1. EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE
GARDNER CHAPTER 16-1 PP

2. EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE - BACKGROUND
CE was a great formative period of western medieval art
Early medieval art is a fusion of:
1. Greco-Roman heritage of N. Western provinces of the Roman Empire
2. The cultures of the non-Roman peoples north of the Alps
3. Christianity

3. ART OF THE WARRIOR LORDS
Rome’s power wanes in Late Antiquity -> armed conflict and competition for political authority among non-Roman peoples of Europe
As one group establishes control another presses in behind and compels them to move on
Visigoths -> forced south by the Franks
Franks -> established themselves in France and other parts of W. Europe
Anglo-Saxons -> controlled Roman Britain
Celts -> France and Ireland
Vikings -> Scandinavia
Huns
Vandals
Merovingians
Franks
Ostrogoths

4. MEROVINGIAN FIBULAE
Pair of Merovingian looped fibulae, mid 6th century, silver gilt worked in filigree, with inlays of garnets and stones
Jeweled fibulae were status symbols among warlords -> pair belonged to a Merovingian woman -> features eagle heads and fish integrated into highly decorative design
Early Medieval art -> mostly small, portable “status symbols”
1. Small scale
2. Utilitarian in nature
3. Abstract ornament
4. Rejection of classical notion of the representation of nature

5. SUTTON HOO SHIP BURIAL
Purse cover, from Sutton Hoo ship burial in Suffolk, England, ca. 625, gold, glass, and cloisonné garnets, 7 ½ “
This purse cover is one of the many treasures found in a ship beneath a royal burial mound discovered in 1939
CLOISONNE = metalworkers produced this by soldering small metal strips, cloisons, edge up, to a metal background, and then filling the compartments w/semiprecious stones, colored glass and glass paste -> a cross between mosaic and stained glass
4 groups on lower row -> man standing between beasts, in center is eagles attacking ducks/above are 3 geometric designs -> 2 linear and 1 an interlace pattern
Interlace pattern combined w/animal figures -> key EMA

6. VIKINGS Vikings = pre-Christian traders and pirates of Scandinavia
In 793 the Vikings land in British Isles and until the mid 11th century they were the terror of W. Europe
Ranged from Ireland, to Russia, to Iceland and Greenland

7. OSEBERG SHIP BURIAL
Animal-head post, from Viking ship burial, Oseberg, Norway, 825
The Vikings were master wood carvers -> this post from a Viking ship combines the head of a roaring beast w/surface ornamentation in the form of tightly interwoven writhing animals
Perfect example of the union of 2 fundamental motifs of warrior-lord art
1. The animal form
2. The interlace pattern

8. CHRISTIAN ART: SCANDINAVIA, BRITISH ISLES, SPAIN
Powerful warlords amassing artworks dominated by abstract and animal motifs
Elsewhere in N. Europe Christian missionaries were est. monasteries and sponsoring art of Christian content
Early medieval art of N. Europe very different from in Italy and the Byzantine Empire
Fusion of native and imported artistic traditions

9. The Stave Church at Urnes (12th century) has been placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.
In the early Middle Ages many communities throughout northern Europe erected wooden churches on posts buried in the ground -> staves
In Norway, these constructions were ultimately refined into the exceptional stave churches known today.
These religious structures comprise Norway’s most important contribution to world architectural history.

10. STAVE CHURCH, URNES
Wooden portal of the stave church at Urnes, Norway, ca
By the 11th century Scandinavia had become mostly Christian -> Viking artistic traditions persist
Intertwining of animal and plant decoration of the portal of this Norwegian church

11. HIBERNO-SAXON ART
Ireland -> Christianization of the Celts began in the 5th century
Irish monasteries were relatively independent, isolated, inhospitable and inaccessible locations -> far from worldly temptations and distractions
Irish monks est. monasteries in Britain and Scotland
HIBERNO-SAXON = the art of the Irish- English islands -> greatest creations were illuminated manuscripts -> books were scarce and guarded treasures

12. BOOK OF DURROW
Man (symbol of Saint Matthew), folio 21verso of the Book of Durrow, possibly from Iona, Scotland, ca , ink and tempera on parchment
Hiberno-Saxon book illumination include some pages w/neither text nor illustration but only pure embellishment -> carpet pages
Book of Durrow -> the four gospel books, each w/ a carpet page facing a page w/the symbol of the evangelist who wrote the gospel
The cloak of Saint Matthew’s man resembles a cloisonné brooch w/abstract ornament

13. THE FOUR EVANGELISTS EVANGELIST = one who announces good news
THE FOUR EVANGELISTS = authors of the gospels/the first four books of the New Testament
MATTHEW -> winged man/angel
MARK -> the lion
LUKE -> the ox
JOHN -> the eagle

14. Note the peculiar, linear style of barbarian art
Note the peculiar, linear style of barbarian art. No modeling, no light and shade, no illusionism.
LINDISFARNE GOSPELS
Saint Matthew, folio 25 verso of the Lindisfarne Gospels, from Northumbria, England, ca , tempera on vellum
Hiberno-Saxon illuminators were concerned w/abstract design not the depiction of the natural world -> this author portrait of Saint Matthew is an exception -> the inspiration for this may have been a Mediterranean book
Matthew sits in his his study composing his account of the life of Christ -> curtain, seat at an angle, lettering is a combo of Greek and Latin, the winged man symbol, man looking on

15. Cross and carpet page, folio 26 verso of the Lindisfarne Gospels, from Northumbria, England, ca. 698–721. Tempera on vellum, 1’ 1 1/2” X 9 1/4”

16. BOOK OF KELLS
Chi-rho-iota (XPI) page, folio 34 of the Book of Kells, probably from Iona, Scotland, late 8th or early 9th century
The greatest achievement of Hiberno-Saxon art is the Book of Kells
Written and decorated in an Irish monastery
The painter transformed the biblical text into abstract pattern, literally making God’s words beautiful -> intricate design recalls early medieval metalwork

17. HIGH CROSS OF MUIREDACH
High Cross of Muiredach (east face), Monasterboice, Ireland, Sandstone, approx. 18’ high
Early medieval Irish high crosses are exceptional in size
Muirdach’s cross marked his grave and bears reliefs depicting the Crucifixion and Last Judgement
THE CELTIC CROSS = circle intersecting the cross

18. VISIGOTHIC SPAIN/MOZARABIC SPAIN
San Juan Bautista, Banos de Cerrato, Spain, 661
Basilican church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist is typical of Visigothic architecture in Spain -> entrance portral crowned by a horseshoe arch