Middle Ages

Question 1

What contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire

Answer 1

The emergence and spread of Christianity contributed to a fall of the Roman Empire

Question 2

What were Christians persecuted for?

Answer 2

Christians were persecuted for not following Roman Imperial rules dictating that all inhabitants had to make offerings to the official gods

Question 3

What led to the division of the Roman Empire into the Eastern and Western empires.

Answer 3

Constantine’s decision to declare Christianity as the official religion through the Edict of Milan in 313 AD and move the Capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium renaming it Constantinople, led to the division of the Roman Empire into the Eastern and Western Empires

Question 4

Constantine’s decision to declare Christianity as the official religion through the Edict of Milan in 313 AD and move the Capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium renaming it Constantinople, led to the division of the Roman Empire into the Eastern and Western Empires

Answer 4

Iconoclasm: Art stagnated as images of divine figures such as Jesus and Maria were banned

Question 5

What was Charlemagne crowned as and by?

Answer 5

Charlemagne crowned by the pope as ‘Emperor of the Romans’ in 800 AD
• Literacy and Christianity spread
• Stability of the Western Roman Empire

Question 6

When did the Romanesque develop

Answer 6

Romanesque art developed during the era of crusades in 1095 – 1291
• Attempt to bring the Holy Land under Christian control
• Promoted exchange of ideas

Question 7

Feudal system

Answer 7

Feudal system: Strict divisive class system of landowners and enslaved farmworkers (owing to feudal system)
• Position in feudal system was determined by birth and to enter the church

Question 8

Monastic order:

Answer 8

Only way to access education and escape the feudal system

Question 9

Murals

Answer 9

Earliest artworks in the form of funerary art for families who were not wealthy

• Created in dark passages and recesses of the catacombs (underground burial places used exclusively by Christians)

• Murals:
• All the paintings imply resurrection,
salvation and life after death

• Paintings were sketchy and Impressionistic and show influences from Roman murals
• Bright colours, strong contrast and figures in bold poses (art looked at in lamplight)

Question 10

MURALS(language)

Answer 10

• Language of signs was created through the extreme simplification of images in the avoidance of portraying Christ or God (only later during late 3rd Century)

Question 11

Early Christian Period

Answer 11

Chi-Rho monogram

The Good Shepherd

Question 12

The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus

Answer 12

• Carving
• Marble
• Naturalistic and classic scene
• Scenes portrayed in 2 registers – do not follow a narrative sequence
• Refer to Christ’s conquest over death
• Christ in centre on top and bottom registers

Question 13

TheChristianBasilica:

Answer 13

• Earliest places of worship for Christians were private houses
• Churches after 313 AD (exterior as houses)
• Interior changed (atrium still foreground of church)

Question 14

BYZANTINE PERIOD
Mosaics
San Vitale in Ravenna

Answer 14

• Decorated church walls
• Tesserae: Coloured glass, stone, metal and semi-precious stones
• Effect: Opulent and contributed to the idea that the spiritual realm is being represented

Question 15

Mosaics

San Vitale in Ravenna

Answer 15

• Mosaics created subtle tonal values and
therefore a form of realism
• Mosaic decoration is integrated with the architecture of the church
• Beautiful individual images are symbolic and in its tonality, the works have political undertones as the Emperor Justinian and the Orthodox faith is proclaimed

Question 16

Haggai Sophia

Answer 16

• Situated in Constantinople (now Istanbul)

* Building designed according to geometrically calculated proportions

Question 17

Hagia Sophia

Architecture

Answer 17

• Floor plan is simple square enclosure
• Large dome covers 33 metre space
• 40 windows around the base of the dome that create the effect of a floating dome when viewed from the interiorDome rests on a solid drum
  • Semi-domes crowning three apses
  • Creates feeling of unity within a structure that consists of many different parts
  • Dome emphasises the fact that this church represents a blend of cultural principles from Rome and the Orient

Dome can be seen from far away

Question 18

Gothic Art

Answer 18

Architecture:
• More space and less building materials
• Pointed arches and flying buttress
• Functionofflyingbuttress:resist out ward thrust
of the vaulting
• ButtressesusedinRomanesquearchitecture,but concealed beneath the roof and contributed to the heavy structure and lack of window space

Question 19

Gothic Art

Architecture

Answer 19

Byexposingbuttressesandusing them in combination with lighter support, the Gothic flying buttress contributed to the visual support of the upward rising roof and large window spaces

Question 20

GOTHIC ART

Sculpture

Answer 20

• Directed at the public and visible
on the exterior of cathedrals
• Wide range of subject matter (law, philosophy and theology, etc.)
• Main objective was to be in service of Christianity
Gothic Art
• Painting in different forms: frescos, illuminated manuscripts or altarpieces (focused on the content of the work as part of spiritual growth and education of the faithful / believers)

Question 21

STAINED GLASS WINDOW

Answer 21

Replacethemosaicsandmurals
• Effect of light filtering through the variety of colours is inspirational
• Colours achieved by adding minerals to glass while in a molten state

Question 22

Icons

Answer 22

• Portrayal of saints and martyrs on small panels in frontal
view

• Individualscarriedtheiconswiththemandevenwore them as necklaces
• Icons were hung in rows in the churches
• Typical portrayal: Small mouth, slim nose and strong
brows

• Christ as a baby was usually shown as a small adult

Question 23

Manuscript Illumination:

Answer 23

• Miniature paintings were the models of larger artworks and reflects the stylistic characteristics and thematic interpretations of artists throughout the Middle Ages
• The Book of Kells is one of the early examples of manuscript illumination
• Elaborate use of patterns and symbols and stylised representation of human and animal figures.

Question 24

Tesserae

Answer 24

Coloured glass, stone, metal and semi-precious stones