Art of Early Mid Ages

Catalog description

Christian architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaic, manuscript illumination, and luxury arts of the Greek East and Latin West from their origins ca. 200 C.E. through ca. 950 C.E. Considers the visual and material culture of Christianity in the Mediterranean world, Asia Minor, the Middle East, and northern Europe in light of the religious, historical, political, social, and cultural contexts of their creation. Style periods include early Christian, early Byzantine, barbarian, insular, Merovingian, and Carolingian. Monuments studied include the catacombs, the Arch of Constantine, the great mosaic programs of Italy, Hagia Sophia, the Lindisfarne Gospels and Book of Kells, and Charlemagne's palace chapel at Aachen. Topics include art and the commemoration of the dead; Christian attitudes toward Judaism and the classical tradition; art and theology; the emergence of the cult of saints and its art and architecture; early medieval patrons; arts of pilgrimage and early monasticism; word and image in early medieval culture; and iconoclasm and debates about the role of images in early Christianity.