Medieval Art - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Medieval Art

IntroductionSlide2

The Middle Ages

When does that period start?

The most commonly accepted starting date for the Middle Ages is that of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476.

That starting date was first used by Leonardo

Bruni

(also known as

Leonardi

Aretini

) in his

History of the Florentine People

(

Historarium

Florentinarum

) published in 1442.

Other have proposed 313 the date of the Edict of Tolerance of Milan

Or 380 the date of the Edict of Thessalonica that made Christianity the

state religion.Slide3
Slide4

The Middle Ages

When does that period end?

There is no agreed upon date for the end of the Middle ages. The following dates

among many other

are often used:

1453 The Fall of Constantinople and the end of the Eastern Roman empire

1485 August 22, date of the battle of Bosworth Field, the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the House of Lancaster and the House of York. This date is used by

many English Historians

1492 For the “discovery” of the Americas by Christopher Columbus or for the

Reconquista

of Granada by Castile, ending Islamic rule on the Iberian peninsula

1500 Often considered arbitrarily to be the end of the Middle AgesSlide5

What are the Middle-Ages?

Depending on the countries the middle ages are sub-divided in to two or three ages. In the English speaking world the following timeline is commonly accepted”

476 to 1000 = Early Middle Ages

1000 to 1300 =

H

igh Middle Ages

1300 to 1453 = Late Middle AgesSlide6

The Dark Ages

The term Dark ages is still commonly used today in popular literature, but scholars have by and large abandoned the term altogether.

Originally, it was applied to the entire period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. Later, in the 19th and 20th it was applied mostly to the Early Middle Ages.

The concept of this “dark” period in European history, by opposition to the enlighten period of Classical antiquity, originated in the early 14th with the fame Humanist Petrarch (1304-1374)Slide7

The Dark Ages

The term Dark Ages itself was coined much later, in 1602, by the cardinal

Cesare

Bariono

, in his major work

Annales

Ecclesiastici

,

a history of the Catholic Church. He uses the terms

saeculum

obscurum, for the period that goes from the end of the 9th c. to the beginning of the 11th c.Slide8

The Middle-Ages

The term “Middle Age” does not appear until the 15th c. It is found for the first time in writing in 1469, in Latin:

media

tempestas

(middle season)

,

in the correspondence of the Renaissance Humanist Giovanni Andrea

dei

Bussi

, bishop of

Aleria

.

“Neo-Latin writings (wherein the term as well as the idea certainly originated) display a variety of ways of expressing the idea "Middle Age(s)," including media cetas, media antiquitas

, medium

sceculum

, and media

tempestas

as well as the plural forms media

scecula

and media

tempora

.

The

earliest documentations for the plurals media

tempora

and media

sccula

are 1531 and 1625

respectively.” [Robinson, 748] Slide9
Slide10

The Stavelot

TriptychSlide11
Slide12

Stavelot

Triptych

This

triptych

takes its name from the abbey of

Stavelot

, near Liege, in Belgium were it was created ca. 1156.

It is today at the Morgan Library in New York.

The Abbot of

Stavelot

,

Wibald

,

was

sent on

two

missions to

Constantinople, one in 1154 and one in 1157.

During the first mission, the Byzantine emperor gave him two pieces of the true cross that were enshrined in this reliquary.Slide13

The central panel contains two smaller triptychs, one above the other

.

The lower of these, which is larger, is divided into four quadrants.

In the upper

left quadrant

we see the head

and

the upper

torso of a female

saint.Slide14

In

the upper

right

quadrant we see the head and the upper torso of a

male

saint.Slide15

The emperor Constantine

stands in the lower left

quadrant

.Slide16

.

In

the lower

right stands Helena. Slide17

The central panel contains two smaller triptychs, one above the other.

An X shape, with pearls at each of the four ends, links the four quadrants.Slide18

The upper, smaller triptych shows the crucifixion

Mary is at the foot of the cross on

the left and John on the right.

Over the

left and right

branches of

the cross are the sun and moon. Slide19

The central panel contains two smaller triptychs, one above the other.

The

lower of these, which is larger, is divided into four quadrants by two slivers of wood. The upper left quadrant has the head and upper torso of a female saint with the Greek inscription “B¯P

”Slide20

The opened side panels use three roundels each for the story of Constantine’s conversion (on the left)Slide21

The

lowest

of the Constantine roundels shows him stretched out in his bed having the dream of the message, IN HOC SIGNO VINCES. His palace is suggested by a triple arch in the background, with a crown hanging from the central arch, directly below the cross that he is dreaming about.

Slide22

The opened side panels use three roundels each for the story of Constantine’s conversion (on the left

)

The

middle

roundel shows Constantine's victory at the

Milvian

bridge. His army fills the left and center; its spears crowd

Maxentius

’ army out toward the right – a nice way to express movement without abandoning the still calm of the overall composition. Among the many horizontal spears of the victors is one cross, held at about 40°. There is a lower register with two dead bodies.

Slide23

The opened side panels use three roundels each for the story of Constantine’s conversion (on the left

)

The

upper

roundel shows the emperor being baptized by Pope

Silvester

in a constructed above-ground stone pool that is big enough around to facilitate at least a partial immersion. (The Pope stands outside the pool.) Above Constantine, God’s hand points straight down from the central arch of another 3-arch representation of a palace, amid three rays of light. The hand is on the same axis as the crown in the bottom roundel.

Slide24

Who is St. Helena represented on the reliquary?

St. Helena was the mother of

Constantine.

She is believed to have discovered the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

According to tradition she discovered all three crosses on the

C

alvary.

To make sure that the crosses were authentic, she touched people who were seriously ill with each cross. They were cured, which meant that the crosses were the authentic ones.Slide25

The right panel illustrates St

. Helena’s discovery of the True

Cross.Slide26

In the b

ottom roundel, St. Helena

questions the Jewish leaders about the cross. Slide27

In the

middle, her servants recover the crosses on Mount Calvary.

Slide28

On the top St.

Helena

tests

the three crosses on the sick man.

Slide29
Slide30

The Mass, Lorraine ca. 875

This relief depicts the celebration of the Christian Sacrifice of the Mass. In the

centre

, behind the altar, stands the priest, facing the faithful, before the implements of the Mass: chalice, paten and liturgical books. The

schola

, or choir of spiritual singers, forms the relief ’s foreground. Standing behind the priest, and beneath a ciborium crowned by angels, are the deacons who assist him. This ivory relief was produced in the ninth century. Later, in the fourteenth century, it was integrated into the cover of an

evangelarium

– a compilation of the sections of the Gospel read during the Mass. This reuse is not simply an indication that the carving was highly appreciated; the depiction also perfectly matches the content of the book.

Library’s descriptionSlide31

The Mass, Lorraine ca. 875

The half-length figures of the Apostles painted on a gold ground flanking the ivory plate bear a direct relationship to the carving. They are turned inwards, towards the relief and the depression above it with the countenance of Christ, and thereby bear witness, as it were, to

the

sacrifice of Christ recapitulated in the Mass. The carver is unknown. His designation derives from an ivory tablet depicting St Gregory in the possession of the

Kunsthistorisches

Museum in Vienna. Nor do we know who commissioned the work. The donor of the manuscript, on the other hand, is known to have been

Balduin

of Luxembourg (1285– 1354), archbishop and elector of Trier and Mainz. It is not known why he donated the book, or for what location. In 1450, however, it is documented as being in St

Bartholomäus

in Frankfurt, the coronation church of the German kings and emperors. Perhaps

Balduin

– as

elector,

one of those who chose the German emperor – had the manuscript made for the coronation Mass in Frankfurt

.

Library’s descriptionSlide32
Slide33

Arch of Constantine

Rome, 312-315Slide34
Slide35

The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome, situated between the

Colosseum

and the Palatine Hill. It was erected by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine I's victory over

Maxentius

at the Battle of

Milvian

Bridge on October 28, 312.Slide36
Slide37

Head of Constantine

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Marble. 3ft, 1.5 in.Slide38
Slide39

Missorium of Theodosius

Academy of History, Madrid, Spain

388. 29⅛ in.Slide40
Slide41
Slide42

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:476eur.jpg

Petrarch:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Altichiero,_ritratto_di_francesco_petrarca.jpg

Baronio

:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cesare_Baronio.jpg

Robinson, Fred C.,

Medieval, the Middle Ages

, Speculum, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Oct., 1984), pp. 745-756.