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128-525: There was for the first time a thoroughgoing attempt in Northern Europe to revive and emulate classical Mediterranean art forms and styles, that resulted in a blending of classical and Northern elements in a sumptuous and dignified style, in particular introducing to the North confidence in representing the human figure, and setting the stage for the rise of Romanesque art and eventually Gothic art in

256-465: A Last Judgement of great rarity in that it has uniquely been signed by its creator, Giselbertus . A feature of the figures in manuscript illumination is that they often occupy confined spaces and are contorted to fit. The custom of artists to make the figure fit the available space lent itself to a facility in designing figures to ornament door posts and lintels and other such architectural surfaces. The robes of painted figures were commonly treated in

384-576: A coat of plaster. The villa to which the oratory was attached belonged to a key associate of Charlemagne, Bishop Theodulf of Orléans . It was destroyed later in the century, but had frescos of the Seven liberal arts , the Four Seasons , and the Mappa Mundi . We know from written sources of other frescos in churches and palaces, nearly all completely lost. Charlemagne's Aachen palace contained

512-647: A different order for the books in Nevi'im and Ketuvim . This order is also cited in Mishneh Torah Hilchot Sefer Torah 7:15. The order of the books of the Torah is universal through all denominations of Judaism and Christianity. The disputed books, included in most canons but not in others, are often called the Biblical apocrypha , a term that is sometimes used specifically to describe

640-866: A few historic Protestant versions; the German Luther Bible included such books, as did the English 1611 King James Version. Empty table cells indicate that a book is absent from that canon. Several of the books in the Eastern Orthodox canon are also found in the appendix to the Latin Vulgate , formerly the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. Some of the stories of the Pentateuch may derive from older sources. Scholars such as Andrew R. George point out

768-534: A few workshops around the Carolingian Empire, each with its own style that developed based on the artists and influences of that particular location and time. Manuscripts often have inscriptions, not necessarily contemporary, as to who commissioned them, and which church or monastery they were given to, but few dates or names and locations of those producing them. The surviving manuscripts have been assigned, and often reassigned, to workshops by scholars, and

896-490: A fixed one) remains uncertain and much discussed, but Saint-Denis Abbey outside Paris is one leading possibility. The Arnulf Ciborium (a miniature architectural ciborium rather than the vessel for hosts ), now in the Munich Residenz , is the third major work in the group; all three have fine relief figures in repoussé gold. Another work associated with the workshop is the frame of an antique serpentine dish in

1024-568: A flat and decorative style that bore little resemblance to the weight and fall of actual cloth. This feature was also adapted for sculpture. Among the many examples that exist, one of the finest is the figure of the Prophet Jeremiah from the pillar of the portal of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre , Moissac , France, from about 1130. One of the most significant motifs of Romanesque design, occurring in both figurative and non-figurative sculpture

1152-733: A hallmark of the later Romanesque period. Figurative sculpture was based on two other sources in particular, manuscript illumination and small-scale sculpture in ivory and metal. The extensive friezes sculpted on Armenian and Syriac churches have been proposed as another likely influence. These sources together produced a distinct style which can be recognised across Europe, although the most spectacular sculptural projects are concentrated in South-Western France, Northern Spain and Italy. Images that occurred in metalwork were frequently embossed. The resultant surface had two main planes and details that were usually incised. This treatment

1280-699: A manuscript. With the end of Carolingian rule around 900, high quality artistic production greatly declined for about three generations in the Empire. By the later 10th century with the Cluny reform movement, and a revived spirit for the idea of Empire, art production began again. New Pre-Romanesque styles appeared in Germany with the Ottonian art of the next stable dynasty, in England with late Anglo-Saxon art , after

1408-558: A miser is another popular subject. Gothic architecture is usually considered to begin with the design of the choir at the Abbey of Saint-Denis , north of Paris, by the Abbot Suger , consecrated 1144. The beginning of Gothic sculpture is usually dated a little later, with the carving of the figures around the Royal Portal at Chartres Cathedral , France, 1150–1155. The style of sculpture spread rapidly from Chartres, overtaking

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1536-525: A professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Edinburgh , identifies the Old Testament as "a collection of authoritative texts of apparently divine origin that went through a human process of writing and editing." He states that it is not a magical book, nor was it literally written by God and passed to mankind. By about the 5th century BC, Jews saw the five books of

1664-599: A range of different and easily identifiable musical instruments. A number of regional schools converged in the early Romanesque illuminated manuscript : the "Channel school" of England and Northern France was heavily influenced by late Anglo-Saxon art , whereas in Southern France the style depended more on Iberian influence, and in Germany and the Low Countries , Ottonian styles continued to develop, and also, along with Byzantine styles, influenced Italy. By

1792-608: A school known as biblical minimalism rejected the historical value of the Hebrew Bible for the study of ancient Israel during the Iron Age, "but this extreme approach was rejected by mainstream scholarship." The first five books— Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , book of Numbers and Deuteronomy —reached their present form in the Persian period (538–332 BC) , and their authors were the elite of exilic returnees who controlled

1920-531: A set period and be followed by the other-worldly age or World to Come . Some thought the Messiah was already present, but unrecognised due to Israel's sins; some thought that the Messiah would be announced by a forerunner, probably Elijah (as promised by the prophet Malachi , whose book now ends the Old Testament and precedes Mark 's account of John the Baptist ). However, no view of the Messiah as based on

2048-429: A very high standard – these are often the structures to have survived, when cathedrals and city churches have been rebuilt. No Romanesque royal palace has really survived. The lay artist was becoming a valued figure – Nicholas of Verdun seems to have been known across the continent. Most masons and goldsmiths were now lay, and lay painters such as Master Hugo seem to have been in the majority, at least of those doing

2176-720: A wall painting of the Liberal Arts , as well as narrative scenes from his war in Spain. The palace of Louis the Pious at Ingelheim contained historical images from antiquity to the time of Charlemagne, and the palace church contained typological scenes of the Old and New Testaments juxtaposed with one another. Fragmentary paintings have survived at Auxerre , Coblenz , Lorsch , Cologne , Fulda , Corvey , Trier , Müstair , Mals , Naturns , Cividale , Brescia and Milan . Spolia

2304-476: Is an unusually large ivory crucifix, with complex carving including many figures of prophets and others, which has been attributed to one of the relatively few artists whose name is known, Master Hugo , who also illuminated manuscripts. Like many pieces it was originally partly coloured. The Lewis chessmen are well-preserved examples of small ivories, of which many pieces or fragments remain from croziers , plaques, pectoral crosses and similar objects. With

2432-695: Is based on the belief that the historical Jesus is also the Christ , as in the Confession of Peter . This belief is in turn based on Jewish understandings of the meaning of the Hebrew term Messiah , which, like the Greek "Christ", means "anointed". In the Hebrew Scriptures, it describes a king anointed with oil on his accession to the throne: he becomes "The L ORD 's anointed" or Yahweh's Anointed. By

2560-530: Is known, though there is plenty of speculation. For example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists and that Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus are examples of these Bibles. Together with the Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus , these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles. There is no evidence among the canons of the First Council of Nicaea of any determination on

2688-610: Is neither read nor held among the Hebrews, but does not explicitly call it apocryphal or "not in the canon". The Synod of Hippo (in 393), followed by the Council of Carthage (397) and the Council of Carthage (419) , may be the first council that explicitly accepted the first canon which includes the books that did not appear in the Hebrew Bible ; the councils were under significant influence of Augustine of Hippo , who regarded

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2816-759: Is pictorial and biblical in subject. A great variety of themes are found on capitals and include scenes of Creation and the Fall of Man , episodes from the life of Christ and those Old Testament scenes which prefigure his Death and Resurrection , such as Jonah and the Whale and Daniel in the lions' den . Many Nativity scenes occur, the theme of the Three Kings being particularly popular. The cloisters of Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey in Northern Spain, and Moissac are fine examples surviving complete, as are

2944-477: Is that there are doorways which are Romanesque in form, and yet show a naturalism associated with Early Gothic sculpture. One of these is the Pórtico da Gloria dating from 1180, at Santiago de Compostela . This portal is internal and is particularly well preserved, even retaining colour on the figures and indicating the gaudy appearance of much architectural decoration which is now perceived as monochrome. Around

3072-575: Is the life-size wooden Crucifix commissioned by Archbishop Gero of Cologne in about 960–965, apparently the prototype of what became a popular form. These were later set up on a beam below the chancel arch, known in English as a rood , from the twelfth century accompanied by figures of the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist to the sides. During the 11th and 12th centuries, figurative sculpture strongly revived, and architectural reliefs are

3200-529: Is the Latin term for "spoils" and is used to refer to the taking or appropriation of ancient monumental or other art works for new uses or locations. We know that many marbles and columns were brought from Rome northward during this period. Perhaps the most famous example of Carolingian spolia is the tale of an equestrian statue. In Rome, Charlemagne had seen the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in

3328-679: Is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-century art historians, especially for Romanesque architecture , which retained many basic features of Roman architectural style – most notably round-headed arches, but also barrel vaults , apses , and acanthus -leaf decoration – but had also developed many very different characteristics. In Southern France, Spain, and Italy there

3456-465: Is the spiral. One of the sources may be Ionic capitals . Scrolling vines were a common motif of both Byzantine and Roman design, and may be seen in mosaic on the vaults of the 4th century Church of Santa Costanza , Rome. Manuscripts and architectural carvings of the 12th century have very similar scrolling vine motifs. Another source of the spiral is clearly the illuminated manuscripts of the 7th to 9th centuries, particularly Irish manuscripts such as

3584-423: Is to worship , or the one "true God", that only Yahweh (or YHWH ) is Almighty. The Old Testament stresses the special relationship between God and his chosen people , Israel, but includes instructions for proselytes as well. This relationship is expressed in the biblical covenant (contract) between the two, received by Moses . The law codes in books such as Exodus and especially Deuteronomy are

3712-605: The Septuagint (Latin for 'Seventy') from the supposed number of translators involved (hence its abbreviation " LXX "). This Septuagint remains the basis of the Old Testament in the Eastern Orthodox Church . It varies in many places from the Masoretic Text and includes numerous books no longer considered canonical in some traditions: 1 Esdras , Judith , Tobit , the books of Maccabees ,

3840-918: The Ada School ) produced the earliest manuscripts, including the Godescalc Evangelistary (781–783); the Lorsch Gospels (778–820); the Ada Gospels ; the Soissons Gospels ; the Harley Golden Gospels (800-820); and the Vienna Coronation Gospels ; ten manuscripts in total are usually recognised. The Court School manuscripts were ornate and ostentatious, and reminiscent of 6th-century ivories and mosaics from Ravenna , Italy. They were

3968-688: The Ascension of Christ in a mandorla. The figure of the crucified Christ is already showing the Gothic curve. The window is described by George Seddon as being of "unforgettable beauty". Many detached fragments are in museums, and a window at Twycross Church in England is made up of important French panels rescued from the French Revolution . Glass was both expensive and fairly flexible (in that it could be added to or re-arranged) and seems to have been often re-used when churches were rebuilt in

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4096-482: The Babylonian exile ) upon his people. The theme is played out, with many variations, in books as different as the histories of Kings and Chronicles, the prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah , and in the wisdom books like Job and Ecclesiastes. The process by which scriptures became canons and Bibles was a long one, and its complexities account for the many different Old Testaments which exist today. Timothy H. Lim,

4224-576: The Book of Wisdom , Sirach , and Baruch . Early modern biblical criticism typically explained these variations as intentional or ignorant corruptions by the Alexandrian scholars, but most recent scholarship holds it is simply based on early source texts differing from those later used by the Masoretes in their work. The Septuagint was originally used by Hellenized Jews whose knowledge of Greek

4352-581: The Drogo Sacramentary . The illuminated "historiated" decorated initials (see image this page) were to have influence into the Romanesque period and were a harmonious union of classical lettering with figural scenes. In the second half of the 9th century the traditions of the first half continued. A number of richly decorated Bibles were made for Charles the Bald, fusing Late Antiquity forms with

4480-643: The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches comprise up to 49 books; the Catholic canon comprises 46 books; and the most common of the Protestant canons comprises 39 books. There are 39 books common to essentially all Christian canons. They correspond to the 24 books of the Tanakh , with some differences of order, and there are some differences in text. The greater count of books reflects

4608-670: The Gniezno Doors , and the doors of the Basilica di San Zeno in Verona are other substantial survivals. The aquamanile , a container for water to wash with, appears to have been introduced to Europe in the 11th century. Artisans often gave the pieces fantastic zoomorphic forms; surviving examples are mostly in brass. Many wax impressions from impressive seals survive on charters and documents, although Romanesque coins are generally not of great aesthetic interest. The Cloisters Cross

4736-513: The Hellenistic time (332–198 BC), though containing much older material as well; Job was completed by the 6th century BC; Ecclesiastes by the 3rd century BC. Throughout the Old Testament, God is consistently depicted as the one who created the world. Although the God of the Old Testament is not consistently presented as the only god who exists , he is always depicted as the only God whom Israel

4864-648: The Israelites . The second division of Christian Bibles is the New Testament , written in Koine Greek . The Old Testament consists of many distinct books by various authors produced over a period of centuries. Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections: the first five books or Pentateuch (which corresponds to the Jewish Torah ); the history books telling the history of

4992-679: The Lateran Palace . It was the only surviving statue of a pre-Christian Roman Emperor because it was mistakenly thought, at the time, to be that of Constantine and thus held great accord—Charlemagne thus brought an equestrian statue from Ravenna , then believed to be that of Theodoric the Great , to Aachen, to match the statue of "Constantine" in Rome. Antique carved gems were reused in various settings, without much regard to their original iconography . Romanesque art Romanesque art

5120-644: The Louvre . Recent scholars tend to group the Lindau Gospels and the Arnulf Ciborium in closer relation to each other than the Codex Aureus to either. Charlemagne revived large-scale bronze casting when he created a foundry at Aachen which cast the doors for his palace chapel , in imitation of Roman designs. The chapel also had a now lost life-size crucifix, with the figure of Christ in gold,

5248-534: The Old Testament , especially Genesis ; New Testament scenes are more often found on the ivory reliefs on the covers. The oversized and heavily decorated initials of Insular art were adopted, and the historiated initial further developed, with small narrative scenes seen for the first time towards the end of the period—notably in the Drogo Sacramentary . Luxury manuscripts were given treasure bindings or rich covers with jewels set in gold and carved ivory panels, and, as in Insular art, were prestige objects kept in

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5376-432: The Pentateuch (Torah) , the historical books , the "wisdom" books and the prophets. The table below uses the spellings and names present in modern editions of the Christian Bible, such as the Catholic New American Bible Revised Edition and the Protestant Revised Standard Version and English Standard Version . The spelling and names in both the 1609–F10 Douay Old Testament (and in the 1582 Rheims New Testament ) and

5504-408: The Province of Burgos , Spain, though from a monastery, are secular in subject-matter, showing huge and vigorous mythical beasts above a frieze in black and white with other creatures. They give a rare idea of what decorated Romanesque palaces would have contained. In England and France , the Romanesque period saw the rise of pigaches , "scorpion-tail" or "ram's-horn" shoes much assailed by

5632-419: The Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition ) use the same "standardized" (King James Version) spellings and names as Protestant Bibles (e.g. 1 Chronicles as opposed to the Douaic 1 Paralipomenon, 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings instead of 1–4 Kings) in those books which are universally considered canonical: the protocanonicals . The Talmud (the Jewish commentary on the scriptures) in Bava Batra 14b gives

5760-406: The St. Albans Psalter , Hunterian Psalter , Winchester Bible (the "Morgan Leaf" shown above), Fécamp Bible , Stavelot Bible , and Parc Abbey Bible . By the end of the period lay commercial workshops of artists and scribes were becoming significant, and illumination, and books generally, became more widely available to both laity and clergy. The large wall surfaces and plain, curving vaults of

5888-436: The St. Gall Gospel Book , spread into Europe by the Hiberno-Scottish mission . In these illuminations the use of the spiral has nothing to do with vines or other plant forms. The motif is abstract and mathematical. The style was then picked up in Carolingian art and given a more botanical character. It is in an adaptation of this form that the spiral occurs in the draperies of both sculpture and stained glass windows. Of all

6016-420: The Temple at that time. The books of Joshua , Judges , Samuel and Kings follow, forming a history of Israel from the Conquest of Canaan to the Siege of Jerusalem c.  587 BC . There is a broad consensus among scholars that these originated as a single work (the so-called " Deuteronomistic History ") during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BC. The two Books of Chronicles cover much

6144-518: The Torah (the Old Testament Pentateuch) as having authoritative status; by the 2nd century BC, the Prophets had a similar status, although without quite the same level of respect as the Torah; beyond that, the Jewish scriptures were fluid, with different groups seeing authority in different books. Hebrew texts began to be translated into Greek in Alexandria in about 280 BC and continued until about 130 BC. These early Greek translations – supposedly commissioned by Ptolemy II Philadelphus – were called

6272-423: The renovatio (revival) of Roman culture and learning in the West, and needed an art capable of telling stories and representing figures with an effectiveness which ornamental Germanic Migration period art could not. He wished to establish himself as the heir to the great rulers of the past, to emulate and symbolically link the artistic achievements of Early Christian and Byzantine culture with his own. But it

6400-473: The semi-dome of the apse, Christ in Majesty or Christ the Redeemer enthroned within a mandorla and framed by the four winged beasts, symbols of the Four Evangelists , comparing directly with examples from the gilt covers or the illuminations of Gospel Books of the period. If the Virgin Mary was the dedicatee of the church, she might replace Christ here. On the apse walls below would be saints and apostles, perhaps including narrative scenes, for example of

6528-578: The 12th century there had been reciprocal influences between all these, although naturally regional distinctiveness remained. The typical foci of Romanesque illumination were the Bible, where each book could be prefaced by a large historiated initial , and the Psalter , where major initials were similarly illuminated. In both cases more lavish examples might have cycles of scenes in fully illuminated pages, sometimes with several scenes per page, in compartments. The Bibles in particular often had a, and might be bound into more than one volume. Examples include

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6656-408: The 1749 revision by Bishop Challoner (the edition currently in print used by many Catholics, and the source of traditional Catholic spellings in English) and in the Septuagint differ from those spellings and names used in modern editions which are derived from the Hebrew Masoretic Text . For the Orthodox canon, Septuagint titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. For

6784-450: The Catholic canon, the Douaic titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. Likewise, the King James Version references some of these books by the traditional spelling when referring to them in the New Testament, such as "Esaias" (for Isaiah ). In the spirit of ecumenism , more recent Catholic translations (e.g. the New American Bible , Jerusalem Bible , and ecumenical translations used by Catholics, such as

6912-427: The Gothic style – the earliest datable English glass, a panel in York Minster from a Tree of Jesse probably of before 1154, has been recycled in this way. Old Testament The Old Testament ( OT ) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon , which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible , or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by

7040-497: The Hebrew Bible, and are also Jewish in origin. Some are also contained in the Dead Sea Scrolls . In general, Catholic and Orthodox churches include the deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament. Most Protestant Bibles do not include them in their canon, but some versions of Anglican and Lutheran Bibles place such books in a separate section called Apocrypha . The Old Testament contains 39 (Protestant), 46 (Catholic), or more (Orthodox and other) books, divided, very broadly, into

7168-488: The Hebrew, Greek and Latin versions of the Hebrew Bible are the best known Old Testaments, there were others. At much the same time as the Septuagint was being produced, translations were being made into Aramaic, the language of Jews living in Palestine and the Near East and likely the language of Jesus : these are called the Aramaic Targums , from a word meaning "translation", and were used to help Jewish congregations understand their scriptures. For Aramaic Christians, there

7296-426: The Israelites, from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon ; the poetic and " Wisdom books " dealing, in various forms, with questions of good and evil in the world; and the books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God. The books that compose the Old Testament canon and their order and names differ between various branches of Christianity . The canons of

7424-479: The Late Antique examples that survive in fragments. Teaching books such as theological, historical, literary and scientific works from ancient authors were copied and generally only illustrated in ink, if at all. The Chronography of 354 was a Late Roman manuscript that apparently was copied in the Carolingian period, though this copy seems to have been lost in the 17th century. Carolingian manuscripts are presumed to have been produced largely or entirely by clerics, in

7552-405: The Old Testament predicted a Messiah who would suffer and die for the sins of all people. The story of Jesus' death, therefore, involved a profound shift in meaning from the Old Testament tradition. The name "Old Testament" reflects Christianity's understanding of itself as the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy of a New Covenant (which is similar to "testament" and often conflated) to replace

7680-400: The Old Testament. Of the remainder, the books of the various prophets— Isaiah , Jeremiah , Ezekiel , and the twelve " minor prophets "—were written between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, with the exceptions of Jonah and Daniel , which were written much later. The "wisdom" books— Job , Proverbs , Ecclesiastes , Psalms , Song of Songs —have various dates: Proverbs possibly was completed by

7808-401: The Rheims school, in particular the Utrecht Psalter with its naturalistic expressive figurine line drawings, would have influence on northern medieval art for centuries to follow, into the Romanesque period. Another style developed at the monastery of St Martin of Tours , in which large Bibles were illustrated based on Late Antique bible illustrations. Three large Touronian Bibles were created,

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7936-447: The Romanesque period lent themselves to mural decoration. Unfortunately, many of these early wall paintings have been destroyed by damp or the walls have been replastered and painted over. In England, France and the Netherlands such pictures were systematically destroyed or whitewashed in bouts of Reformation iconoclasm . Murals in Denmark , as well as in Sweden , and elsewhere many have since been restored. In Catalonia (Spain) , there

8064-451: The Septuagint ( 3 Ezra and 3 and 4 Maccabees are excluded); the Anglicans after the English Civil War adopted a compromise position, restoring the 39 Articles and keeping the extra books that were excluded by the Westminster Confession of Faith , both for private study and for reading in churches but not for establishing any doctrine, while Lutherans kept them for private study, gathered in an appendix as biblical apocrypha . While

8192-459: The Septuagint's, and Theodotion's. The so-called "fifth" and "sixth editions" were two other Greek translations supposedly miraculously discovered by students outside the towns of Jericho and Nicopolis : these were added to Origen's Octapla. In 331, Constantine I commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for the Church of Constantinople . Athanasius recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for Constans . Little else

8320-399: The Spanish region of Catalonia, an elaborate pictorial scheme in low relief surrounds the door of the church of Santa Maria at Ripoll . The purpose of the sculptural schemes was to convey a message that the Christian believer should recognize wrongdoing, repent and be redeemed. The Last Judgement reminds the believer to repent. The carved or painted Crucifix , displayed prominently within

8448-426: The Virgin. Important Carolingian examples of goldsmith's work include the upper cover of the Lindau Gospels ; the cover of the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram , which can be precisely dated to 870, is probably a product of the same workshop, though there are differences of style. This workshop is associated with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles II (the Bald) , and often called his "Palace School". Its location (if it had

8576-413: The West. The Carolingian era is part of the period in medieval art sometimes called the " Pre-Romanesque ". After a rather chaotic interval following the Carolingian period, the new Ottonian dynasty revived Imperial art from about 950, building on and further developing Carolingian style in Ottonian art . Having established an Empire as large as the Byzantine Empire of the day, and rivaling in size

8704-419: The Western Church, specifically as the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate , while the Churches in the East continued, and continue, to use the Septuagint. Jerome, however, in the Vulgate's prologues , describes some portions of books in the Septuagint not found in the Hebrew Bible as being non- canonical (he called them apocrypha ); for Baruch , he mentions by name in his Prologue to Jeremiah and notes that it

8832-430: The adoption of Hiberno-Saxon traditions into Romanesque styles in England and on the continent, the influence was primarily one-way. Irish art during this period remained isolated, developing a unique amalgam of native Irish and Viking styles which would be slowly extinguished and replaced by mainstream Romanesque style in the early 13th century following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. ) Most Romanesque sculpture

8960-434: The amount of fine metalwork owned by the nobility. The bronze Gloucester candlestick and the brass font of 1108–1117 now in Liège are superb examples, very different in style, of metal casting. The former is highly intricate and energetic, drawing on manuscript painting, while the font shows the Mosan style at its most classical and majestic. The bronze doors, a triumphal column and other fittings at Hildesheim Cathedral ,

9088-512: The art of the period was characterised by a vigorous style in both sculpture and painting. The latter continued to follow essentially Byzantine iconographic models for the most common subjects in churches, which remained Christ in Majesty , the Last Judgment , and scenes from the life of Christ . In illuminated manuscripts more originality is seen, as new scenes needed to be depicted. The most lavishly decorated manuscripts of this period were bibles and psalters . The same originality applied to

9216-576: The best known is the Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral by Nicholas of Verdun and others ( c.  1180 –1225). The Stavelot Triptych and Reliquary of St. Maurus are other examples of Mosan enamelwork. Large reliquaries and altar frontals were built around a wooden frame, but smaller caskets were all metal and enamel. A few secular pieces, such as mirror cases, jewellery and clasps have survived, but these no doubt under-represent

9344-518: The best work, by the end of the period. The iconography of their church work was no doubt arrived at in consultation with clerical advisors. Precious objects in these media had a very high status in the period, probably much more so than paintings – the names of more makers of these objects are known than those of contemporary painters, illuminators or architect-masons. Metalwork, including decoration in enamel , became very sophisticated. Many spectacular shrines made to hold relics have survived, of which

9472-638: The books in the Catholic and Orthodox canons that are absent from the Jewish Masoretic Text and most modern Protestant Bibles. Catholics, following the Canon of Trent (1546), describe these books as deuterocanonical, while Greek Orthodox Christians, following the Synod of Jerusalem (1672) , use the traditional name of anagignoskomena , meaning "that which is to be read." They are present in

9600-536: The canon as already closed. In the 16th century, the Protestant reformers sided with Jerome; yet although most Protestant Bibles now have only those books that appear in the Hebrew Bible, the order is that of the Greek Bible. Rome then officially adopted a canon, the Canon of Trent , which is seen as following Augustine's Carthaginian Councils or the Council of Rome , and includes most, but not all, of

9728-663: The canon. However, Jerome (347–420), in his Prologue to Judith , claims that the Book of Judith was "found by the Nicene Council to have been counted among the number of the Sacred Scriptures". In Western Christianity or Christianity in the Western half of the Roman Empire , Latin had displaced Greek as the common language of the early Christians, and in 382 AD Pope Damasus I commissioned Jerome ,

9856-571: The capitals of columns, which were often carved with complete scenes with several figures. The large wooden crucifix was a German innovation at the very start of the period, as were free-standing statues of the enthroned Madonna. High relief was the dominant sculptural mode of the period. Colours were very striking, and mostly primary. Presently, these colours can typically only be seen in their original vividness in samples of stained glass and well-preserved manuscripts. Stained glass became widely used, although few survive today. In an invention of

9984-454: The church or treasury, and a different class of object from the working manuscripts kept in the library , where some initials might be decorated, and pen drawings added in a few places. A few of the grandest imperial manuscripts were written on purple parchment . The Bern Physiologus is a relatively rare example of a secular manuscript heavily illustrated with fully painted miniatures, lying in between these two classes, and perhaps produced for

10112-762: The church, reminds the sinner of redemption. Often the sculpture is alarming in form and in subject matter. These works are found on capitals, corbels and bosses, or entwined in the foliage on door mouldings. They represent forms that are not easily recognizable today. Common motifs include Sheela na Gig , fearsome demons , ouroboros or dragons swallowing their tails, and many other mythical creatures with obscure meaning. Spirals and paired motifs originally had special significance in oral tradition that has been lost or rejected by modern scholars. The Seven Deadly Sins including lust, gluttony and avarice are also frequently represented. The appearance of many figures with oversized genitals can be equated with carnal sin, and so can

10240-783: The clergy at the time. Orderic Vitalis in particular blamed them for the supposed rise in sodomy and homosexuality of the era. The shoes are now principally remembered as precursors to the much more extravagant poulaines that became popular following the Black Death . Romanesque embroidery is best known from the Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux , France or the Tapestry of Creation in Girona , Spain, but many more closely worked pieces of Opus Anglicanum ("English work" – considered

10368-559: The controversies attending this process have largely died down. The earliest workshop was the Court School of Charlemagne; then a Rheimsian style, which became the most influential of the Carolingian period; a Touronian style; a Drogo style; and finally a Court School of Charles the Bald. These are the major centres, but others exist, characterized by the works of art produced there. The Court School of Charlemagne (also known as

10496-410: The covers have been broken up for their materials. The subjects were often narrative religious scenes in vertical sections, largely derived from Late Antique paintings and carvings, as were those with more hieratic images derived from consular diptychs and other imperial art, such as the front and back covers of the Lorsch Gospels , which adapt a 6th-century Imperial triumph to the triumph of Christ and

10624-467: The doorway are figures who are integrated with the colonnettes that make the mouldings of the doors. They are three-dimensional, but slightly flattened. They are highly individualised, not only in appearance but also expression and bear quite strong resemblance to those around the north porch of the Abbey of St. Denis, dating from 1170. Beneath the tympanum there is a realistically carved row of figures playing

10752-461: The earliest Carolingian manuscripts and initiated a revival of Roman classicism, yet still maintained Migration Period art (Merovingian and Insular ) traditions in their basically linear presentation, with no concern for volume and spatial relationships. In the early 9th-century Archbishop Ebbo of Rheims , at Hautvillers (near Rheims ), assembled artists and transformed Carolingian art to something entirely new. The Gospel book of Ebbo (816–835)

10880-531: The fall of the Western Roman Empire, the tradition of carving large works in stone and sculpting figures in bronze died out, as it effectively did (for religious reasons) in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) world. Some life-size sculpture was evidently done in stucco or plaster, but surviving examples are understandably rare. The best-known surviving large sculptural work of Proto-Romanesque Europe

11008-525: The figure of Seth, the robes have been used to great decorative effect, similar to the best stone carving of the period. Glass craftsmen were slower than architects to change their style, and much glass from at least the first part of the 13th century can be considered as essentially Romanesque. Especially fine are large figures of 1200 from Strasbourg Cathedral (some now removed to the museum) and of about 1220 from Saint Kunibert's Church in Cologne . Most of

11136-454: The finest in the West) and other styles have survived, mostly as church vestments . The oldest-known fragments of medieval pictorial stained glass appear to date from the 10th century. The earliest intact figures are five prophet windows at Augsburg, dating from the late 11th century. The figures, though stiff and formalised, demonstrate considerable proficiency in design, both pictorially and in

11264-420: The first Christian monumental religious sculpture, a momentous precedent for Western art. Reasonable numbers of Carolingian illuminated manuscripts and small-scale sculptures, mostly in ivory, have survived, but far fewer examples of metalwork, mosaics and frescoes and other types of work. Many manuscripts in particular are copies or reinterpretations of Late Antique or Byzantine models, nearly all now lost, and

11392-714: The first known work of this type, which was to become so important a feature of medieval church art. Probably a wooden figure was mechanically gilded , as with the Ottonian Golden Madonna of Essen . One of the finest examples of Carolingian goldsmiths' work is the Golden Altar (824–859), a paliotto , in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan . The altars four sides are decorated with images in gold and silver repoussé , framed by borders of filigree , precious stones and enamel . The Lothair Crystal , of

11520-409: The functional use of the glass, indicating that their maker was well accustomed to the medium. At Le Mans , Canterbury and Chartres Cathedrals, and Saint-Denis , a number of panels of the 12th century have survived. At Canterbury these include a figure of Adam digging, and another of his son Seth from a series of Ancestors of Christ . Adam represents a highly naturalistic and lively portrayal, while in

11648-588: The highest quality was no longer confined, as it largely was in the Carolingian and Ottonian periods, to the royal court and a small circle of monasteries. Monasteries continued to be extremely important, especially those of the expansionist new orders of the period, the Cistercian , Cluniac , and Carthusian , which spread across Europe. But city churches, those on pilgrimage routes, and many churches in small towns and villages were elaborately decorated to

11776-563: The last and most spectacular. It contained Touronian and Rheimsian elements, but fused with the style that characterized Charlemagne's Court School more formal manuscripts. With the death of Charles the Bald patronage for manuscripts declined, signaling the beginning of the end, but some work did continue for a while. The Abbey of St. Gall created the Folchard Psalter (872) and the Golden Psalter (883). This Gallish style

11904-516: The last, and best, example was made about 845/846 for Charles the Bald , called the Vivian Bible . The Tours School was cut short by the invasion of the Normans in 853, but its style had already left a permanent mark on other centers in the Carolingian Empire. The diocese of Metz was another center of Carolingian art. Between 850 and 855 a sacramentary was made for Bishop Drogo called

12032-639: The leading scholar of the day, to produce an updated Latin Bible to replace the Vetus Latina , which was a Latin translation of the Septuagint. Jerome's work, called the Vulgate , was a direct translation from Hebrew, since he argued for the superiority of the Hebrew texts in correcting the Septuagint on both philological and theological grounds. His Vulgate Old Testament became the standard Bible used in

12160-537: The magnificent stained glass of France, including the famous windows of Chartres, date from the 13th century. Far fewer large windows remain intact from the 12th century. One such is the Crucifixion of Poitiers, a remarkable composition which rises through three stages, the lowest with a quatrefoil depicting the Martyrdom of St Peter, the largest central stage dominated by the crucifixion and the upper stage showing

12288-517: The many examples that occur on Romanesque portals, one of the most outstanding is that of the central figure of Christ at La Madeleine, Vezelay . Another influence from Insular art are engaged and entwined animals, often used to superb effect in capitals (as at Silos) and sometimes on a column itself (as at Moissac). Much of the treatment of paired, confronted and entwined animals in Romanesque decoration has similar Insular origins, as do animals whose bodies tail into purely decorative shapes. (Despite

12416-405: The middle of the 9th century, is one of the largest of a group of about 20 engraved pieces of rock crystal which survive; this shows large numbers of figures in several scenes showing the unusual subject of the story of Suzanna . Sources attest to the abundance of wall paintings seen in churches and palaces, most of which have not survived. Records of inscriptions show that their subject matter

12544-403: The nature of the influence of specific models on individual Carolingian works remains a perennial topic in art history. As well as these influences, the extravagant energy of Insular art added a definite flavour to Carolingian work, which sometimes used interlaced decoration , and followed more cautiously the insular freedom in allowing decoration to spread around and into the text on the page of

12672-450: The new Gothic architecture. In fact, many churches of the late Romanesque period post-date the building at Saint-Denis. The sculptural style based more upon observation and naturalism than on formalised design developed rapidly. It is thought that one reason for the rapid development of naturalistic form was a growing awareness of Classical remains in places where they were most numerous and a deliberate imitation of their style. The consequence

12800-405: The numerous figures shown with protruding tongues, which are a feature of the doorway of Lincoln Cathedral . Pulling one's beard was a symbol of masturbation, and pulling one's mouth wide open was also a sign of lewdness. A common theme found on capitals of this period is a tongue poker or beard stroker being beaten by his wife or seized by demons. Demons fighting over the soul of a wrongdoer such as

12928-548: The old Western Roman Empire , the Carolingian court must have been conscious that they lacked an artistic style to match these or even the post-antique (or "sub-antique" as Ernst Kitzinger called it) art still being produced in small quantities in Rome and a few other centres in Italy, which Charlemagne knew from his campaigns, and where he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome in 800. As symbolic representative of Rome he sought

13056-465: The patriarchs" and "the unified conquest of the land" were widely accepted in the United States until about the 1970s. Contrarily, Grabbe says that those in his field now "are all minimalists – at least, when it comes to the patriarchal period and the settlement. ... [V]ery few are willing to operate [as maximalists]." In 2022, archaeologist Avraham Faust wrote that in the 1990s

13184-518: The period, the tympanums of important church portals were carved with monumental schemes, often Christ in Majesty or the Last Judgement , but treated with more freedom than painted versions, as there were no equivalent Byzantine models. Compositions usually had little depth and needed to be flexible to be fit into the shapes of historiated initials , column capitals, and church tympanums;

13312-522: The private library of an important individual, as was the Vatican Terence . The Utrecht Psalter , stands alone as a very heavily illustrated library version of the Psalms done in pen and wash, and almost certainly copied from a much earlier manuscript. Other liturgical works were sometimes produced in luxury manuscripts, such as sacramentaries , but no Carolingian Bible is decorated as heavily as

13440-464: The relief sculptures on the many Tournai fonts found in churches in southern England, France and Belgium. A feature of some Romanesque churches is the extensive sculptural scheme which covers the area surrounding the portal or, in some case, much of the facade. Angouleme Cathedral in France has a highly elaborate scheme of sculpture set within the broad niches created by the arcading of the facade. In

13568-626: The saint to whom the church was dedicated. On the sanctuary arch were figures of apostles, prophets or the twenty-four " elders of the Apocalypse ", looking in towards a bust of Christ, or his symbol the Lamb, at the top of the arch. The north wall of the nave would contain narrative scenes from the Old Testament, and the south wall from the New Testament. On the rear west wall would be a Last Judgement , with an enthroned and judging Christ at

13696-470: The same material as the Pentateuch and Deuteronomistic history and probably date from the 4th century BC. Chronicles, and Ezra–Nehemiah , was probably finished during the 3rd century BC. Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments contain two (Catholic Old Testament) to four (Orthodox) Books of the Maccabees , written in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. These history books make up around half the total content of

13824-518: The similarity of the Genesis flood narrative and the Gilgamesh flood myth . Similarities between the origin story of Moses and that of Sargon of Akkad were noted by psychoanalyst Otto Rank in 1909 and popularized by 20th-century writers, such as H. G. Wells and Joseph Campbell . Jacob Bronowski writes that, "the Bible is ... part folklore and part record. History is ... written by

13952-627: The splitting of several texts ( Samuel , Kings , Chronicles , Ezra–Nehemiah , and the Twelve Minor Prophets ) into separate books in Christian Bibles. The books that are part of the Christian Old Testament but that are not part of the Hebrew canon are sometimes described as deuterocanonical books . These books are ultimately derived from the earlier Septuagint , the earliest extant Greek translation of

14080-486: The styles developed at Rheims and Tours. It was during this time a Franco-Saxon style appeared in the north of France, integrating Hiberno-Saxon interlace, and would outlast all other Carolingian styles into the next century. Charles the Bald, like his grandfather, also established a Court School. Its location is uncertain but several manuscripts are attributed to it, with the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram (870) being

14208-427: The tension between a tightly enclosing frame, from which the composition sometimes escapes, is a recurrent theme in Romanesque art. Figures often varied in size in relation to their importance. Landscape backgrounds, if employed at all, were closer to abstract decorations than realism – as in the trees in the "Morgan Leaf". Portraiture hardly existed. During this period, Europe grew steadily more prosperous, and art of

14336-544: The term to refer to a pledge. Further themes in the Old Testament include salvation , redemption , divine judgment , obedience and disobedience, faith and faithfulness, among others. Throughout there is a strong emphasis on ethics and ritual purity , both of which God demands, although some of the prophets and wisdom writers seem to question this, arguing that God demands social justice above purity, and perhaps does not even care about purity at all. The Old Testament's moral code enjoins fairness, intervention on behalf of

14464-495: The terms of the contract: Israel swears faithfulness to God, and God swears to be Israel's special protector and supporter. However, The Jewish Study Bible denies that the word covenant ( brit in Hebrew) means "contract"; in the ancient Near East, a covenant would have been sworn before the gods, who would be its enforcers. As God is part of the agreement, and not merely witnessing it, The Jewish Study Bible instead interprets

14592-612: The threat from the Vikings was removed, and in Spain. The most numerous surviving works of the Carolingian renaissance are illuminated manuscripts . A number of luxury manuscripts, mostly Gospel books , have survived, decorated with a relatively small number of full-page miniatures , often including evangelist portraits , and lavish canon tables , following the precedent of the Insular art of Britain and Ireland. Narrative images and especially cycles are rarer, but many exist, mostly of

14720-591: The time of Jesus, some Jews expected that a flesh-and-blood descendant of David (the " Son of David ") would come to establish a real Jewish kingdom in Jerusalem, instead of the Roman province of Judaea. Others stressed the Son of Man , a distinctly other-worldly figure who would appear as a judge at the end of time . Some expounded a synthesised view of both positions, where a messianic kingdom of this world would last for

14848-557: The top. One of the most intact schemes to exist is that at Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe in France. The long barrel vault of the nave provides an excellent surface for fresco, and is decorated with scenes of the Old Testament , showing the Creation , the Fall of Man and other stories including a lively depiction of Noah's Ark complete with a fearsome figurehead and numerous windows through which can be seen Noah and his family on

14976-678: The upper deck, birds on the middle deck, while on the lower are the pairs of animals. Another scene shows with great vigour the swamping of Pharaoh's army by the Red Sea . The scheme extends to other parts of the church, with the martyrdom of the local saints shown in the crypt, and Apocalypse in the narthex and Christ in Majesty . The range of colours employed is limited to light blue-green, yellow ochre, reddish brown and black. Similar paintings exist in Serbia , Spain, Germany, Italy and elsewhere in France. The now-dispersed paintings from Arlanza in

15104-484: The victors, and the Israelis , when they burst through [ Jericho ( c.  1400 BC )], became the carriers of history." In 2007, a historian of ancient Judaism Lester L. Grabbe explained that earlier biblical scholars such as Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918) could be described as 'maximalist', accepting biblical text unless it has been disproven. Continuing in this tradition, both "the 'substantial historicity' of

15232-457: The vulnerable, and the duty of those in power to administer justice righteously. It forbids murder, bribery and corruption, deceitful trading, and many sexual misdemeanours . All morality is traced back to God, who is the source of all goodness. The problem of evil plays a large part in the Old Testament. The problem the Old Testament authors faced was that a good God must have had just reason for bringing disaster (meaning notably, but not only,

15360-510: Was a Syriac translation of the Hebrew Bible called the Peshitta , as well as versions in Coptic (the everyday language of Egypt in the first Christian centuries, descended from ancient Egyptian ), Ethiopic (for use in the Ethiopian church , one of the oldest Christian churches), Armenian (Armenia was the first to adopt Christianity as its official religion), and Arabic . Christianity

15488-570: Was a campaign to save such murals in the early 20th century (as of 1907) by removing them and transferring them to safekeeping in Barcelona , resulting in the spectacular collection at the National Art Museum of Catalonia . In other countries they have suffered from war, neglect and changing fashion. A classic scheme for the full painted decoration of a church, derived from earlier examples often in mosaic , had, as its focal point in

15616-743: Was adapted to stone carving and is seen particularly in the tympanum above the portal, where the imagery of Christ in Majesty with the symbols of the Four Evangelists is drawn directly from the gilt covers of medieval Gospel Books . This style of doorway occurs in many places and continued into the Gothic period. A rare survival in England is that of the "Prior's Door" at Ely Cathedral . In South- Western France , many have survived, with impressive examples at Saint-Pierre, Moissac , Souillac , and La Madeleine, Vézelay – all daughter houses of Cluny, with extensive other sculpture remaining in cloisters and other buildings. Nearby, Autun Cathedral has

15744-587: Was an architectural continuity with the Late Antique, but the Romanesque style was the first style to spread across the whole of Catholic Europe, from Sicily to Scandinavia. Romanesque art was also greatly influenced by Byzantine art , especially in painting, and by the anti-classical energy of the decoration of the Insular art of the British Isles . From these elements was forged a highly innovative and coherent style. Outside Romanesque architecture,

15872-538: Was better than Hebrew. However, the texts came to be used predominantly by gentile converts to Christianity and by the early Church as its scripture, Greek being the lingua franca of the early Church. The three most acclaimed early interpreters were Aquila of Sinope , Symmachus the Ebionite , and Theodotion ; in his Hexapla , Origen placed his edition of the Hebrew text beside its transcription in Greek letters and four parallel translations: Aquila's, Symmachus's,

16000-684: Was more than a conscious desire to revive ancient Roman culture. During Charlemagne's reign the Byzantine Iconoclasm controversy was dividing the Byzantine Empire . He supported the Western church's consistent refusal to follow iconoclasm; the Libri Carolini sets out the position of his court circle, no doubt under his direction. With no inhibitions from a cultural memory of Mediterranean pagan idolatry , he introduced

16128-652: Was painted with swift, fresh and vibrant brush strokes, evoking an inspiration and energy unknown in classical Mediterranean forms. Other books associated with the Rheims school include the Utrecht Psalter , which was perhaps the most important of all Carolingian manuscripts, and the Bern Physiologus , the earliest Latin edition of the Christian allegorical text on animals. The expressive animations of

16256-684: Was primarily religious. Mosaics installed in Charlemagne's palatine chapel showed an enthroned Christ worshipped by the Evangelist's symbols and the twenty-four elders from the Apocalypse . This mosaic no longer survives, but an over-restored one remains in the apse of the oratory at Germigny-des-Prés (806) which shows the Ark of the Covenant adored by angels, discovered in 1820 under

16384-413: Was unique, but lacked the level of technical mastery seen in other regions. Luxury Carolingian manuscripts were intended to have treasure bindings —ornate covers in precious metal set with jewels around central carved ivory panels—sometimes these were donated some time after the manuscript itself was produced. Only a few such covers have survived intact, but many of the ivory panels survive detached, where

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