Medieval Art

Medieval Art Generally refers to the Western art between the 5th and 15th centuries, including Byzantine art, Irish-Saxon and Wiggin art, Otto art, Carolingian art, Romanesque art and Gothic art. Early Christian art is sometimes classified as medieval art. These rich and colorful fine arts constitute an important link in the development of European fine arts. Medieval art is one of the special forms of Western culture. It changed the tradition of Greek art and Roman art, and gradually formed its own form and content system in the development, and became a special form of expression of people's life, ideas, thoughts and feelings in a specific period. Generally speaking, medieval art belongs to Christian art. As a form of expression of religious belief and theology, this kind of art does not pay attention to the real description of the objective world, but emphasizes the so-called spiritual world. To this end, it often exaggerates, transforms, changes the real space sequence and other techniques to achieve the purpose of strong expression. Under this general characteristics, there are great differences between various styles of medieval art. Byzantine art is separated from European art by its Oriental decorative and abstract nature, and has always maintained its independence in the development of about 1000 years. Irish-saxon and Wiggin art, Otto art, Carolingian art, Romanesque art and Gothic art appeared in different forms in different periods of the development of European art, and have their own unique style in the history of art occupies a position. The high development of architecture is the greatest achievement of medieval art. During the Middle Ages, large religious buildings of various forms were built everywhere. Many Byzantine churches, Romanesque churches, and Gothic churches, which serve as historical monuments, have achieved high achievements in art and engineering design. With the construction of the cathedral, sculpture, mosaics, frescoes also gained different forms of prosperity in different periods; Many excellent carvings and paintings including mosaics by medieval artists were created inside and outside the cathedral. Illustrations and various small art is also an important part of medieval art, they had a considerable prosperity in the Middle Ages. Due to the influence of the realist art view in the Renaissance and its aftermath, medieval art had not been fully recognized by people for a long time, and was even denied as the "Dark period". From the 19th century, Western historians began to re-understand and evaluate medieval art. In the 20th century, medieval art became one of the focuses of art history research. Many modern art history scholars from different angles, using different methods, to a variety of medieval art styles for in-depth observation and interpretation. Their research more and more fully revealed the unique aesthetic characteristics of medieval art and its position and significance in the history of western art development.