MEDIEVAL
-means middle ages
-starts with fall of Rome, lasts 1000 yrs until Renaissance
-age of great faith
-Church dominant institution
-almost all art is religious and for purpose of story telling
-humble artists - called themselves servants of God
-divides into 3 parts: Dark Ages, Romanesque, Gothic
DARK AGES
-time of "church growth"
-church takes control of the old Roman empire
-established "monasteries"
-places where monks lived
-monks were men who served god
-they lived in isolation to better serve & focus on God
-cloister - prayer garden
-monks also produced art in the form of books
BOOKS WERE CALLED ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
-"illuminated" meant decorated
-"manuscript" meant hand written
- thus lavishly painted and done by hand
- Latin
- purpose for meditation & concentrating on beauty of God's
written word
-scribes are monks who make books
-scriptorium is place in monastery where they worked
-specialized process - like an assembly line
-each monk doing a certain part of the book
-labor intensive
-could take years
-not many of them
-costly materials
-real gold
-page itself made of animal skin - called vellum
-made their own paints
-purple and blue really expensive
-green not so much
-text focuses on 4 Gospels
Mathew whose symbol is winged man
Mark whose symbol is winged lion
Luke whose symbol is winged ox
John whose symbol is eagle
TEST SLIDE BOOK OF KELLS, ANON, DARK AGES
-shows a Chi-Rho
-made in Ireland at Kells monastery
-680 pages, this page shows Chi Rho
-each page 13"x9"
Reliquary - container for relics
Relics - holy objects believed to have miraculous powers
- for ex: saints' bones, pieces of the cross, a piece of cloth worn by a holy
person
ROMANESQUE
-time of "church militant"
-time of the crusades
-holy wars fought against the Muslims to re-take the city of Jerusalem
-reflected in the harshness of the art - meant to look scary
-started in the year 1000 - exuberance that the world had not ended
Romanesque church
1. part of a monastery
2. isolated in location
3. destination for pilgrimage
pilgrimage - journey to visit holy site
- a test of faith & way to get to heaven
4. used the pilgrimage plan
5. 
-looks like a cross
-crossing arms are called the transept
-projecting bubbles are called radiating chapels
-main altar goes in apse
-relics go in radiating chapels
-better plan than basilica b/c to allows the visitors to move thru interior spaces without disturbing the monks in the nave
6. called romanesque b/c it looked Roman: tiny windows, thick concrete walls,
barrel vault, looks like fortress
7. barrel vault - provides for better acoustics & music
8. dark interiors
9. EXTERIOR story-telling
-relief sculpture (not mosaics)
-limestone (not marble)
-meant to look scary to go along with the crusades/holy wars
9. Story telling capitals - lots of devils & tortures
10. Focus on "portal"
-portal is the doorway
-looks Roman - like a triumphal arch
-Last Judgment is most common subject
TEST SLIDE LAST JUDGMENT, ANON, ROMANESQUE
Madonna means "my lady"
Madonna & Child - very common subject
- shows Mary holding a baby Christ
- however, Medieval Christ doesn't look or act bery
baby-like - looks like a little man
GOTHIC
- time of "church mystic"
- starts in France
- build "cathedrals" - large main church
Gothic cathedral traits:
1. in towns - not isolated
2. for the people - not monks
3. friendlier
-shows connection to people
4. completely covered in sculpture
5. pointed arch - stronger - pushes more down than out
6. cross vaulting
=intersecting of 2 arches
- visible on interior looking up
- channels weight, allows for windows
7. flying buttress
=exterior supports
- help to carry & re-distribute weight
8. skeletal looking structure - open, no walls
9. vertical lines - everything points up
10.stained glass
11.more focus on Mary
-shown like a delicate princess
-reflects that Gothic is age of chivalry
-women more respected in society
-reflects that women helped to pay for the art also
123."Gothic" - derogatory term meaning "barbaric"
- coined by the Italians who didn't like the style
TEST SLIDE NOTRE DAME OF CHARTRES, ANON, GOTHIC
-In France
-"Chartres"is the town
-Notre Dame means "our lady"
-important place of pilgrimage
-mary's robe was the relic
-tall towers act as beacons to guide pilgrims
-construction would start in the apse & proceed down the nave
-front facade would be last part built
-towers last part of the facade to the built
-towers do not match in this case b/c one is earlier gothic than the other
-Chartres is EARLY Gothic
-became a "prototype" facade
-3 parts to facade
1. 3 part portal = Trinity
= connects to interior spaces (nave & 2 side aisles)
2. round stained glass window in center
- called the rose window
= represents Mary
3. 2 towers - guide pilgrims
- create verticality
- hold church bells
-serve as call to prayer (9 x's /day)
-Gothic uses pilgrimage floor plan
STAINED GLASS - all original
- purpose is story telling
- very strong - thicker glass - held together with lead bars
- reds & blues dominate
TEST SLIDE NOTRE DAME OF PARIS, ANON, GOTHIC
-dedicated to Mary
-towers unfinished
-Mid gothic - taller, spikier, more glass, more sculpture
-Gargoyles to drain water from building
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