new ways of thinking revitalized every aspect of human endeavor, from architecture and the visual arts to history, philosophy, theology, and even law. In this book Charles M. Radding and William W. Clark offer fresh perspectives on changes in architecture and learning at three moments in time. Unlike previous studies, including Erwin Panofsky's classic essay Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism, Radding and Clark's book not only compares buildings and treatises but argues that the ways of thinking and the ways of solving problems were analogous. The authors trace the professional contexts and creative activities of builders and masters from the creation of the Romanesque to the achievements of the Gothic and, in the process, establish new criteria for defining each. During the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, they argue, both intellectual treatises and Romanesque architecture reveal a growingmastery of,a body of relevant expertise and the expanding techniques by which that knowledge could be applied to problems of reasoning and building. In the twelfth century, new intellectual directions, set by such specialists as Peter Abelard and the second master builder working at Saint-Denis, began to shape new systems of thinking based on a coherent view of the world. By the thirteenth century these became the standards by which all practitioners of a discipline were measured. The great ages of scholastic learning and of Gothic architecture are some of the results of this experimentation. At each stage Radding and Clark take the reader into the workshops and centers of study to examine themethods used by builders and masters to create the artistic and intellectual works for which the Middle Ages are justly famous. Handsomely illustrated and clearly written, this book will be of great interest to scholars and s

The exhibition catalog is the first survey of Gothic ivories in English. It contains essays by seven leading international scholars, including Peter Barnet (Gothic Sculpture in Ivory: An Introduction), Elizabeth Sears (Ivory and Ivory-Workers in Medieval Paris), Richard H. Randall, Jr. (Popular Romances Carved in Ivory), Harvey Stahl (Narrative Structure and Content in Some Gothic Ivories of the Life of Christ), Charles T. Little (Opera Francigeno et Germania: Gothic Ivory Carving in Germany), Danielle Gaborit-Chopin (Polychrome Decoration of Gothic Ivories), and Paul Williamson (Symbiosis across Scale: Gothic Ivories and Culture in Stone and Wood in the Thirteenth Century). Nearly one hundred of the most important examples of Gothic ivory carving from collections in Europe and the United States are catalogued by leading specialists. They are illustrated with mostly new photography and collateral photographs where appropriate. The publication conveys to the reader the major changes that occurred in art and society during the Gothic period and the rise of ivory carving for both religious and secular purposes. Organized chronologically, the catalog tells the story of the development of this art form; the people who carved, commissioned, and made use of ivories in the Middle Ages; and the impact historical developments had on the growth and eventual demise of the art form.

Gothic art finds its roots in the powerful architecture of the cathedrals of northern France. It is a medieval art movement that evolved throughout Europe over more than 200 years.Leaving curved Roman forms behind, the architects started using flying buttresses and pointed arches to open up cathedrals to daylight. A period of great economic and social change, the Gothic era also saw the development of a new iconography celebrating the Holy Mary - in drastic contrast to the fearful themes of dark Roman times. Full of rich changes in all of the various art forms (architecture, sculpture, painting, etc.), Gothic art paved the way for the Italian Renaissance and International Gothic movement.

At the heart of Gothic cathedrals, the threshold between nave and sanctuary was marked by the choir screen, a partitioning structure of special complexity, grandeur, and beauty. At once a canopy for altars, a stage for performance, a pedestal for crucifixes and reliquaries, and a ground for spectacular arrays of narrative and iconic sculptures, the choir screen profoundly shaped the spaces of liturgy and social interaction for the diverse communities, both clerical and lay, who shared the church interior. For the first time, this book draws together the most important examples - some fully extant, others known through fragments and graphic sources - from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century France and Germany.