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Historical Background -
Historical Background -
1000 CE - Europe is settling down after the great migration that characterized the Early Medieval period.
Vikings were Christianized and descendants colonized Normandy, France, and southern Italy and Sicily.
Islamic incursions from Spain and North Africa were neutralized and Europeans began a counter-invasion of Muslim lands (The Crusades).
Pope is cast as spiritual leader of the new Christian empire.
Stability was reached so that trade and arts could flourish and cities could expand for the first time in centuries.
Christians embarked on religious pilgrimages across Europe. The most popular destination was the shrine dedicated to Saint James in the Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela, with the journey taking around a year to make completely. More shrines were placed along the road at key points so pilgrims could enjoy additional holy places and relics.
Patronage and Artistic Life
Patronage and Artistic Life
Medieval society centered around feudalism (symbiotic relationship between lords and peasants.). Peasants worked the land while lords owned the land and guaranteed peasants security. Artists lived between peasants and lords in social status, consisting of what would be called the "middle class." Painting was considered a higher calling compared to sculpture or architecture because it was not as laborious.
Art was divided by gender roles. Women were confined to "feminine arts" such as ceramics, weaving, or manuscript decoration. Powerful and wealthy women were active patrons of the arts and sponsored constructions of nunneries or commissioned illuminated manuscripts.
The line between secular and religious works in medieval society was not so finely drawn.
Primary focus of medieval architecture is the construction of castles, manor houses, monasteries, and churches. They were conceived by master builders who oversaw the whole operation from designing the building to contracting its employees. Master builders and master artists worked together, with master artists supervising the artistic design overall.
Unit Vocabulary
Unit Vocabulary
Abbey - a monastery for monks, or a convent for nuns, and the church that is connected to it.
Arcade - a series of arches supported by columns. When the arches face a wall and are not self-supporting they are called a Blind Arcade.
Bay - a vertical section of a church that is embraced by a set of columns and is usually composed of arches and aligned windows.
Embroidery - a woven product in which the design is stitched into a premade fabric.
Gallery - a passageway inside or outside a church that generally is characterized by having a colonnade or arcade.
Jamb - the side posts of a medieval portal.
Keystone - The central part of a wedge-shaped stone (voussoir) that forms the curved part of an arch.
Mandorla - an almond-shaped circle of light around the figure of Christ or Buddha.
Portal - a doorway. In medieval art they can be significantly decorated.
Radiating chapel - a chapel that extends out in a radial pattern from an apse or an ambulatory.
Tapestry - a woven product in which the design and the backing are produced at the same time on a device called a loom.
Transept - an aisle in a church perpendicular to the nave.
Transverse arch - an arch that spans an interior space connecting opposite walls by crossing from side to side.
Triforium - a narrow passageway with arches opening onto a nave, usually directly below a clerestory.
Tympanum - a rounded sculpture placed over the portal of a medieval church.
Vault - a roof constructed with arches; when an arch is extended into space, forming a tunnel, it is called a barrel vault; when two barrel vaults intersect at right angles, it is called a groin vault.
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