Trends and trends in the painting of the Middle Ages.
General trends
The art of this period, although varied in style, is characterized by several general trends. At this time, most artwork had a religious purpose, so Christian art was the dominant direction. Many paintings, diptychs, triptychs and sculptures of the Middle Ages were developed for church altars and taking into account the specific features of temple interiors.
An important element in the creation of religious images was the additional decoration of works of art. Elements of paintings could be created from gold or other precious materials.
New Patrons
Artistic changes during the Middle Ages were brought about by rapidly changing social conditions. The development of trade led to the fact that wealthy citizens and merchants could acquire works of art for themselves. By the beginning of the 15th century, many burghers had collections of paintings.
The city authorities supported the visual arts by commissioning well-known craftsmen to create altarpieces for altars and churches.
Movement towards realism
The exact time of the transition to realism in the art of the Middle Ages cannot be identified. Innovation created in the series in the art of the series European countries, for a long time may not have been indicated in other national cultures. However, it can be argued that at the beginning early renaissance contributed to the work made at the turn of the XIII century.
One of the first paintings with elements of realism was the Italian artist Cimabue (1240-1302), who conveyed the depth of the image using rich colors and light contrasts.
International Gothic
The elegant and refined manner of painting developed mainly due to the achievements Italian masters. Their technique was characterized by the use of smooth lines, complex body contours, and soft facial expressions of the people depicted.
The beginning of the 15th century is a period of clear progress towards realism in the visual arts, which is also characteristic of literature and sculpture. Artists show an interest in details, which gives the composition integrity and completeness. This time in European art characterized as the period of the Renaissance.
medieval painting updated: September 14, 2017 by: Gleb
In the Middle Ages, painting became one of the major types arts. Changes in the life of society and new techniques gave artists the opportunity to create realistic works imbued with deep humanism, which were destined to make a real revolution in Western European art.
At the end of the Romanesque era, painting played a secondary role in painting. But with the advent of the XIII century began a rapid development European civilization which opened up new perspectives for artists. The palaces and castles of the highest nobility were decorated with unprecedented splendor, Paris, Prague, London, the cities of Italy and Flanders flourished. All new paintings - at first only on religious subjects - were longed not only by aristocrats and ministers of the church, but also by wealthy citizens. With the spread of literacy, the demand for secular literature also increased. Best Samples book art, richly decorated with miniatures, were intended for kings and princes and were created not only in monasteries, but also professional artists who had their own workshops. Despite the rather low social status during his lifetime, the names of many artists and their biographies have become part of history.
New opportunities
A number of religious innovations also contributed to the new attitude towards painting. At the beginning of the 13th century, church altars were decorated with an altarpiece, against which divine services were conducted. It often consisted of two (diptych), three (triptych) or more wings, but described a single group of characters or a scene. Especially popular was the image of the donor (the person who paid for the production of the altarpiece and donated it to the church), whom his patron saint introduces to the Madonna. Putting difficult things in front of the artist creative tasks, the altar image at the same time opened up new opportunities for self-expression in the design of the altar space, which was to become the focus of attention and religious feelings of the flock.
The flourishing of wall painting also came - partly as a result of the strengthening of the founded St. Francis of Assisi of the Franciscan Order, for whom an increasing number of churches were built. Most in a suitable way their decoration turned out to be painting, since the creation of a mosaic either required a lot of time, or was considered an unaffordable luxury for an order that professed poverty and humility.
Strong influence on further fate painting was rendered by the life and work of St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). The sincere love of the saint for the world of wildlife helped his contemporaries realize the beauty of earthly existence, and from the 13th century medieval painting dominated A New Look to the world. From now on, artists, without abandoning religious themes, depicted with obvious pleasure material world and created in a new realistic and humanistic manner.
Madonna in an Arbor of Roses. 1440 Stefan Lochner., Cologne, Wallraf Museum
Worship of the deeply human image of the Madonna also had a powerful humanistic influence on religion, and through it on art, where these subjects were constantly used.
Italian masters
Many of the trends originated much earlier in Italy than in other European countries. Two masters of the late 13th century - Cimabue and Duccio - are generally recognized as the founders of the tradition of visible realism in painting, which was destined to dominate European art until the 20th century. Both left to posterity the famous altar images, where the main characters are the Madonna and Child.
Both painters were soon overshadowed by their younger contemporary, Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267-1337). He was the first of the great Florentine masters to gain fame in his lifetime, achieving honor and wealth. However, he was so ahead of his time that many of his innovations were understood and accepted by fellow artists only after a good hundred years. His flesh-and-blood characters stand firmly on the ground, yet seem to be able to move and exist in their natural or architectural environment and space with some hint of depth. But first of all, we are living people with deep feelings and emotions. The amazing mastery of conveying all the shades of human experiences made Giotto a great dramatic artist.
frescoes
Creating his panels, Giotto applied the fresco painting technique invented by the Italians by that time. Today we call frescoes both paintings created in this technique, and generally any wall painting. But a true fresco is always a painting on top of fresh, still damp plaster, which serves as a primer for a layer of paint. The Italian word "fresco" itself means "fresh". In one session, only that section of the wall was painted with paints, which the master had time to fill in on the plaster that had not yet dried up. Here the time factor played a decisive role, because the pigments applied to the wet layer of plaster entered into contact with it. chemical reaction to form stable bonds. The dried fresco did not peel or crumble, retaining its original beauty and brightness of colors for many centuries. Thanks to this colossal technical breakthrough, years later the greatest masterpieces of fresco painting, including murals, were created. Sistine Chapel in the Vatican by Michelangelo.
Giving Depth
It was not easy for the masters who faced this task for the first time to create the illusion of the reality of the depicted scene. Here, not only the exact transfer of external outlines was required, but also giving the figures the volume of real bodies, and the flat surface of the picture - a sense of depth, so that the landscape seemed to be lost in the distance (we are talking about the art of perspective). Not one generation Italian artists honed this technique, often being distracted by solving problems such as creating decorative ornaments. The same problem had to be solved by the masters of the rest of Europe, in different time heavily influenced by Italian art.
By the end of the 14th century, painters working at the courts of European rulers had created a more or less unified style of painting, which is often called International Gothic. Reflecting the refined, far from real life atmosphere of court life, their works were more distinguished by sophistication and sophistication than inner strength. The characters were given graceful poses, and although the perspective was often indicated only by a hint, the smallest details of the entourage were written out with jewelry accuracy.
All these features were manifested with particular brightness in the manuscripts decorated with miniatures, made by order of the ruling families. The most famous masters of this genre were Paul Limburg and his two brothers, who, having worked for only 16 years (1400-16), suddenly disappeared from the historical scene. Their patron and customer was the outstanding collector and connoisseur of works of art of that era, Duke Jean of Berry, the younger brother of the French King Charles V. His name was glorified by a book that went down in history under the title "Magnificent Hours of the Duke of Berry".
Limburgs, brothers (Paul, Ehrmann and Jeanneken). "The Luxurious Book of Hours of the Duke Jean of Berry. The month of January. Fragment"
The Book of Hours owes its fame to the excellent miniatures created for it by the Limburg brothers. This work, which became the true crown of their work, remained unfinished in 1416, but 12 famous miniatures on the theme of the seasons have come down to us. They depict scenes of sowing, harvesting or hunting, timed to coincide with a particular season.
The advent of oil paints
In the 1430s. in what was then Flanders, which belonged to the Duke of Burgundy (now Belgium and the Netherlands), a completely new style of painting began to develop. Like Italy, Flanders was the land of prosperous cities. It is to this fact that many attribute a realistic, devoid of emphasized aristocratic style of local art. And just like in Italy, I will flourish Flemish painting contributed to the most important technical innovation - oil paints. Pigments ground with vegetable oil were much brighter than the tempera prevailing in painting at that time, which was based on a quickly drying egg yolk. And if it was necessary to write in tempera and create frescoes quickly, without going into small details, then oil paints could be applied layer by layer, achieving amazing pictorial effects. Since then, any artist striving for perfection has consistently preferred oil painting.
Flemish school
The founder of the Flemish school of painting was Robert Campin, but its most famous representatives belong to the next generation. The first of the great masters of European oil painting was the unsurpassed portrait painter Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441). With the help of oil paints, he achieved an excellent transmission of the play of light and shadow on various objects.
Portrait of the Arnolfini couple, Jan van Eyck
An unusually gifted artist was also his younger contemporary Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1399-1464). Not as concerned with details as van Eyck, he preferred the rich bright colors, clear contours and subtle modeling of volumes, creating your own unique style that can convey a wide range of emotions - from serene calm to boundless sorrow.
Isabella of Burgundy, Rogig van Der Weyden
The Flemish school gave art more than one generation of brilliant masters of painting, and throughout the 15th century, many of its inherent features were adopted by artists throughout Europe. Only since 1500 they were replaced by a new trend, gradually gaining strength behind the Alpine ridges - the Italian Renaissance.
Painting of the Middle Ages
Culture of the Middle Ages
General characteristics of culture
In the 4th century, the Great Migration of Nations began - the invasion of tribes from Northern Europe and Asia into the territory of the Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire fell; its other part - Byzantium - was to exist for some more time. The Middle Ages has come - a historical era following the Ancient World and preceding the Renaissance.
The origins of medieval culture largely originate in the era of antiquity. In addition to Christianity, the Middle Ages adopted from antiquity some artistic forms, as well as handicraft skills.
Education and science
In the 7th-8th centuries there were schools at the monasteries, where the teachers were monks, and the students, who were very few, were the children of knights. Here they taught theology and "seven free arts”, as well as a letter and an invoice. Later, education was expanded (but not for everyone, but only for the nobility) - they studied Latin, law, medicine, Arabic.
Universities arose from these schools (from the word universum-"community"):
1) in Bologna (Italy, 1088);
2) Cordoba (Spain, IX);
3) Oxford (1209);
4) Sorbonne in Paris (1215);
5) Vienna (1348), etc.
Universities enjoyed internal self-government (they elected a rector, etc.). The general population studied here. Forms of training - a lecture (reading a specialized text and a commentary on it) or a dispute (an open dispute between the participants of the seminar), after graduation, a diploma was issued. There were also textbooks.
The science of the Middle Ages was discovered by theologians of the 4th-5th centuries. - the so-called "fathers of the church":
2) Ambrose;
3) the philosopher Boethius;
4) the historians Jordan and Bede the Venerable.
The center of the "Carolingian Renaissance" was the so-called academy - a scientific circle at the court of Charlemagne, created in 794 on the model ancient school. The theologian and poet Alcuin became the leader of the academy.
In the XII-XIII centuries. science continues to evolve. Scholasticism becomes its basis - a doctrine in which reality was comprehended with the help of the logic of reason. At the same time, the scholastics were often carried away by the verbal form, behind which the content was poorly guessed, that is, they wrote and spoke in a heavy, incomprehensible language.
An outstanding scientist of the Middle Ages was Thomas Aquinas(1225–1247), teacher, author of 18 works on theology and philosophy.
Another famous scientist was Roger Bacon(1214-1294) - naturalist, teacher of mathematics and philosophy.
Worldview. Literature. Theatre
The barbarians worshiped the forces of nature; played an important role in their lives magical rites. With the emergence and development of states in Europe, the core of life and worldview of a person becomes christian religion. The whole life is considered only as a short segment, full of dangers for human soul. The ideal is life without frills and perverse joys, sincere faith in God, observance of rituals, as well as such qualities of nature as humility, patience, virtue, faith, hope, etc. Unlimited power, both spiritual and material and political , - acquire the church and the clergy.
If treatises early medieval were not addressed to specific segments of the population, then the literature of the Middle Ages was class-based. Researchers identify:
1) peasant;
2) urban;
3) chivalric literature.
Main genres:
1) novels;
4) epic (noble);
5) stories;
6) biographies;
7) stories;
9) educational essays, etc.
1) the epic "Song of Roland";
2) "Song of the Nibelungs";
3) "Song of Side";
4) the novel "Tristan and Isolde";
5) a cycle of novels about King Arthur and the knight Lancelot;
6) a series of novels about Fox Renard;
8) novels.
The number of entertainment and educational activities has increased dramatically. Preachers spoke before the cathedrals, professors and students held discussions. Theatrical performances were also arranged religious performances. Cathedrals were built by urban masters (and not by monastic ones, as before). The townspeople themselves were often the customers or creators of works of art to decorate the cathedrals.
Painting of the Middle Ages
Since the barbarian tribes were constantly nomadic, their early art presented mainly:
1) weapons;
2) jewelry;
3) various utensils.
The barbarian masters preferred bright colors and expensive materials, while not the beauty of the product was valued more, but the material from which it was made.
Roman painting served as a model for miniaturists. The author of a medieval miniature is not just an illustrator; he is a talented storyteller who, in one scene, managed to convey both the legend and its symbolic meaning.
"Carolingian Renaissance" (French) Renaissance"Renaissance") - this is how the researchers called the art of this era. Many Frankish monasteries had scriptoria (book writing workshops), in which the monks rewrote ancient manuscripts and compiled new ones, both ecclesiastical and secular. Manuscripts were placed in frames made of ivory or precious metals with inserts of precious stones. In the design of books, in addition to complex ornamentation, motifs of Christian art were often used - wreaths, crosses, figurines of angels and birds.
Around the end of the III century. the papyrus scroll was replaced by parchment; instead of style (sticks for writing), they began to use bird feathers.
In the era of the Carolingians, the art of miniature reached an extraordinary flowering - book illustration. There were no miniature schools, but there were centers for the production of illustrated manuscripts at monasteries (for example, a book-writing workshop in Aachen).
Carolingian temples were decorated very modestly on the outside, but inside they shone with wall paintings - frescoes. Many researchers have noted the great importance visual arts in a barbaric world where most people couldn't read. For example, in the church of St. John the Baptist (VIII century) in the city of Müster (modern Switzerland) are the oldest known frescoes. The art of the Otto Empire played a huge role in the development of the Romanesque style.
The murals of the Romanesque period have practically not been preserved. They were edifying; the movements, gestures and faces of the characters were expressive; images are planar. As a rule, on the vaults and walls of the temple depicted biblical stories. On the western wall were scenes of the Last Judgment.
In the XIII-XIV centuries. along with church books, richly illustrated with images of saints and scenes from the Holy History, have become widespread:
1) books of hours (collections of prayers);
2) novels;
3) historical chronicles.
Architecture
After the emergence in the V-VIII centuries. The states of the Germanic tribes were converted to Christianity. They began to build stone Christian temples. Temples were built from massive stones, wood was used for ceilings. Churches were built on the model of Roman basilicas. In most cases, the columns were borrowed from ancient temples: the ruins served as a kind of quarry for the extraction of new building materials.
cultural centers starting from the 10th century, monasteries and churches remained. The temple, which had the shape of a cross in plan, symbolized the way of the cross of Christ - the path of suffering. In the X century. spread belief in the miraculous power of relics - objects associated with the life of Christ, the Mother of God, saints. More and more pilgrims sought to visit the holy places.
King of the Ostrogoths Theodoric was careful and smart politician, patronized the Roman nobility and the church, science and the arts. He wanted to be known as great, and therefore in his capital Ravenna they laid roads, built bridges, water pipes, military fortifications, palaces and temples, restored destroyed buildings. In addition, the wonderful tomb of Theodoric has survived to this day.
But Charlemagne made the capital of the small town of Aachen ( modern Germany). The royal palace and administrative buildings were built here. The Aachen chapel (chapel) and the gates of the monastery in Lorsch (modern Germany, c. 800) have survived to this day.
From the 10th century architects gradually changed the design of the temple - it had to meet the requirements of an increasingly complex cult. In the architecture of Germany at that time, a special type of church developed - majestic and massive. Such is the cathedral in Speyer (1030-1092/1106), one of the largest in Western Europe.
In Romanesque art, monastic architecture occupied a leading position. The size of churches increased, which led to the creation of new designs of vaults and supports. During the Romanesque period, secular architecture changed.
Typical examples of French Romanesque architecture:
1) Church of St. Peter;
2) Church of St. Paul in the monastery of Cluny (1088-1131).
Only small fragments of this building, its descriptions and drawings, have survived. In the XI-XII centuries. the construction of large cathedrals began in the cities on the Rhine - in Worms, Speyer, Mainz. In Germany, monuments of secular architecture of that time have also been preserved - feudal castles and fortresses.
The art of Italy was formed under the influence of centuries-old cultural traditions.
In Spain, there was a reconquista - a war for the liberation of the territory of the country, captured by the Arabs. Then in Spain the construction of castles-fortresses began. The kingdom of Castile became the land of castles. One of the earliest examples of Romanesque architecture is the Alcazar Royal Palace (9th century). It has survived to our time.
The Middle Ages are often described as dark and gloomy. This was facilitated religious wars, acts of the Inquisition, undeveloped medicine. However, they left a lot of cultural monuments, admirable descendants. Architecture and sculpture did not stand still: absorbing the features of the time, they gave rise to new styles and trends. Along with them relentlessly went the painting of the Middle Ages. About it and will be discussed today.
In close partnership
From the 11th to the 12th centuries, the Romanesque style dominated all European art. He received his main expression in architecture. The temples of that time are characterized by a three-, rarely five-nave structure of the basilica, narrow windows that do not give much light. Often the architecture of this period is called gloomy. The Romanesque style in painting of the Middle Ages was also distinguished by some severity. Almost completely art culture devoted to religious themes. Moreover, divine deeds were portrayed in a rather formidable manner, in keeping with the spirit of the times. The masters did not set themselves the task of conveying the details of certain events. The focus of their attention was the sacred meaning, so the painting of the Middle Ages, briefly dwelling on the details, first of all conveyed a symbolic meaning, distorting proportions and ratios for this.
accents
Artists of that time did not know perspective. On their canvases, the characters are on the same line. However, even with a fleeting glance, it is easy to understand which figure in the image is the main one. To establish a clear hierarchy of characters, the masters made some of them significantly superior in growth to others. So, the figure of Christ has always towered over the angels, and they, in turn, dominated the common people.
This approach had back side: he did not give much freedom in depicting the setting and details of the background. As a result, the painting of the Middle Ages of that period paid attention only to the main points, without bothering to capture the secondary. The paintings were a kind of scheme, conveying the essence, but not the nuances.
Plots
Painting European Middle Ages in Romanesque style replete with images of fantastic events and characters. Preference was often given to gloomy plots telling about the coming punishment of heaven or the monstrous deeds of the enemy of the human race. Scenes from the Apocalypse were widely used.
Transitional stage
The fine art of the Romanesque period outgrew the painting of the early Middle Ages, when under pressure historical events many of its species practically disappeared and symbolism dominated. Frescoes and miniatures of the 11th-12th centuries, expressing the primacy of the spiritual over the material, paved the way for further development artistic directions. The painting of that period was an important transitional stage from the gloomy symbolic art of the times and constant barbarian raids to a new qualitative level, which originates in the Gothic era.
Favorable changes
The ideologue of the order, Francis of Assisi, brought changes not only to religious life but also in the worldview of medieval man. Guided by his example of love for life in all its manifestations, artists began to pay more attention to reality. On artistic canvases, still religious in content, details of the situation began to appear, written out as carefully as the main characters.
Italian Gothic
Painting on the territory of the heiress of the Roman Empire quite early acquired many progressive features. Here lived and worked Cimabue and Duccio, the two founders of visible realism, which until the 20th century remained the main trend in the fine arts of Europe. Their altarpieces often depicted the Madonna and Child.
Giotto di Bondone, who lived a little later, became famous for his paintings depicting quite earthly people. The characters on his canvases seem alive. Giotto was ahead of the era in many ways and only after a while was recognized as a great dramatic artist.
frescoes
The painting of the Middle Ages, even in the Romanesque period, was enriched with a new technique. Masters began to apply paint over the still damp plaster. This technique was associated with certain difficulties: the artist had to work quickly, writing out fragment after fragment in those places where the coating was still wet. But such a technique bore fruit: the paint, soaking into the plaster, did not crumble, became brighter and could remain intact for a very long time.
perspective
The painting of the Middle Ages in Europe slowly acquired depth. a significant role in this process, the desire to convey reality in the picture with all its volumes played. Slowly, honing their skills over the years, the artists learned to depict perspective, to give bodies and objects a resemblance to the original.
These attempts are clearly visible in the works related to the international or international Gothic that developed towards the end of the 14th century. The painting of the Middle Ages of that period had special features: attention to small details, some refinement and sophistication in the transfer of the image, attempts to build perspective.
book miniatures
The characteristic features of the painting of this period are most clearly visible in the small illustrations that adorned the books. Among all the masters of miniatures, the Limburg brothers, who lived at the beginning of the 15th century, deserve special mention. They worked under the auspices of Duke Jean of Berry, who younger brother King of France, Charles V. One of the most famous works artists was "The Magnificent Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry". He brought glory to both the brothers and their patron. However, by 1416, when the trace of the Limburgs was lost, it remained unfinished, but even those twelve miniatures that the masters managed to write characterize both their talent and all the features of the genre.
Quality transformation
A little later, in the 30s of the XV century, painting was enriched with a new style, which subsequently had a huge impact on all fine arts. Oil paints were invented in Flanders. Vegetable oil, mixed with dyes, gave new properties to the composition. Colors are much more saturated and vibrant. In addition, the need to rush, which accompanied the painting with tempera, disappeared: the yolk that formed its basis dried out very quickly. Now the painter could work measuredly, paying due attention to all details. Layers of strokes applied on top of each other opened up hitherto unknown possibilities for the play of color. Oil paints, thus, opened up a whole new, unknown world to the masters.
famous artist
Robert Campin is considered the founder of a new trend in painting in Flanders. However, his achievements were overshadowed by one of his followers, known today to almost everyone who is interested in fine arts. It was Jan van Eyck. Sometimes the invention of oil paints is attributed to him. Most likely, Jan van Eyck only improved the already developed technology and successfully began to apply it. Thanks to his canvases, oil paints became popular and in the 15th century spread beyond the borders of Flanders - to Germany, France and then to Italy.
Jan van Eyck was an excellent portrait painter. The colors on his canvases create that play of light and shadow, which many of his predecessors so lacked to convey reality. Among the famous works of the artist are "Madonna of Chancellor Rolin", "Portrait of the Arnolfinis". If you look closely at the latter, it becomes clear how significant Jan van Eyck's skill was. What are only carefully prescribed folds of clothes worth!
However main job master - "Ghent Altar", consisting of 24 paintings and depicting more than two hundred figures.
Jan van Eyck is rightly called rather a representative Early Renaissance, how late Middle Ages. The Flemish school as a whole became a kind of intermediate stage, the logical continuation of which was the art of the Renaissance.
The painting of the Middle Ages, briefly covered in the article, is a huge one both in time and in significance. cultural phenomenon. Having gone from alluring, but inaccessible memories of the greatness of Antiquity to new discoveries of the Renaissance, she gave the world a lot of works that largely tell not about the formation of painting, but about the quest of the human mind, its understanding of its place in the Universe and its relationship with nature. Understanding the depth of the fusion of spirit and body, characteristic of the Renaissance, the significance of humanistic principles and some return to the basic canons of Greek and Roman fine arts will be incomplete without studying the era that preceded it. It was in the Middle Ages that a sense of the magnitude of the role of man in the Universe was born, so different from the usual image of an insect, whose fate is completely in the power of a formidable god.
After the collapse of the Great Roman Empire, its eastern part - Byzantium - flourished, while the western part was in decline. Starting from the 5th c. Rome was regularly raided and plundered by the barbarians.
The undefeated empire was crushed and humiliated by the Vandal tribes. To resist the invasion of the Huns, led by the fearless Attila, the Romans had to enter into an alliance with the Visigoths, Franks and Burgundians. In 451, Attila was stopped, but the Roman Empire could no longer recover from devastation and upheavals. Its western part ended its existence in 476.
Thus the beginning medieval history associated with the destruction and almost complete destruction of the previous culture. This explains the crude primitivism of early European art. But it cannot be said that ancient traditions did not at all influence the work of barbarian masters. Roman ornament, as well as forms of Roman places of worship, became widespread. This is primarily due to the fact that the conquerors adopted the Christian religion from the defeated Romans.
Barbarians significantly enriched the theme works of art Roman masters, introducing mythological thinking and original national motifs into their art. Their tribes came from distant Mongolia, where, as a result of excavations carried out in the Noin-Ula tract (1924-1925), burials of the Hun nobility were discovered, presumably dating back to the beginning of our era. Studies of household items and products of an applied nature found there revealed excellent examples of pictorial images. The carpets with scenes of the struggle of fantastic animals and figures of horses and people found in the mound amaze with their realism and subtlety of execution.
It was from the steppe peoples that the famous animal or tetralogical style originated, which for several centuries occupied a worthy place in European art.
Early Christian painting
As such, painting in this era, of course, did not exist, but with the adoption of Christianity, we can talk about book miniatures, which originated and developed in monasteries that became centers of spiritual life. Western Europe. In the monastic workshops - scriptoria - manuscripts were created and decorated. The material for them was parchment - dressed skins of lambs and kids.
The process of creating one book was very long and sometimes took several decades, and sometimes it took a whole human life. The monks diligently rewrote the Bible and other religious books. For writing, red paint was used, from the name of which - minium - the word "miniature" came from.
For a Christian, the book was a special value, a symbol of the Divine covenant. Books were carefully kept in monasteries, so most of them have come down to us in their original form. The manuscripts were richly decorated, and abstract animal ornamentation was widely used - a continuous interlacing of lines, accompanied by the image of birds and animals.
Barbarian tribes constantly waged wars of conquest among themselves, as a result of which old kingdoms fell apart and new ones were created. The most resistant to shocks was the large Frankish state, which existed for about five centuries (from the 5th century to the middle of the 10th century).
The art of this period can be conditionally divided into the Merovingian era in the 5th-8th centuries. (as the Frankish kings were called, who considered the legendary leader Merovei their ancestor) and the era of the Carolingians in the VIII-IX centuries. (after Emperor Charlemagne)
Painting of the Merovingian period
In the era of the Merovingians, the Anglo-Irish book miniature, represented by the magnificent monuments of early Christian painting that have come down to us, became widespread. In the monasteries of Ireland, which at that time was one of the most culturally developed areas Europe, gospels were created, decorated with wonderful ornaments. Using a pen, Irish masters wrote amazingly dynamic drawings depicting people and animals.
Much attention was paid to the inscription of letters, they were so richly decorated with all kinds of curls that the line itself took on the form of an ornament. Painted capital letter- initial - sometimes occupied a whole page.
The technique of writing miniatures of the 5th-8th centuries. has not yet reached the perfection that is inherent in the works of the Carolingian masters. Lack of perspective and volume, stylization and primitivism of images - character traits Merovingian painting.
Painting of the Carolingian period
At the end of the VIII - the beginning of the IX century. the heyday of the state of the Franks falls, which is associated with the activities of the ruler Charlemagne. His power united the territories of modern France, southern and western Germany, northern and Central Italy, Northern Spain, Holland and Belgium.
Being an outstanding personality, Karl contributed to the spread of education in the lands subject to him. He founded a school in which his sons, along with the children of the nobility, mastered the basics of rhetoric, poetry, astronomy and other sciences. Charles himself, who knew Greek perfectly and latin languages, did not receive an education in his youth, so he tried to become literate already in adulthood although he was not very good at it.
Strive to make a second Rome out of his country and declaring the lands that belonged to him as the Holy Roman Empire, Charles contributed to the familiarization of the people with the art of late antiquity, therefore his era is often called the "Carolingian Renaissance".
Under Charlemagne, temple painting was of particular importance, it was a kind of bible for the illiterate, because often it was curiosity that attracted ordinary people in the church. In the decrees of the king, one can read that "painting is permissible in churches so that the illiterate can read on the walls what he cannot learn from books."
In the Carolingian period, book miniatures developed. The texts are illustrated according to the Byzantine and Anglo-Irish patterns. Several schools appear, differing from each other in the technique of performance, compositional solution and themes. But there are common features common to all schools without exception. This is the desire for clarity and clarity in the construction of the composition, to realistic image and the use of architectural ornaments as a scenic backdrop.
The main objects of the image in the miniatures of the school of Ada (other names are the school of the abbess of Ada, the school of the manuscript of Ada, the school of Godescalc, the school of Charlemagne) were evangelists. Distinctive features works created by the artists of this school - the presence of ornamentation, gilding and purple coloring of paper. Almost everywhere, buildings from antiquity serve as a background. The symbols of Mark, Matthew, John and Luke - a lion, an angel, a calf and an eagle - are located above the heads of the evangelists. The convincing authenticity of the depicted is achieved with the help of volumetric forms and the skillful use of light and shadow.
The customers of the books created by the masters of this school were often members royal family(according to some sources, the abbess of Hell was the sister of Charlemagne).
Scenes from the Life of Jesus Christ. To Psalm XV. Utrecht Psalter. 9th century
The miniatures of the Reims school are made in a graphic manner using brown ink. Unsteady, as if vibrating contours make the figures surprisingly lively and dynamic. Most outstanding monument fine art of this direction and Carolingian miniatures in general - the Utrecht Psalter (named after the place of storage - in the university library in Utrecht). It contains 165 drawings with scenes of feasts, hunting, battles, household plots as well as landscapes. The author of miniatures attaches importance to even the smallest details. In the window little house you can see the drawn back curtain, in the temple - a slightly ajar door.
In the miniatures of the Turkish school one can see stylized images of monarchs. These works are characterized by a disproportionate ratio of figures: the king is always much higher than the rest of the characters.
Illustrating bibles was the direct specialty of the Turan masters, who performed miniatures for the Bible of Alcuin, the Bible of Charles the Bald and the Gospel of Lothair.
The culture of the Carolingian state existed for about two centuries, but during this short term many wonderful works of art were created, and in our time they make one admire the skill of medieval artists.
As a result of the devastating invasions of enemies, the empire of Charlemagne was destroyed, and with it many beautiful monuments of Carolingian culture perished.
The next stage in development Western European art will begin with the new millennium, i.e., in the 11th century.
