Medieval Design

Discussant:Anna Katrina N. Rint

Medieval Era or Middle Ages

CHARACTERISTICS

• Rich colors• Heavily outlined• Flat and stiff figures showing no depth• Religious Icons • Architecture is influenced by Greek and

Roman – Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic styles emerged from this period.

• Mosaics replaced carved decoration• Large Domes central to the church

Justinian as world conqueror (Barberini Ivory)mid-6th centuryivory1 ft. 1 1/2 in. x 10 1/2 in.

Art of the Early Middle

Ages

Christ enthroned with Saints(Harbaville Triptych)ca. 950 , ivory, 9 1/2 in. x 5 1/2 in. high

Theodora and attendants , south wall apse mosaic, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

ca. 547, mosaic

Medieval art almost always depicted religious topics. (Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images)

MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE

• Two styles of architecture emerged:

1. Romanesque 2. Gothic style3. Bryzantine

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, begun in

1173, is considered a Romanesque

structure. (Medioimages/Photodi

sc/Photodisc/Getty Images)

San Vitale

Ravenna, Italy

526-547

Romanesque Architecture-Thick walls-Semi circular Arches -Heavy in visual weight

San Vitale

Ravenna, Italy

526-547

Notre Dame of Paris

One of the finest examples of gothic architecture and most well known churches in the world – Notre Dame de Paris

Hagia Sophia

***Known as one of the grandest examples of Byzantine Architecture.

A view of the DOME

Hagia Sophia

Constantinpole, (Istanbul), Turkey

532-537

St. Patrick's Cathedral Tour

ByzantineHagia Sofia, (eye-ya SO-fia)Turkey &St. Catherines Monestary, Egypt

Gothic – St. Patricks, NYC Romanesque –St. Vitale, Revenna, Italy

Glass Window from Troyes Cathedral, Troyes, France - 1200

Monastery of St. Catherine Mount Sinai, Egypt, 6c.

Getty Images of St. Catherines start at 2min

Illuminated Manuscripts

• are books that have been decorated, sometimes elaborately, with precious

paints and gold leaf

• monks in scriptoriums 

• decorated, sometimes with gold, other precious metals and gemstones

In an illuminated manuscript, the first letters of paragraphs were decorated, and illustrations could be a half or whole page. (Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images)

Ireland's Book of Kells, the most

beautiful illuminated manuscript that

survives from the early Middle Ages. It consists of four Gospels

written in Latin. Only two of its 680 pages are

without color.

Historiated initial R from the frontispiece of a 12th-century manuscript of St. Gregory's Moralia in Job, Dijon, Bible

Gerona Bible Master, Bologna, Italy, 1285

Medieval Painting

• It depicts religious subjects or topics of war

• Human faces in paintings throughout the era were very flat, unrealistic and looked

alike

• Human and animal body parts are disproportionate and usually elongated

• Architecture and landscapes are awkward.

The human figure in medieval paintings looks flat and disproportionate. (Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images)

Madonna from the Annunciation, 1340-1344 Simone Martini, c.1284-1344 Tempera on panel

Late 1400’s mural - dawning on realistic representations and attempt at perspective

Medieval Sculpture

• depict topics of religion and war

• human bodies are disproportionate and perspective is not realistic

• common kind of medieval sculpture technique is the RELIEF (180

degrees of the figure are visible)

These figures on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris seem to have their backs glued to the

wall. (Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images)

Christ as Savior of Souls, early 14th centurytempera, linen and silver on wood3 ft. 1/4 in. x 2 ft. 2 1/2 in.

• First to use Flying Buttresses (Arched exterior support system to accommodate higher and thinner walls)

• Famous for the use of water spouts, or gargoyles

• Completed in 1345• The “rose window” contains symbolism

– center is blessed virgin mary and child who are surrounded by prophets and saints.

6th or 7th century Icon of Jesus and an abbot shares in the anti-realist style of Byzantine iconic art, Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt

The Enthroned Virgin and Child with Saints

and Angels, 6th century, perhaps the earliest iconic image

of the subject to survive at Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt

This ICON is believed to have originated in Tuscany c. 1300, and influenced a wide number of paintings from the following century as well as Florentine sculptures from the 1440–

1450s. This version was in turn widely copied across Italy and

northern Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries – THIS

WORK SERVED AS A BRIDGE FROM BYZANTINE TO EARLY

RENAISSANCE