Did you know that…
Byzantine art’sidealsrevolved more on a
Roman Statues were made with detachable heads. One
head could be taken off and replaced by yet another
one.
MEDIEVAL ARTS
Fall of the Roman Empire (300 AD) – Renaissance
(1400 AD)
Division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western
Empires; Rome in the West and Constantine in the East.
The Catholic churches financed many of the art projects
which are evidenced by Roman
Catacombs or burial crypts.
The churches have been decorated by many medieval
artists and many of their works were for public
appreciation using classical themes. e.g.
Rome’s Santa Constanza, a mausoleum built for
Constantine’s daughter, included avault decorated with
mosaics. During the Medieval period, the various
secular arts were unified by the Christian church and
the sacred arts associated with it. The era encompasses
many artistic styles and periods being: EarlyChristian
and Byzantine, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Carolingian,
Ottonian, Romanesque, Gothic, etc.
Early Christian and Byzantine
(Paleo-Christian/Primitive Christian)
In this period, the arts, which were produced by the
people of the Roman Empire from the early 4 th century
AD, mostly were Christian arts, centered on Byzantium
to 1453. The Byzantine Empire served as the
institutional setting for medieval arts of the eastern
Mediterranean characterized by Orthodox Churches
and Early Christian arts.
The art in this period reflected the prevailing late
antique art that revolved around the subject matter of
Christian and pagan works. Such as in catacomb
paintings and other manifestations, Roman
impressionism were expressed in underground burial
chambers which consists of 2 nd-century wall and ceiling
paintings up until the 4th century.
Early figurines or representations of Christ, Christian
iconography, catacomb paintings, Crucifixion; these
were some of the arts produced before Constantine
decreed official toleration of Christianity.
Churches and shrines were built so as to accommodate
and educate the dignity and social importance of the
church. E.g. Old St Peter’s in Rome, Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem, Sta.
Maria Maggiore in Rome.
Byzantine art is rooted in classical Roman style, but
soon developed into a more abstract and artistic
expression.
spiritualfeeling.
Anglo-Saxon
Arts in this period refer to the produced arts brought
upon by Germanic invasions in England of the later 5 th
century AD and the Norman Conquest of 1066. The
invading Angles, Saxons, and Jutes brought their
Germanic culture establishing kingdoms – the Jutes and
Saxons in the South, Aglians in the East, Mercia in the
Midlands, and Northumbria in the north of the River
Humber.
Paganism replaced Christianity, and artifacts from this
period consist largely of burial goods recovered from
excavated cemeteries. Metalwork was one of the
preeminent Anglo
Saxon art forms. Anglo-Saxon art was recognized by its
extensive use of colors and brightness in artwork. It
originated with Germanic Anglo Saxons and influenced
by British Celts during the early period and by the
Franks towards the later period. Arts in this period can
be seen in a number of museums across England.
Viking Art
Arts in this period were produced in Scandinavia and
Scandinavian settlements in overseas from half of the
8th century AD and the early 12th. They were
Vikings, meaning sea-pirate or raider. Viking arts include
ornamental motifs of animals, ship burials, wood
carvings, and carvings in
Scandinavian churches.
Viking arts were categorized into styles such as:
Oseberg style (Oseberg ship grave), Borre style (animal
motifs and patterns of knots and geometric
interlacing),Mammen style (mound burial site at
Mammen), Ringerike style and (Celtic art andbotanical
elements).
Carolingian Art
Arts in this period are associated with Charlemagne,
King of the Franks from the last quarter of the 8 th
century AD to the beginning of the 10 th century.
The territories they ruled comprise parts of present-day
France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Italy.
Charlemagne’s goal was to reestablish the ancient
authority of the city of Rome under his care and by his
influence. This cultural revival caused a dramatic change
in the visual arts and new sustenance of the imperial
patronage.
“Among the recipients of his largesse were monasteries,
and these he lavished with jewel-studded reliquaries,
gold and silver liturgical objects, and lavishlyillustrated
books.”
Carolingian arts included manuscripts, ivory carvings,
and portraits of ruler andauthors. Ottonian Art
• Ottonian arts were produced in the Holy Roman
 Empire from 995 AD until the late
11th century.
• The term was derived from three successive German
rulers from Saxony being Otto I, Otto II, and Otto III.
• Arts in this period were influenced by the
Revival of the northern Carolingian artistic heritage,
renewed interest in Northern Italian art, and a more
direct contact with Byzantine art.
• Important developments in Ottonian art was that of
large-scale sculptures, wooden crucifixes, and wooden
reliquaries covered with gold leaf, bronze casting, and
architectures were more of a fortress-like construction
with towers and inner rooms through which one
entered the nave.
Romanesque Art
Romanesque art is characterized by the fusion of
Roman, Carolingian, Ottonian, Byzantine, and local
Germanic traditions that make up mature styles.
The idea of Romanesque art was already recognized in
the Middle
Ages.
Romanesque churches, in order to accommodate their
increasing number of priests and monks and allow
access to pilgrims who wished to view the saints’ relics
kept in the churches, had to be made larger.
And so, Romanesque churches evolved the extensive
use of a semicircular arch for windows, doors, and
arcades, barrel vaults or groin vaults, massive piers and
walls.
➢ Gothic Art
• Gothic art refers to the European architecture and
sculpture which linked Romanesque art with Early
Renaissance art.
• It was primarily a form of Christian art, and its main
form of expression was architecture exemplified greatly
by Gothic Cathedrals in Northern France.
• There were two main decorative styles namely
Rayonnant Gothic Architecture and Flamboyant Gothic
Architecture.
• Gothic art, being exclusively religious art, established
connection between religion and art, and contributed
significant influence to the growing power of the Church
in Rome.
MEDIEVAL MUSIC (c.500 to 1400)
➢ Fall of the Western Roman Empire to the beginning
of the Renaissance
➢ medieval music was both sacred and secular.
Monophonic Music
• Most of the compositions in medieval music consisted of a
single melody line, and was termed as monophonic
music.
• The development of polyphonic music shifted
towards the end of era of Renaissance music. Gregorian
Chants
• Given the importance of the Catholic Church, Mass
commemoration and celebration of The Last Supper
included liturgies which were spoken and sung, and
consists of single line of vocal melody, unaccompanied
in free rhythm.
• The chants were also based on a system of modes.
The Development of Polyphonic Music
• As medieval music progressed, composers began to
develop polyphonic styles.
• Organum, which explored a polyphonic texture, was
a crucial technique and consisted of2 lines of voices in
varying heterophonic textures.
• There are three main types of organum, namely,
Parallel Organum (one voice sings melody and other
sings at a fixed interval), Free Organum (two voices
move
in parallel motion/contrary motion), and Melismatic
Organum (accompanying part stays on a single note and
other part moves around above it).
Music Sheets
• The Catholic Church wanted to standardize church
songs across the western world, and so, a systematized
music notation was developed.
• Eventually, Neume was developed and which were
signs written above chants which indicate the direction
of movement of pitch.
Instruments in Medieval Music
• Instruments that were common in medieval period
were flutes, dulcimer, and lyra. • The period was also
characterized by travelling singers and performers
called troubadours and trouvères.
Module 6B
RENAISSANCE ART
The origins of Renaissance art can be traced to Italy in
the late 13th and early 14th centuries. During this so-
called “proto Renaissance” period (1280-1400), Italian
scholars and artists saw themselves as reawakening to
the ideals and achievements of classical Roman culture.
Writers such as Petrarch (1304-1374) and Giovanni
Boccaccio (1313-1375) looked back to ancient Greece
and Rome and sought to revive the languages, values,
and intellectual traditions of those cultures after the
long period of stagnation that had followed the fall of
the Roman Empire in the 6 th century. Scholars no longer
believe that the Renaissance marked an abrupt break
with medieval values, as is suggested by the French
word ‘renaissance’, literally “rebirth”. Rather, historical
sources suggest that interest in nature, humanistic
learning, and individualism were already present in the
late medieval period and became dominant in 15 th-and
16th century Italy concurrently with social and economic
changes such as the secularization of daily life, the rise
of a rational money-credit economy, and greatly
increased social mobility.
Florence in the Renaissance
Though the Catholic Church remained a major patron of
the arts during the Renaissance-from popes and other
prelates to convents, monasteries and other religious
organizations-works of art were increasingly
commissioned by civil government, courts and wealthy
individuals. Much of the art produced during the early
Renaissance were commissioned by the wealthy
merchant families of Florence, most notably the Medici.
High Renaissance Art (1490-1527)
By the end of the 15th century, Rome had displaced
Florence as the principal center of
Renaissance art, reaching a high point under the
powerful and ambitious Pope Leo X (a son of Lorenzo
de’ Medici). Three great masters- Leonardo da Vinci,
Michelangelo and Raphael-dominated the period
known as the high Renaissance, which lasted roughly
from the early 1490s until the sack of Rome by the
troops of the holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Spain in
1527. Leonardo (1452-1519) was the ultimate
“Renaissance man” for the breadth of his intellect,
interest and talent and his expression of humanist and
classical values. Leonardo’s best-known works, including
“Mona Lisa” (1503-05), “The virgin of the Rocks” (1485)
and the Fresco “The last supper” (1495-98), showcase
his unparalleled ability to portray light and shadow, as
well as the physical relationship between-humans,
animals and objects alike-and the landscape around
them.
Renaissance Art in Practice
The Italian Renaissance was noted for four things: (1) a
reverent revival of Classical Greek/Roman art forms and
styles (2) A faith inthe nobility of Man (humanism) ; (3)
The mastery of illusionistic painting techniques,
maximizing quadrature; and (4) The naturalistic realism
of its faces and figures, enhanced by oil painting
techniques like sfumato.
Humanist Art
The revived interest of the people in the study of
classical world gave birth to independence. Renaissance
Humanists saw no conflict between their study of the
Ancients and Christianity. The lack of perceived conflict
allowed Early Renaissance artists to combine classical
forms, classical themes, and Christian theology freely.
Early Renaissance sculpture is a great vehicle to explore
the emerging Renaissance style. The leading artists of
this medium were Donatello, Filippo Brunelleschi, and
Lorenzo Ghiberti. Donatello became renowned as the
greatest sculptor of the Early Renaissance, known
especially for his classical, and unusually erotic, statue
of David, which became one of the icons of the
Florentine republic.
Many works of Renaissance art depicted religious
images, including subjects such as the Virgin Mary, or
Madonna, and were encountered by contemporary
audiences of the period in the context of religious
rituals. Today, they are viewed as great works of art, but
at the time they were seen and used mostly as
devotional objects. Many Renaissance works were
painted as altarpieces for incorporation into rituals
associated with Catholic mass and donated by patrons
who sponsored the mass itself.
Donatello’s David
Mannerism
Early mannerism (1520-35) is known for its “anti-
classical” or “anti-Renaissance” style which then
developed into High Mannerism (1535-1580), a more
intricate, inward-looking, and intellectual style,
designed to appeal to more sophisticated patrons. Artist
would observe nature and try their best to emulate it
based on their observations. As a whole, Mannerist
painting tends to be more artificial and less naturalistic
than Renaissance painting. This exaggerated idiom is
typically associated with attributes such as
emotionalism, elongated human figures, strained poses,
unusual effects of scale, lighting or perspective, vivid
often garnish colors (Freedberg, 1993)
Theatrical Plays
There was also a revival of Roman theatrical plays.
These plays were performed during special occasions at
the courts of Italian princes. The plays were done in
such a way that showcased grand and lavish
entertainment for the audience. Aside from the song
and dance numbers, they invested in elaborate stages
and costumes for the actors. Eventually, this would lead
to Italy’s opera, which have greatly influenced their
tradition of popular theater.
RENAISSANCE MUSIC
The music of the period was significantly influenced by
the developments which define the early modern
period: the rise of humanistic thought; the recovery of
the literary and artistic heritage of ancient Greece and
Rome; increased innovation and discovery; the growth
of commercial enterprise; the rise of a bourgeois class;
and the Protestant Reformation. From this changing
society emerged a common, unifying musical language,
in particular the polyphonic style of the Franco-Flemish
school. Some of these changes includes the
development of genres like:
Motets
This is the development of a polyphonic work with four
or five voice parts singing one religious’ text. This vocal
composition has undergone numerous transformations
through many centuries. Typically, it is a Latin religious
choral composition, yet it can be a secular composition
or a work for soloist(s) and instrumental
accompaniment, in any language, with or without a
choir.
Masses
This is a form of sacred musical composition, a choral
music that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic
liturgy to music. Musical Masses take their name from
the Catholic liturgy called “the Mass".
Madrigals
A secular vocal music composition which is polyphonic
in texture. It is performed acapella, and the
number of voices varies from two to eight, but usually
features three to six voices.
Increasing Distribution of Secular Music
Secular music, which is independent from the church,
became more popular in this period. Since printing of
music sheets became available, much of the
compositions in this period were documented and
preserved.
Instrumental Music
Purely instrumental music included consort music for
recorder or viol and other instruments, and dances for
various ensembles. Common instrumental genres were
the toccata, prelude, ricercar, and canzona. Dances
played by Instrumental ensembles included the basse
danse, tourdion, saltarello, pavane, galliard, allemande,
courante, bransle, canarie, and lavolta. Music of many
genres could be arranged for a solo instrument such as
the lute, vihuela, harp, or keyboard. Such arrangements
were called in tabulations.