THE EARLY MEDIEVAL ART

• The migration period

o The animal style;-Scythian antecedents
o The art of Germanic peoples
o Viking art
o Hiberno- saxon art
• The Carolingian period
• The Ottonian period
 THE MIGRATION PERIOD

• As the name of the period ,the invasion of

roman territory by barbarian tribes were in
reality ,migration of ethnic groups seeking not
to overthrow the roman empire, for which
they had great admiration but to find a place
where they could peacefully settle.
 The animal style:-Scythian antecedents

• Animal style is a generic term for the

characteristic ornamentation of artifacts worn
and carried by nomadic peoples, who for
almost two millennia moved restlessly to and
fro across the vast open grasslands stretched
from china to western Europe.
 Pectoral with the
scene from Scythian
life
 The art of Germanic peoples

• The original art of Germanic peoples was abstract,

decorative, and geometric and ignored the world of
organic nature .it was confined to the decoration of
small, portable objects –weapons of items of personal
adornment such as bracelets ,pendants ,and belt
buckles .most characteristics ,perhaps ,and produced
in quantity by almost all tribes ,was the fibula, a
decorative object usually used to fasten garments.
• Horror vacui, animal style ,and abstraction are
characteristics
Frankish ornaments sixth
and seventh centuries
a, looped fibula
b, round fibula
 Sutton Hoo purse cover, from East
Anglia, England,
c. a.d. 630. Gold with
garnets and cloisonne enamel, originally on
ivory or bone (since lost), 8 in. (20.3 cm)
long. British Museum, London. In the
cloisonne
technique, liquid enamel of different
colors is poured into cloisons, compartments
formed by a network of thin
metal strips, to create surface decoration.
The top of the metal remains exposed.
 Viking art

• The word means pirate in the Norse language

• From the ninth to the eleventh
centuries ,destructively raided the Celtic and
Germanic settlements of Europe .once
Christianized ,the Vikings settled down and to
become Norseman (Norman), giving their
name to the part of France call Normandy
• Wood is an important medium in Viking art
Prow of the oseberg ship
Animal head post from
the oseberg ship burial
Wood carved ornament (porch of stave church)
 Hiberno- saxon art

• Two centuries of Vikings incursion into Celtic

Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England mingled
artistic forms and motifs .
• The Celts of Ireland ,converted to Christianity
in the fifth century B.C. developed a form of
monastic organization that preserved and
cultivated literature, learning, philosophy, and
the decorative and useful arts.
Taraa brooch Ireland c,700
 Manuscript illumination
• With the Christianization of barbarian
peoples ,liturgical books became important
vehicle of miniature art and a principal
medium for the exchange of stylistic ideas
between northern and Mediterranean world.
11.6 Lion Symbol of Saint John, from
the Book of Durrow, fol. 191v, after a.d.
650. Illuminated manuscript, 9 5⁄8 × 5.
in. (24.5 × 14.5 cm). Library of Trinity
College, Dublin, Ireland. This
manuscript originally came from either
Ireland or Northumbria in England. The
folio represents Saint John the
Evangelist as a lion surrounded by a
rectangular border filled with interlace.
Later, Saint John’s symbol was changed
to an eagle.
11.7 (Opposite) Tunc
Crucifixerant XPI, from the
Book of Kells, fol. 124r, late
8th or early 9th century.
lluminated manuscript, 9. × 13
in. (24 × 33 cm). Library of
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
This is a page from the Gospel
of Matthew (27:38). The
scribe has written, “Tunc
rucifixerant XPI cum eo duo
latrones” (“Then they
crucified Christ and, with him,
two thieves”).
 THE CAROLINGIAN PERIOD

• Charlemagne crowned by pope in Rome in 800

as the head of the holy roman empire. He was
a sincere admire of learning and art .to make
his empire as splendid as that of
Constantine ,he invites fines t craftsmen of
west Europe and byzantine east .
St. Matthew from
the eboo gospels
800-810
St. Matthew from the
coronation of gospel
800-810
 THE OTTONIAN PERIOD

• Carolingian empire is partitioned by his three

grand sons, Charles the bald, lothair, and louis
the German.
• Ottonian art was produced for the court and
for the greater monasteries-for learned
princes ,abbots, and bishops –and thus
appealed to an aristocratic audience
The annunciation of the
sheperds 1000-1014