Art History for Chapter 8:
The Medieval Mêlée: The High and Later Middle Ages, 1000 to 1500
As Europe settled down under strong kings after the end of the tenth century, artistic production likewise began to pick up. Artists revived along with the creation of Western Civilization, although most of them remain anonymous. Perhaps society viewed them as simple craftsmen rather than creative talents, and so unworthy of being remembered. There were also certainly female artists, especially by nuns illustrating manuscripts in their nunneries, leading some art historians to suggest that “anonymous” is a woman.
Two basic styles arose in this period. Historians call the first “Romanesque” because of its use of the rounded Roman arch. For the next style, Later Renaissance critics used the name “Gothic” as an insult, associating it with the barbarians who destroyed the classical civilization they so admired (see below).
Painting/Graphic Arts
With the large wall spaces provided by the Romanesque churches, frescoes often decorated the walls. Painters used tempora paints (pigment mixed with egg), that dried quickly, leaving little time for revision. Themes were, of course, drawn from the Bible and lives of saints.
All medieval books were hand-made craftworks. They were written and decorated by hand on vellum (calfskin) or parchment (lambskin). Their expense made them accessible only to the few and learned. Since so few scrolls from classical antiquity survive, it is hard to know if they had many illustrations. Medieval books, though, became highly decorated. Illustrations in medieval books are called illuminations or miniatures (not because they were small, but were done with red ink=minium). Medieval scribes, usually monks and nuns, added designs, patterns, and pictures, rather than leaving the words speak for themselves. They did not have a great interest in portraying realistic and naturalistic anatomical accuracy. Instead, symbols for a story or a moral were more important.
One unique graphic work is the Bayeux Tapestry, which is actually a work of embroidery. It illustrates the Norman Conquest of England in a series of successive illustrations, similar to the ancient Trajan's column or a modern comic strip. (For some other versions see here, here, and here).
Religious painting and sculpture often focused on altar panels, painted in vibrant colors. In the later Gothic, natural forms became more twisted and expressive of the pain of suffering saints.
Painting and Sculpture
Later Renaissance artists began to describe the artistic style which immediately preceded them after the barbarians who destroyed the Roman Empire. For the people who followed the Gothic style, it was often called "the French Style" from its place of origin) or the Modern style.
Architecture
The obvious innovation in building was the use of the pointed or "Gothic" arch. Its design allowed the stress of weight to be guided downward along the arc into columns.. Combined with flying buttresses and webbed vaulting, pointed arches allowed for taller buildings and thinner walls, with the space between pillars often filled with stained glass.
