Sep.

26th
Momentum Mori, mid 1st c.BCE, Archaeology Museum of Naples
- Hanged in the dining room as a daily reminder of living for the day
- You can’t take either wealth or poverty to after life

Reliquary of Sainte-Foy, 5th c.head 9-14th c. Conques, France

- Other-worldliness
- About death and presence, ability to reach celestial place if you pray to her

“Tale of the Three Living and the Three Dead”, Psalter and Hours of Bonne of Luxembourg, Paris,
before 1349 diptych
- Momentum Mori, book of anecdotes
- Memory that we’re all gonna die, life is precious

 The Middle Ages (c.250-c.1450)

- What does medieval mean?
Between the high points of beauty, art and culture (classical -the Renaissance and early
modernism)
- “Fantasy land”
- Periods and Cultures of the Middle Ages
1) Early Christian: 250-450
2) Byzantine
Early Byzantine: c.300-800
Iconoclasm: c.700-843
Middle Byzantine: c.843-1204
3) Islamic Spain
Umayyad: c.650-750
Abbasid(Early Period): c.750-1200
Stage of Toledo: 1085
4) Early Medieval
Insular: c.450-650
Carolingian: c.750-900
Ottonian: c.900-100
5) High Medieval
Romanesque: c.1000-1150
Norman: c.1066-1170
Gothic: c.1140-1300
Late Gothic: c.1300-1450
- Place: the Roman Empire, around the sea (travel route)

 Themes
- What causes artistic change?
- The debate about style (naturalism v.s. abstraction)
- Art and power
 - Art and historical consciousness
- Art and (personal and cultural) identity
- The cultures of production (art and technology, patrons, makers, materials, methods)

Oct 1st

 Medieval Art and Christian Art

 Early Christian Art (c.250-450)
- Christianity is the metamorphism of the Roman Empire, dominating and persisting
throughout the Middle Ages
- The Spread of Christianity (monotheistic, one god)
o Developed in mid 1st century from Jerusalem, gradually spread in the
Mediterranean world
o Spread to modern-day Ethiopia & Armenia & Early Persian Empire & China Tang
Dynasty & Mongol Empire
o Why is Christianity popular: The idea of Salvation through believing God (much
easier than other religions)
o Christianity was not legal because they did not acknowledge the divinity of the
Roman Emperor; practiced underground, Christians were occasionally persecuted
- Qualities of Early Christian Art:
1. SIGNATIVE: intended to serve as signs (designative)
2. ALLUSIVE: interpretation depended upon a context of allusions shared by maker and
viewer; meaning revealed itself to those who knew how to look for/find the answer
3. SYNCRETIC: a form or belief assimilated from one cultural system in another; a form
or belief that operates in at least two different culture systems

- Signative: ICTHYS=FISH in Greek=acronym for “Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter”=Jesus

Christ, God’s son, Savior
- Allusive: Jesus’s followers are fisherman; fish symbol for tombs; a big symbolism in
Christianity—a sign for Christians to recognize each other
- Iconography: the standard depiction of a specific subject matter, usually based on a
specific text and the study of how this visual depiction changes (or not) over time
- Catacombs: where Christians are buried (outside of Rome), developed by wealthy land
owners

Catacomb of Callixtus
- Plan and gallery with loculus/loculi and cubiculum/cubiculi (private rooms)
- Portraits set in a mortar or closing plaster of a loculus
- Epitaph: tomb inscription, some portrayal of the image of heaven – shepherd and the
dove (holy spirit)

Ram Bearer “criophorus”

- Sacrifice
- Philanthropy
 - Loving care

Christ as the Good Shepherd, the Jonan Marbles, 3rd c. CE

- The Jonah sculptures (280-90 CE)
- The sea monster, reference to the Old Testament

Cubiculum, Catacomb of SS. Peter and Marcellinus, Rome

The Good Shepherd

- The cross
- Jonah and the sea monster
- Orants (praying figures)
- Roman arches and circles

Eucharistic Banquet, Catacomb of Callixtus

- Precursor of the iconography of Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, 1495

- Tituli: house churches, the earliest “purpose-built” churches

 Emperor Constantine (reigned 313-337): legalized Christianity in 313

- Regular persecutions of Christians occurred from 64-250 CE, under the emperors Nero,
Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus, Aurelius…
- 312, Battle of the Milvian Bridge: Constantine conquers Maxentius, united Rome as one
Empire, and envisioned the sign the XP (Chi Rho) which helped him to win the war
Angels holding the Chi-Rho (Christos)
- 313, the Edict of Milan: allows Christians to practice their religion with the Bishop of
Milan (was not the state religion but Christians were not persecuted)

- Acrolyth colossus
- Acrolyth: sculptures that use a lot of different materials (marble, metal, etc)

Arch of Constantine, c. 312-15

- 3 rounded arches as entrees, divided by columns on parietals, edict space
- The last major Roman monumental object
- Political statement for Constantine’s triumphs
- Spolia: the reuse of building materials or decorative sculpture in a new monument (from
Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius)

Oct 3rd
Discussion

 Liminality: relates to the dynamic of transition and transformation

 Syncretism: merging or combining of ideals into something new; merging or assimilation
of several discrete cultures and traditions
  Spolia: repurposed material (stone, marble, ivory) for new construction or used as
decorative sculpture

1. What is the subject matter and issue or question? What is it about that object or subject
that requires study?
2. Thesis?
3. What are some points to prove the thesis?
4. What types of evidence? (written documents, material evidence)
5. What are any larger ideas? Relate to the contemporary society?

Section Reading:
Location of the Arch of Constantine

- In the orient of the “Via Triumphalis” (route of the triumphal procession”) but slightly
north
- Shifted 2 meters to the east while still orienting with the road to hide the view of Meta
Sudans (fountain by Flavians)
- The 2-meter shift meant the arch’s central passageway framed a different ancient
monument in the Colosseum Valley: the colossal bronze statue of the sun god Sol
(important to the triumphal ritual)

The Colossus from the First to the Fourth Centuries

- The Colossus of Sol: initially on Velian Hill, Hadrian ,over it to an elevated grassy island in
the piazza
- Made to match the proportions of the Colossus of Rhodes (also dedicated to the sun
god)
- The colossus initially represented Nero — “Nero-in-the-guise-of-Sol” or “Sol-with-the-
portrait-features-of-Nero”
- Irresistible to the self-aggrandizing of Rome’s later emperors: Commodus replaced the
head and added attributes of Hercules, his patron deity; Maxentius installed panels
rededicating the monument to his son; Constantine removed these panels and installed
his triumphal arch directly in front of it
- Alterations to Maxentius’ basilica: narrow, non rectilinear interstice between it and the
Temple of Venus and Roma — can be approached from the bustling Via Sacra, ascend a
monumental staircase, and pass through a grand propylon into a long, apsidal space

 Thesis: Constantine does not only relate to Christianity but also to Sol, which can be seen
from the entire spatial configuration in the Colosseum Valley
 Location: you can see Sol from the central arch – Constantine cares about Sol and wants to
be associated with Sol and other monuments
 Evidence: geographical evidence, viewshed analysis, Numismatics (coins)

Lecture
 Two spoliated pieces on the Arch of Constantine about the same subject matter:
 1. Constantine Distributing Largesse
- Composition: Constantine more highly carved and centered, horizontal pattern; more
packed in
- Depth and illusionism: plainer, more flat
- Proportions: stumpy and compact, less elongated
- Scale: hierarchy scale, showing Constantine as the largest
- Drapery: more like inscribed lines, less dimensionality

2. Marcus Aurelius Distributing Largesse

- Composition: two vertical levels, more naturalistic; more spaced out
- Depth and illusionism: greater sense of foreground and background
- Proportions: life-sized
- Drapery: more like fabric

 Reasons of the difference

- Effort to make stylistic distinction, different statement
 - Tweaking naturalism to create new ideals of power and hierarchy; abstraction is a sign of
distinctiveness and otherworldliness

Church of St. Peters

- The old St. Peters was the first Constantinian Church which was built 15-16th century in
the Renaissance.
- Plan of St. Peter’s Basilica
- Roman necropolis below St. Peter’s 130-300 CE
- Martyrium: church with a martyr inside; trophy of Saint Peter

1. Nave
2. Aisles
3. Apse
4. Transept
5. Narthex: a liminal space
6. Atrium

- Axial design: Built on one axis, drives people forward to the end point (apse) is
highlighted (hieratic space); goes from a less sacred space to a more sacred space as a
“rite of passage”
- Apse with altar and ciborium over the tomb of Peter; conch showing Christ with Peter
and Paul
- Bernini’s 1633 baldacchino in St Peters’ today – alludes to columns that tells stories of
Saint Peter

- Elevation (transverse section)

1. Colonnade/arcade
2. Gallery
3. Entablature
 4. Clerestory (upper windows)
5. Timber roof

Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Rome, c. 310

- General administrative center, originally a public architecture that is very utilitarian
- aedicula: space saved for sacred images

Santa Sabina, Rome, 422-32

- Corinthian capitals: opus sectile chalice (holding the wine) and paten (holding the
bread); mythical
- Spandrel
- Made of brick, simple structure, round arches, unadorned
- Neoplatonism: the world is a copy of an ideal image that exist beyond the real world;
“beyond”; interior soul

Santa Costanza
- Apse conch, Treditio Legis (the transmission of the law, when Christ hands the law to
Saint Peter), 5th or 7th century.
- Central plan (round, circular): symbol of infinity, no beginning and no end, eternity
- Ceiling of plants and flowers and peacocks: prosperity, paradise
- Tessera/tersserae: tiny pieces of stone, mosaic

Oct 8th
Early Christian to Byzantine Art
 Early Christian Art (c.250-450)
 Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, Rome, c.359 (Vatican Treasury)
- Junius Bassus: Rare Christian converts of the time; prefect/mayor of Rome, managed the
city
- Discovered under St. Peters, very close to the trophy of Peter – “holy presence”
- Inscription in Latin: he’s a newly baptized Christian, has high social status
- 8 ft* 6ft*5ft (large), white marble, sculpted in high relief
- Front has 10 scenes divided by architectural settings (columns, arches): Christian
iconography
o 1: Old Testament and New Testament scene: sacrifice of Issacs
o 2: Arrest of Saint Peter
o 3: Christ in throne next to Peter and Paul; traditio legis- Christ handing the law to
Peter, imperial representation; Christ’s rule over paganism
o 4:
o 5: Arrest of Christ before crucifixion
o 6: (Old testament) Joe forced to sit on a dumbhill
o 7: Adam and Eve
o 8: (New Testament) Christ entering Jerusalem
o 9: (Old Testament) Daniel throw to lions
 o 10: Arrest of Paul
o No crucifixion presented, present Christ’s victorious nature; obedience

- sides have carvings of four seasons

 Porphyry sarcophagus of Constatina (eldest daughter of the second wife of Constatine),

d. 359 (Museo Pio-Clementino in the Vatican City)
- Imperial sarcophagus
- Porphyry: very hard stone, hard to carve, purple (imperial color)
- Putti: display grapes, activities related to the harvest
- Set in Santa Costanza, Mausoleum of Constantina

 Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, begun 325-dedicated 335, heavily damaged/destroyed in

1009
- Built to commemorate
- Tomb of Bethany
- Crucified at Golgotha, buried at Calvary
- Constantine

 Byzantine Empire: 330 Constantine moved the capital from Roma to Byzantium, a nova
Roma: Constantinople (moved from west to east); afterlife of Roman Empire
 Early Byzantine Art (c.300-800)
- 379-95 Theodosios I: last emperor to rule over both east and west halves of Roman
Empire
- 380 Christianity established as the imperial state religion
- 391 Pagan religious outlawed
- 395 Empire divides into East and West
o Arcadius: son, eastern emperor 395-411; east continues as Byzantine Empire
until 1453
o West – multiple sacks of Rome by “barbarians”
410 Alaric the Visigoth
455 Vandals plunder city of Rome
476 Odoacer deposed the Western emperor, became ruler of Italy from Ravana
o Honorius: son, western emperor 395-423
o Galla Placidia: daughter, regent of western emperor from 425
 Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, c. 425 Ravenna
- Centrally planed building instead of axial basilica shaped
- Saint Lawrence or Saint Vincent of Saragossa, lunette mosaic and barrel vault; above
eyesight
- The good Shepherd, lunette mosaic and barrel vault
- The dome: symbolic images of Christ, crucifix, qualities as heavenly beings (Matthew-
angel, Mark-lion, Luke-ox, John-eagle)
  Byzantine Emperor under Justinian 527-565
 Justinian as the Conqueror Leaf of an imperial plaque, “Barberini Ivory”
- Horse twisted and squeezed to fit in the space, bursting out of the high relief – power
- Maximum amount of image in a small amount of space
- Hierarchic scale (disproportion) shows Justinian more important than the others
- Remanence of the Roman world: horse, personified earth with fruit, winged victory
presenting a crown
- Persian figure behind him
- Christ blessing Justinian; Christ is in between and above all thing
- The emperor is not God; the emperor thanks the blessing of the God, protected by God
above him
- Barbarians begging below Justinian, personification of Justianian’s world (Africa, Spain,
Sicily)

 Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (532-537 CE), patronized by Justinian

- Architects: Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus
- 270 ft long, 240 ft wide, 180 ft tall (highest building in the Middle Ages) covered Roman
forum
- eternal time zone
- Dome: light from above shines to the center, dome of heaven; puts emphasis on the
center
- Circle-in-square building with dome in the center
- Piers joined by arches, creating a square space; pendentive comes between two arches,
curve out to create round space for dome
- Procopius, early 6th century
- “book out” framed marbles reflecting earth-bound things (earth-tone colors)

 Mount Sinai, Monastery of St. Catherine, c. 550-565

 The Transfiguration, Apse conch, Mount Sinai
- Christ appears to his apostles as golden beams of light
- Mandorla
- Bearded Christ: Artemision bronze (Zeus?)
- Base of conch: Old/New Testament prophets; David/allusion of Justinian?

 Icon: image-representation; wood panel with a saint on it

 San Vitale, Ravenna.

- Emperor Justinian and his attendants: chi-rho
- Empress Theodora and her attendants, south wall of the apse

Section Reading:
Location of the Arch of Constantine
  Relic: bodily remains of a holy person or object associated with a sacred site; they
receive healing through touching relic
 Reliquary: a container that stores/displays relics
 Icon: a sacred image representing Christ, the Virgin, or the saints
 In Byzantine theology, the contemplation of icons allowed the beholder to directly
communicate with holy persons through divine intercession (prayers).

Oct 15th
Period of Migrations (c. 400-800)
- Huns move people over
- “barbarians”

 Bronze mirror. Celtic. 1st century BC, Laten civilization, Iron Age
- Had an oral culture before having contact with the Roman
- Not based on naturalism
- Niello: black outlines of metal alloy decorated onto the bronze; sophisticated techniques
- Pelta / ae(crescents): crescents
- Trumpets: shape like trumpet
- S-curves
- Celtic knot: spiral movements

 Barrow: man-made mounts

- Barrel chamber with no bodies

 Gold Belt Buckle from Sutton Hoo, Insular Art, c. 450-650

- Niello, zoomorphic interlace
- Had access to a lot of gold
- Interlace: Technique of interwoven lines; animal figures (zoomorphic)

 Shoulder Clasps from Sutton Hoo

- Cut wires to form patterns
- Visual culture different from the Roman, Anglo-Saxon
- Pigs facing each other

 Insular: from the islands

Oct 17th
 Enter: Roman Christianity
- Prior to 400: few small Christian communities in England
1. Monasteries
- Eremitic monasticism: hermit monks/hermitages
- Cenobitic monasticism: communal
- 529, Rule of Saint Benedict establishes Benedictine Monasticism (Italy)
- Monasteries, called abbeys, are run by an abbot
2. Missionary conversions:
Saint Patrick, late 4th century, converts Ireland (Saint-Patrick’s Day, March 17) – first bishop
of Ireland

- 595: Pope Gregory the Great sends Augustine and 40 monks to convert Angles/Saxons in
England

 Skellig Michael
- Chlochans
- Insular, isolated monetary, c. 450-650 for literacy learning and book copying

 Book of Durrow, Gospel of St. Matthew, Insular Art, c.450-650 [660-680]

- St Matthew
- Made by monks at monastery at Durrow (founded by St. Columba who converted Irish
people to Christianity)
- Gospel book: New Testament of the Christian Bible; folio (page) 21 verso (back page)
- Flattened out, no sense of body, interlace frame
- Sign of humility
- Blonde: people in those regions are often blonde (use artificial means to maintain the
color with limewash)

 Book of Durrow, Carpet Page, fo.1v (verso)

- Size: 10 x 5 inches
- Interlace, circular patterns, change colors
- Smaller rectangles
- Double cross: Refers to Christ’s double nature: as human as and as divine; eight squares
refers to resurrection happened on the 8th day
- Laborious process to make it: no electric light, cold conditions, no glasses

Folio 3v
- Carpet page before Gospel of Matthew
- Parchment
- Horror vacui
- Celtic knots, triquetra:

 Gospel of Saint John

- Zoomorphic interlace, snake-resurrection (shed their skins)
- Colophon: information about the production of a manuscript, placed at its end
- Made of parchment (animal skin)

 Author portrait of St. Luke, Gospels of St. Augustine, c.597, Italy

- Columns
- Hieratic scale
- Tituli
 - Ox, symbol of Saint Luke

 Ezra Restoring the Sacred Scriptures, the codex amiatinus, Wearmouth-Jarrow, fol. 5r
- Author portrait, halo
- A lot of contact with books

 Lindisfarne Gospels – Matthew writing his gospel

- Sitting in an author portrait position
- Carpet page (cross), merging background and foreground, interlace, geometric
- Chi-Rho Iota Page
- In honor of Saint Cathberg
- Attributed to only one artist/scribe, named Eadfrith
- Made of vellum: cat skin (expensive to make), 90 colors based on 6 minerals

Oct 22nd
 The Book of Kells, fol. 34r, c. 800, vellum
- Probably made in Scotland, Iota
- 340 pages (front + back)
- Chi Rho taking over the entire page; emphasis on Chi, uniting heaven and earth with the
cross, the beginning of the name Christ
- Animals + symbolic additions
- Historiated initial: full of images that give the initial a greater meaning (otter and fish,
symbol of Christ; cat and mouse)

 Saint Denis: 3rd c. “Apostle of France”

- Cephalophore: a saint who has his head cut off; he picks up his head and walks to his
resting place
- Martyrdom of Saint Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius
- Dagobert’s church, early 7th c.

 Tomb of Queen Arnegonde, c. 580-90

- Wearing robe of violent color, approximately 70 years old
- Wore ring with her name inscribed
- Fibula of rosmeer, 6th-7th c.: resonances, interlace, parallels between the metal work in
Sutton Hoo, resemblances but also cultural distinctions
- Merovingian, Gelasian Sacramentary, 8th c. : cross, fish

 San Pedro de la Nave, Zanora, Spain; Visigothic, 680-710, Ashlar stone

- Cross-shaped, smaller rooms, aisles, transept more central
- The diameter of the circle is elevated - horseshoe arch
- Historiated capitals: no reference to Roman forms, calligraphic, integrated painting and
metalwork
- Inhabited foliated capital, rinceau pattern (with animals)
  Crown of Recceswinth, Treasure of Guarrazar, 7th c. “King Recesswinth offered this”
- Related to Byzantium goldwork – long-lasting relationships although trade was reduced
- Smaller and more localized

Oct 24th
 Mozarab, Mozarabi: Christians who live in lands controlled by Spanish Muslims, did not
just passively adopt an Islamic style
 Influence: the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of
someone or something, or the effect itself. It suggests exertion or action by a donor or
originator, “influence” implies that a group which is creating a new art, and searching for
models outside its own tradition, receives artistic stimulus passive
 Appropriate: allows for human agency

Europe of the Early Middle Ages

Early Medieval (“The Dark Ages”)
- Insular (450-600)

Islamic World
- The Qu’ran: a series of revelations given directly from God to Muhmmad, Angel Gabriel
- The same angel who comes to Muhmmad and Christian
- Islamic monotheistic practice & Christian trinity ; see Christ not as the son of god
- Spread quickly
Caliphates and the Artistic periods
- Rashidun: 632-661, directly succeeded Mohammed
- Umayyad: 661-750 based in Damascus, Syria – survivors go to spain
- Abbasid: 750-1258, capital in Baghdad, Iraq

 The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, Israel. Began 691 (Umayyad)

- Earliest remaining great monument of Islam
- Proto-architecture, experimental piece (not a mosque)
- Made by El Malik as a religious focal point for his followers, tension point (why people
fight over Jerusalem)
- The location where Adam and Eve was created and where Abraham sacrifices Issacs
- The foundation stone for the 1st and 2nd temples in Judaism, later a Roman temple was
built over it
- Mohammed met Christ, witnessed paradise and hell, saw God, and ascended
- Centrally planned, octagon, double aisles, dome (typical of Byzantium and mausoleum)
- Bookcut marbles – reminding Hagia Sophia
- Characterized by aniconism (no human or animal figures, completely foliate or
geometric) based on the accepted practice that the depiction of living being constitute a
challenge to God as the sole creator of life
- Collective: draw from different cultures that intermingle
- Kufic script – oldest calligraphic form, writing Qu’ran
  Church of Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, Anastasis Rotunda, present day Site of Christ’s
Resurrection
- Circular shape, centrally planned

 Blue Qu’ran. Late 9th early 10th c., Abbasid or Fatimid Caliphate (Cordoba or Tunisia)
- Calligraphy of God’s words, Kufic, Arabic
- Written in gold and decorated with silver on velum, imperial color background (indigo
and purple)

 Bowl with Kufic inscription, 10th c. “Peace is that which is silent and the inner thoughts of
the man with faults will only be revealed through his speech”
- Appreciated in Europe

 Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain, Umayyad, c.660-800

- Garden enclosed; minaret that ring bells and call people to services
- Cathedral built within the mosque
- Abd al-Rahman I first built it
- Hypostyle hall: rectangle, big empty space, aisles with columns; doesn’t have a linear
axiality (very democratic, not hieratic) allows collective prayer
- Stands on a Roman temple that converted to a church and then a mosque, incorporated
Roman, Visigoth, and Islamic art
- Mason’s marks: Arabic names of the buildings
- Mihrab and Qibla wall: points in the direction of Mecca (direction Muslims pray to)
- Horseshoe arch
- Not using pendentives, used interlocked arches to create geometrically based domes

Byzantium Iconoclasm 726-780, 814-842

- Icons were destroyed and replaced with aniconic images & symbols
- Hagia Irene, Church of Holy Peace, Constantinople, begun 532 Byzantine
- Reasons:
1. Reconfiguring the relationship of church and state
2. Unresolved theological matters concerning the nature of Christ (human/divine),
clarify
3. External pressures (aniconic pressure from Islam, rise of Carolingians)
- First Iconoclasm:
726: Emperor Leo III ordered image on entrance of palace to be destroyed
787: ecumenical counsil Nicaea II ends iconoclasm
- Second Iconoclasm
815: Patriarch John the Grammarian spoke out against image; ban of icons reinstated,
new period of iconoclasm begins
843: “Triumph of Orthodoxy”. Empress Theodora and minor son lift the ban on icons,
end of iconoclasm.
Hagia Sophia Iconoclasm
 - Christ is both human and divine: smaller than Mary; gold clothes and halo; duo nature;
sitting on a throne

800-Pope Leo III Crowns Charlemagne “Holy Roman Emperor”

 Charlemagne
- Renovatio: renewal, renovation, restoration; to improve on classical antiquity
- Standardized Roman practices
- Aachen: royal court, renovate Roman administration

 Equestrian Monument to Marcus Aurelius, 161-190, Rome

 Charlemagne
- Similarities:
- Differences:
o Marcus Aurelius: muscular horse; monumental, larger than life, symbolic
o Charlemagne: plastic flab, softness; holding a ball that symbolizes the globe of
the world; no outlook of obvious Christianity; hanging legs; 24 cm (small)

 Charlemagne’s Court School

1. Theodulf of Orleans-Libri Carolini
2. Alcuin of York
- Initiated the seven liberal arts
o Trivium: grammar, rhetoric, logic
o Quadrivium: math, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy
- Developed Caroline miniscule script
- “Turba Scriptorium”
o Court school, Aachen
o Reims school
o Tours school

 Coronation Gospels (Court School of Aachen), beginning of Gospel of John, Vienna,

Kunsthistorisches Museum
- When Charlemagne became the royal Roman emperor
- Philosopher-type facial expression – Greek/Byzantine painted?
- Large halo
- Confusion
 Ebbo Gospels Saint John
- Expressive, show John’s energy, inspiration to write the gospel
- Reims school book painting
 Utrecht Psalter, Psalm 23 (Reim School-Hautvilliers), Carolingian
- Psalter: book of 150 psalms (songs/poems/hymns) many written by Old Testament king
David
- Recited weekly, divided by 7 days and 6 times a day
 - Prototypical approach to artistic drawing
 Genesis (Creation to Expulsion), Moutiers-Grandval Bible, Tour School, Carolingian Art
- Continuous narrative
- Larger compared to others
- 449 folios
- Not interest of illusionism; not realistic

 Royal Hall and Palace Chapel of Charlemagne, Aachen, 9th century.

- Chapel, royal reception hall, linked by a double-level gallery
- Goes back to Roman palace in Constantinople
- Palatine Chapel: centrally planned circulated by octagon, apse at the end, atrium in
front, double shelled
- Dome + upper gallery
- Inscription: reproduction of the heavenly Jerusalem (specific size=144, biblical
association) – architectural iconography bibliography
- Coronation church, where gospel was found, Charlemagne was buried
- West entrance: architectural implantation of tower - west work
- Display of wealth
- Inside: decorated, mosaic, large opus sectile, showing thick piers
- Throne of zhrlemagne

Oct. 31st
 Aniconism: the absence of opposition to artistic depictions of religious figures, like icons,
which required that extant images be rendered powerless
 Idolatry: the admiration and worships of idols
 Iconoclasm: image breaking, the destruction of images and broadly to the suppression of
or opposition to images
 Iconoclast: those who break images
 Iconomachy: the struggle between iconoclasts, those oppose and break images, and
iconodules
 Iconodule: advocate for images, defend images

 843
Treaty of Verdun (Charlamagne’s grandchildren)
- West Francia becomes France
- East Francia becomes Germany
- Middle France or “Lotharingia” in 900 becomes Duchy of Lorraine in North, Duchy of
Lombardy in South

 The Ottonians, 900-1000

- Otto I 926-973: Duke of Saxony, crowned Holy Roman emperor in 962
- Otto II 973-983: marries Byzantine Theophanu (niece of the Byzantien emperor)
- Otto III 983-1002: educated by Bernward of Hildeshein
- Henry II 1002-1024

 Ottonian Art
1. Objects of Otto III
2. An important Bishop’s Contributions: Bernward

- Typical features:
1. High point in representation of imperial power
2. Changes in depictions of the Crucifix
3. Further contributions to and transformations of the basilica
4. Materials: settling down iconoclasm controversy
5. Rise of expressionism

 Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Emperors, Ottonian, 900-100 (962, cross added in
11th c., arch added after 1027, red velvet cap added in 18th c.) now in Vienna
- Emphasis on materiality
- Pearls=purity
- “Through me, King’s reign” statement on crown – linked to Christ; aligning the emperor
of Christ and King David

 Gospel Book of Otto III, front cover, with Byzantine ivory

- Want to establish close relationship with Byzantine
- Emperor appointing popes
- Ascension of Mary to heaven – Mary is a more important figure in church
- Associate his rule with Mary’s rule – “Let every man rejoice in Otto’s reign”
- Hierarchical scale
- Personifications of empires bearing gifts to Otto
- Dynamic of female grace and male solemnity
- United by color washed backgrounds
- No one above Otto – different from Christ being above Justinian

 Lothair Cross made on Cologne, 50cm x 35cm x 2.3cm

- Crux gemmata
- Inscribed with the three graces
  XPE ADIVVA HLOTARIUM REGEM, Christ help King Lothair
- Church and state are represented on the two sides, suitable for imperial donation (jewel
in front, image of Christ in the back)

 Gero Crucifix, Cologne Cathedral, c. 970, Ottonian Art

- Large scale sculpture
- Expressionism
- Noble and serene facial expression of Christ

 Bernward of Hildesheim
- Tutor and advisor to Otto III
- Appointed Bishop of Hildesheim in 993 by Otto
- Founds abbey/monastery/and builds church of St. Michael in 996
- Very involved in it

 Abbey Church of Saint Michael, Hildesheim (Germany), Ottonian

- Altars in the east side
- Second transept – westwork double floored
- Square schematism: square modules used for plan
- Saxon alternation: column, column, pier

Nov. 5th
 Bronze Doors of Bishop Bernward, St. Michael’s, Hildesheim
- Continuous narrative
- Left: old testament, creation of Cain and Abel
- Right: new testament, Nativity to Resurrection
- Based on book model: Genesis in Moutiers-Grandval Bible
- Top: Genesis – creation of Eve ➡️when Cain kills Abel; down to the depth of hell/human
deprivity
- Bottom: enunciation, ascension of Christ, crucifixion; bringing back up to a state of grace
- Eve is accentuated
- The temptation/the fall: Eve holding apple by her breasts (sexual charge) emphasize
Eve’s negative impact
- Parallels and pairings: the temptation + crucifixion : repair negative with positive
- Flabellum, Saint-Michaels Hildesheim
- Cross of Bernward

 High Middle Ages

 Feudalism: social organization coming from the decentralization of empires; a lord ruling
a certain amount of land, society is based on lord and their land
- Hierarchical social system
- Lord: a church person/a lay person/head of abbey or monastery/head of military; may
have more land than the king
- Knighthood – someone who have a horse
- Year 1000: millennial fears
- Apocalypse: revelation

 The Bible
 The old testament: pre-Christ
 New Testament
- The Gospels: four books, written by evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
- The acts of Apostles: historical books
- Pauline Epistles: letters by Paul the Apostle
- General Epistles: written by other Apostles.
- Revelation: a vision from God on the Greek island of Patmos, written by John around 96
CE

 Munnio, Dominico, Petrus, “Christ Appearing in the Clouds”, Commentary on the

Apocalypse by Beatus of Liebana; Romanesque Spain, c. 1000-1150
- Book of revelation, 1:7-10
- Local color: flat color, no modulation
- Isocephaly: heads of the people are all lined up, not naturalistic, divine vision
- Copied at different monasteries (same subject matter)

 Private fights between lords

 Pilgrimage: a journey of moral or spiritual significance, typically to a significant holy site

in one’s religion. Can be physical and metaphorical journeys.

Nov. 8th
 Romanesque Churches, c.1000-1150 (stylistic) – Roman-like, derivative
1. The Benedictine Abbey of Cluny – Abbey Church of Saint-Peter
- Created a separation between church and state (don’t want the emperor to appoint
bishop and popes)
- Secular arm of government, make the role of the pope much stronger
- Church reform – more structured
- Only answer to the pope, not bishops
- 1080: the third abbey church, 300 yards long, dedicated to Saint Peter – liken to Saint
Peter in Rome
- Represented power and wealth and was thus destroyed in the French Revolution
- Church within a monastary (does not necessary have an abbot)
- Plan:
-
- Cloister: joins dormitory to the church and chapter house (meeting house), square
covered doorway, garden and a well to represent paradise, active and lively part
- Hostel: accept travelers or sick people
- Capitals: Personification of water, four rivers of paradise; cycle of the year,
personification of spring as a woman; personified music
2. Pilgrimage: rite of passage to cartharsis
- Satiago de Compostela
o The Pilgrim’s Code (Codex Calixtinus) four routes of pilgrimage
- Moisssac
- Conques

- Pilgrim’s badges, scallop shell

 Shrine of Saint James, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

- Apostle of Christ, brother of John, converted to people in Spain and returned to the Holy
Land and was murdered then
- Burial site was forgotten for 800 years until directed by a star and was discovered

 Diego Gelmfrez, Master Esteban (architect), Church of Saint James, Santiago de

Compostela, Spain
- Round arches (Roman-like) barrel vault (different from Byzantine with timber roofs) to
symbolize heaven and is safer because it doesn’t burn
- Wall elevations: nave arcade, gallery (lift the vault up), bay unit marked by tranverse
arches
- Squinch not pendentive
-
- Radiating chapel: altar in each chapel
 Abbey Church of Ste. Foy, Conques, France
- Sculpted Portals: church is no longer about inner being (Neoplatonic) but is defined by
the physical church
- Tympanum: a fully sculpted “The last judgment”:

- Weighing of the souls below Christ: an angel and the devil with a scale
- Below the souls, separated: the elect/the damned
- Charlamagne (his son donated relics)
- Majesty of Ste Foy (reliquary and relic)
- Declaring the church’s power – church is no longer about inner spirituality but is an
instituition
 Majesty of Ste Foy, Conques, France
- Miracle of curing blindness

 The Adoration of the Three Magi

- Champleve enamel (take the metal and inscribe holes on it and fill the empty void with
glass sand/powder and fire it) reliquary casket, Limoges
- 3 Magi coming to adore Mary and child Christ
- The Nativity

 Abbey Church of Saint-Peter, Mossaic, France, c. 1000-1150

- Don’t extend beyond the framework, all fit into the space
- Hieratic scale
- Liked variety, no empty space
- Trumaeu: interlocking beasts, imagery go back to insular forms
- Dancing prophet.jeremiah Trumeau
- Cloister (built by Abbot Anquitil)
- Corner stones represent Saint Peter, flatness, Homme a larcade (man in the arcade)
 - Varietas at Moissac

 Bernardine Monastic Plan

- Life based on hard work, labor, austheticism
- No second trancept
- One cloister, everything is attached to it
- No multiple radiating chapels and round apses, no ambulatories

 Abbey Church of Notre Dome at Fontenay (Cistercian)

 Virgin and Child, France, c. 1000-1150
- Sedes sapientiae=seed of wisdom
- Mary as ecclesia
- This type of composition is also called Maesta/Majesty
- Not represented in a motherly way
- A reliquary (relics on the back)

Nov. 14th
Norman Romanesque 1066-1170
 Norman: from the north, Scandinavians / Vikings
 History of Medieval Sicily
- 827-902: Muslin Aghlabid and Fatimid dynasties rule Sicily
- 999-1060: Normans arrive in and take control of Southern Italy
- 1090: Normans conquer Sicily
- 1105-1154: Roger II rules southern Italy and Sicily from Palermo
 Capella Palatina of Roger II, Palermo, Sicily (the big chapel)
- Fuses Byzantine and local traditions
- Gold and mosaic (Byzantine), columns and capitals are spolia
 Muqarnas pendant with image of king and pseudo-kufic inscriptions
 Muhammad Al-Idrisi’s World Map
 The Bayeux Tapestry
- Art as a historical documents when historical texts are lacking detail
- Tapestry: wave in two different textiles together; but it’s really an embroidery
- Running stitch and couch stitch
- No preliminary under drawings
- Edward Rex

 The Battle of Hastings, 1066

- Duke William speaks to his knights to prepare themselves manfully
- Harold knew it was happening
- The Norman loses and English won
- King Harold is slain, his body was never found

 The Tower of London, Norman Romanesque

- Normal imposition of a new order, disruption of existing orders
 - Roman-like arches
- Shields to protect thrown thibfs
- The white tower built by William
- Curtain walls
- A chapel inside the tower, a sign of power

 Saint-Etienne Caen, Norman Romanesque

- Harmonic façade
- Twin towers

 Durham cathedral
- William destroyed the earlier English church and built a Norman church
- Enormous – like old Saint Peters
- Rib vaults

Nov 21st
 Gothic: 1140-1330
 Abbot Suger b.1091-d.1151
- Suger’s chevet (head of the church)
- Keep the Old Carolingian church
- Suger’s façade
 Saint-Denis, Suger’s Façade, 1136-1140, Gothic: 1140-1300
The Gothic Façade:
1. Harmonic façade
2. Rose window
3. Fully sculpted thematic program on at least three portals
- Point-support system
- Second ambulatory
 Tree of Jesse window, Saint Denis
 Chartres Cathedral
 Elements of Gothic Architecture
1. Pointed arches
2. Rib vaults
3. Point support system
4. Unified plans
5. Large stained glass windows
6. Flying buttresses

Dec. 3rd
Gothic/Late Gothic, and New Directions
 Sainte-Chapelle, c. 1239-1248. Palais de la Cite, Paris; Patron: King Louis IX of France
(Saint Louis), Gothic Architecture
- People flooded into Paris to buy Parisian art, popularity in art market
- Artistic exchange
- Giovanni Pisano Virgin and Child Ivory (1299)

 Giovanni Pisano Façade,

- three portals, French forms, slightly pointed
- looking to the north to the city of Siena (Ghibelline-aligned with Holy Roman Empire)
- Florence: Guelph-aligned with Pope in Rome

 Siena Cathedral /Duomo

- Gothic but modulated to Siena style
- Campanilismo: City pride, walls in the color of the Siena city
- Duccio (painter), Madonna and Child with Saints, Maesta; Altarpiece, Cathedral of Siena,
Italy
- Moves away from hieratic representations toward more direct representations of reality
- Experiment with perspective – sense of depth
- Axial perspective: everyone around a single axis
- Isocephony, not receding back to space
- “holy mother of God, be thou the cause of peace for Siena and life to Duccio, because he
painted thee thus” inscription – bold statement of artist, rise of individualism
- Gothic but also pulling from Byzantine painting
- Back of altar is also decorated

 Annunciation, Maesta, on the upper Predella

- Doll’s house perspective: not consistent
 Crucifixion, Maesta Altarpiece back panel
- Monastic movements, moving into the cities and live a more communal life, bring the
life of Christ more relatable
 Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, Annunciation with Sts Margaret and Ansanus, Siena,
Duomo (now Uffizi Gallery Florence) late Gothic 1300-1450
 Giotto, Arena Chapel, Padua
- Fresco painting
-