Europe After the Fall of Rome: Early Medieval Art in the West

MEDIEVAL EUROPE

THE ART OF THE WARRIOR LORDS

HIBERNO-SAXON ART

CAROLINGIAN ART

OTTONIAN ART

MEDIEVAL EUROPE

Early Medieval art in Western Europe, which spans approximately 500 years from 500 to 1000, is a fusion of Celtic-Germanic culture, Christianity, and the Greco-Roman heritage. One of its chief characteristics is a highly disciplined sense of abstract decorative design using zoomorphic elements. Interlace patterns are integrated with animal forms in the decoration of metalcraft ornaments, manuscript decorations, stone sculptures, and wood carvings.

The Era "in Between" –

Historians once referred on the thousand years (roughly 400 to 1400) between the dying Roman Empire's adoption of Christianity as its official religion and the rebirth (Renaissance) of interest in classical antiquity as the Dark Ages.

The Medieval Fusion:

Art historians date the early Middle Ages from about 500-1000 – half a millennium of important artistic production.

MEDIEVAL EUROPE THE ART OF THE WARRIOR LORDS

HIBERNO-SAXON ART

CAROLINGIAN ART

OTTONIAN ART