The Medieval Art Period

The Medieval Art Period

Introduction

The term medieval id borrowed from the Latin language. It merely means the middle “ages.” The term middle age and the period that it lasts is decided by the renaissance period. Many historians would ask, which middle-age is termed as the medieval period. (Delahoyde)Middle-age is commonly referred to as the medieval age.  This is the period that was in between the classical period up to the beginning of the renaissance. Depicted below are the discussion of how art grew during this medieval period and a reflection of whether the medieval period was a period of artistic development or decline.

The art period in the medieval era begins from the time the Roman Empire collapsed, which is 300AD, and it was ended by the beginning of the renaissance period in 1400 AD. (Delahoyde) During the medieval period, as the new things continue to replace old items, art continues to evolve in this medieval period. Classical Mythology, the subjects of the Bible and the Dogma of the church grew during this period. The medieval period has three faces early medieval period, the middle medieval period and the later medieval period.

In the early medieval period, many artistic projects were financed by the Catholic Church. The earliest examples of Christian art is the Basilica of S.t Sabina. This building was used for many events. Among the uses were as a court of law. (Farber, 2015) This building can be put in a category with architecture that is commonly referred to as the Constantine architecture just as the trier basilica is constructed. The basilica of S.t Sabina also has an axis at the centre. This axis move begins from the basilica’s entrance up to the apse. This is where the altar is located. (Farber, 2015) The architecture that was used to build this basilica is relatively simple. The roof of this basilica is made from wood, making it very simple. The mosaics were initially used to decorate the walls of the basilica. This proves that art was flourishing during the medieval period.

In the ancient world, the biggest and the largest Amphitheatre is the Colosseum Amphitheatre. It is built in Rome. The Amphitheatre is constructed using bricks. After being built using bricks, the Amphitheatre discovered using travertine. (Tuscanyall.com, 2020) The capacity of this specific Amphitheatre is fifty thousand people. It was built during the mid-medieval period. The size that this Amphitheatre can hold is so big, and for architects in the olden days, it was an achievement building such an Amphitheatre.

The Ivory casket of al-Mughira; Córdoba, Spain is another piece of art that shows that in the medieval period, flourished. This casket was built in the mid-twelfth century. The virgin and the child between Saints Theodore and George Monastery of Saint Catherine is also another piece of art that shows flourishing of the medieval art was built on top of Mount Sinai Egypt.

In conclusion, the medieval period was an era that saw a lot of artistic flourishes. Starting from the church, architecture, class differentiation among people, development of European cities, areas such as law and the advancement in numbers that later gave birth to banking are some of the things that prove that during the medieval period, art flourished.

References

Delahoyde, Michael. “Medieval Introduction”. Public.Wsu.Edu, 2020, https://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/medieval/medieval_intro.html.

. Farber, D. (2015). Basilica of Santa Sabina, Rome – Smarthistory. Smarthistory.org. Retrieved 31 March 2020, from https://smarthistory.org/santa-sabina/.

Tuscanyall.com, M. (2020). The Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheater. ITALIAN MUSEUMS NEWS and BOOKING GUIDE. Retrieved 31 March 2020, from https://news.italy-museum.com/the-colosseum-or-flavian-amphitheater/.