Early Medieval, Carolingian, and Gothic Art, Essay Example

Artwork has throughout time reflected the cultural, political, and social contexts and contingencies within which it was created in. Early medieval art often portrayed religious subject matter and deploys the principle of size and proportion to venerate the most important societal and cultural figures. It took on a vast array of forms including cathedrals, engravings, sculptures, mosaics, tapestries, and ceramics, among others. The sixth century mosaic located in the apse of the Saint Vitale cathedral in Ravenna is a poignant example of Early Medieval artwork through its design principles, subject matter, and depiction of important figures. The compendium of primary sources available from the Carolingian Era elucidate distinctive political, social and cultural features of the Carolingian world and how such features evolved over time. The surviving evidence from the Carolingian period is more abundant than during the periods of the Germanic kingdoms, and it overwhelmingly documents the lives of the elites such as bishops, abbesses, clerical leaders and political rulers (Innes 401). Carolingian artwork such as the bible cover of Charles the Bald, the son of Charlemagne, promoted the revival of Christian culture and sought to recreate the image of the barbarian ruler based on iconography associated with ancient Rome. Finally, unlike the stiff nature of figures in early medieval and Carolingian artwork, early Gothic art focused on realism and perspective. Cultural artifacts created during the Early Medieval, Carolingian, and Gothic periods all convey epochal exigencies, idiosyncrasies and socio-cultural developments through diverse design and artistic principles utilized therein.

Early medieval art clearly reflected a preoccupation with religion in addition to Greek and Roman influences that manifested in Byzantine mosaics, which replaced carved decoration. In Theodora with Courtiers,  rich colors and stiff, flat figures portraying religious and political icons without depth and engaged in a procession. The empress Theodora holds a chalice of wine to underscore the meaning of the religious gesture she is about to make, as she bears the sacrificial blood of Christ in it In addition, her robe is decorated with the religious figures of the Magi holding gifts. The ladies of her court are positioned behind her holding up a curtain for her so that the viewer’s eye automatically is drawn to the empress, which visually underscores the importance of Theodora to the Byzantine Empire. The design renders Theodora’s image appear like a portrait, which conveys her ruthless yet ambitious nature. The fusion of religious iconography with political subject matter suggests the significance of Christianity as a unifying element in the Byzantine Empire during the early medieval period.

Carolingian art germinated from the Frankish Empire beginning in the eighth century A.D. and was created both for and by the court and monasteries that the court served as patrons for. The Carolingian family sought to create a new empire modeled on the old Roman empire which is self-consciously articulated through the existing material and written culture from the Carolingian era. The cover of the Vivian Bible, which was created by hand specifically for the son of Charlemagne, Charles the Bald, during the middle of the ninth century A.D., depicts the king surrounded by his courtiers, military officials and by his church. A clear distinction is made between the secular/civilian support of the state being both military on the outer edge and civilian in the inner end. This image conveys a self-consciousness of the project to create a restored, centralized empire based on the Roman model. The key representation of this project was to create a centralized, unified system of western Christendom under one empire. This aim mirrors that of the late Roman empire when empire was contiguous with true Christianity. Such a portrayal reflects the fractured nature of life during the early medieval era as well as the Carolingian desires to restore political unity and standardize Christian practices. The cover is painted with vivid colors, a reflection of the ubiquity and proliferation of illuminated manuscripts that took place during this time period. It is clear that the producer of this bible spent ample time creating it, thereby underscoring the importance of the bible as well as the king whom it was created for. Religious books and bibles contained the word of God, so the production of the bible was rendered an act of piety while commissioning them was considered an act of devotion (Lowden 273). When Charles the Bald was king, a litany of decorated bibles were created such as this one that fused various artistic styles that germinated in various Germanic kingdoms. In addition to the lush colors and meticulous attention to detail in this work, the herculean size of the King in relation to the figures surrounding him underscore the value placed on centralized rule, a preoccupation of the Carolingian family. Balance is created through symmetry, as the same number of courtiers are located on each side of the bible cover, implicating that all of them are equal under the auspices of the Carolingian king.

While religion remained prominent in early Gothic art, artists began limning human and spiritual figures in a more realistic way, which reflected epochal changes taking place within western society. Giotto’s seminal fourteenth-century fresco Lamentations which hangs in Padua in the Arena Chapel conveys these developments. The fresco creates a symbolic world that characterized early Gothic art as the European Renaissance was in its nascent stages In the foreground, the viewer sees five figures peering on the slain body of Christ in a downtrodden and downcast manner. Three women wearing biblical garb and halos clutch the body of Christ to prevent it from touching the ground. The female figure situated furthest away from Christ, touching his feet, was painted with the attributes and likeness of Mary Magdalene. She dons religious garb often associated with Mary and also has red hair. In the middle ground of the painting are five figures, one of which evinces the characteristic traits and iconography of St. John the Baptist. He is shown with a short hair cut, youthful appearance, and a halo. This figure stretches his arms out as his body is contorted in a downward manner towards Christ, and his face appears sad. Placed behind St. John the Baptist are Christ’s disciples who are also limns with golden halos. The sharp mountain ridge divide the whole composition, and in back of the mountains are eleven angels who evince varying emotional states. The hyperbolic anguish is enhanced by the diagonal lines and shapes that create a downward energy towards the slain body of Jesus Christ, which creates a spatiality for the eyes of viewers to focus on the body of Christ as well. Because the body of Christ was drawn quite low on the compositional plane, the viewer almost immediate feels closer to Jesus Christ–the very embodiment of the Christian church–while the angels drawn higher on the plane of the composition appear far more distant. To create a sense of realism despite the religious subject manner, Giotto unequivocally foreshortened the angels in order to cultivate a sense of three-dimensional space. He also utilized complementary pastel colors as a mechanism to create a sense of movement and liveliness within the frescoes. Humanistic tendencies also manifest in this piece of art vis-a-vis the free flowing clothing that underline the volume of the bodies of the figures. This new appreciation for the human form is underscored through the presence of the contrasting forms of the angels. Although the dyad of the angels and humans cannot be ignored, Giotto still wove in a sense of individualism into the fresco via the individual emotions that the saints and angels evince. This time period was characterized by a revival of antiquity and an emphasis on humanism in almost every facet of life. This fresco, along with other works of Gothic art, convey these social and historical changes taking place.

This original artwork was inspired by the flat figures so evident in the early medieval artwork. I wanted to fuse religious iconography and politics because of the intersectionality of the two so evident in this epoch. The political leader at the right holds a scepter bearing the Christian cross, suggesting that the empire he presided over was unified by Christianity. The figure on the left is planning on assassinating the political leader, but in this moment evinces deference to him prior to taking action. Drawing the figures as flat renders the attention of the viewer more attuned to the moment it captures and the significance of the moment rather than on the artist’s technique and creative process. Illuminated manuscripts during this time period were created for commission, presentation, or an individual’s own use. This one was created because it was commissioned by monastery members.

Works Cited

Bland, David. A History of Book Illustration: The Illuminated Manuscript and the Printed Book. London: Faber & Faber, 1958. Print.

Innes, Matthew. Introduction to Early Medieval Western Europe, 300-900: The Sword, the Plough, and the Book. United States: Routledge, 2007. Print.

Lowden, John. Early Christian & Byzantine Art. United States: Phaidon, 1997. Print.