Pre-Romanesque art and architecture

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The royal palace, later church, of Santa María del Naranco, an example of Asturian architecture of the Ramirense period
The interior of the Church of São Pedro da Lourosa in Lourosa, Portugal
Church of St. Margaret of Antioch, Kopčany in Kopčany
, Slovakia, 9th–10th century

Pre-Romanesque art and architecture is the period in European art from either, the emergence of the Merovingian kingdom in about 500 AD or from the Carolingian Renaissance in the late 8th century, to the beginning of the 11th century Romanesque period. The term is generally used in English only for architecture and monumental sculpture, but here all the arts of the period are briefly described.

The primary theme during this period is the introduction and absorption of

Early Christian forms with Germanic ones, which fostered innovative new forms. This in turn led to the rise of Romanesque art in the 11th century. In the outline of Medieval art it was preceded by what is commonly called the Migration Period art of the "barbarian" peoples: Hiberno-Saxon in the British Isles and predominantly Merovingian
on the Continent.

In most of western Europe, the

Roman architectural tradition survived the collapse of the empire. The Merovingians (Franks) continued to build large stone buildings like monastery churches
and palaces.

The unification of the Frankish kingdom under

St Columbanus, an Irish missionary, arrived in Europe in 585. Only 100 years later, by the end of the 7th century, over 400 flourished in the Merovingian kingdom alone.[1]
The building plans often continued the Roman basilica tradition.

Many Merovingian plans have been reconstructed from archaeology. The description in Bishop Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks of the basilica of Saint-Martin, built at Tours by Saint Perpetuus (bishop 460–490) at the beginning of the period and at the time on the edge of Frankish territory, gives cause to regret the disappearance of this building, one of the most beautiful Merovingian churches, which he says had 120 marble columns, towers at the East end, and several mosaics: "Saint-Martin displayed the vertical emphasis, and the combination of block-units forming a complex internal space and the correspondingly rich external silhouette, which were to be the hallmarks of the Romanesque".[2]

The Merovingian dynasty were replaced by the Carolingian dynasty in 752 AD, which led to Carolingian architecture from 780 to 900, and Ottonian architecture in the Holy Roman Empire from the mid-10th century until the mid-11th century. These successive Frankish dynasties were large contributors to Romanesque architecture.

Merovingians
, AD 500

Examples of Frankish buildings

Merovingian, Carolingian and Ottonian

Digital reconstruction of Ingelheim Imperial Palace, c. 790
St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany, 1031
Reconstruction of Charlemagne's palace in Aachen, Germany, 800

Ottonian and Holy Roman Empire

Imperial styles

Carolingian art

Main articles: Carolingian art and Carolingian architecture
Saint Mark, from the so-called Ebbo Gospels, a piece of Carolingian illustration

Carolingian art is the roughly 120-year period from about 780 to 900, during

Abbey of Corvey, built in 885. 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
.

Ottonian art

Main articles: Ottonian art and Ottonian architecture

Otto III) who ruled the Holy Roman Empire
from 936 to 1001.

After the decline of the Carolingian Empire, the Holy Roman Empire was re-established under the Saxon (Ottonian) dynasty. From this emerged a renewed faith in the idea of Empire and a reformed Church, creating a period of heightened cultural and artistic fervour. It was in this atmosphere that masterpieces were created that fused the traditions from which Ottonian artists derived their inspiration: models of Late Antique, Carolingian, and Byzantine origin.

Much Ottonian art reflected the dynasty's desire to establish visually a link to the Christian rulers of Late Antiquity, such as

Justinian as well as to their Carolingian predecessors, particularly Charlemagne
.

Ottonian monasteries produced some of the most magnificent medieval illuminated manuscripts. They were a major art form of the time, and monasteries received direct sponsorship from emperors and bishops, having the best in equipment and talent available.

Regional styles

British Isles

Main articles: Anglo-Saxon art and Anglo-Saxon architecture
Anglo-Saxon illuminated manuscript

Prior to King Alfred the dominant art style in England was the

illuminated manuscripts
and metalwork.

Croatia

Main article:
Croatian Pre-Romanesque art and architecture
Church of St Donatus in Zadar, Croatia, 9th century

In the 7th century the Croats, with other Slavs and Avars, came from Northern Europe to the region where they live today.[3] The first Croatian churches were built as royal sanctuaries, and the influence of Roman art was strongest in Dalmatia where urbanization was thickest. Gradually that influence was neglected and certain simplifications and alterations of inherited forms, and even creation of original buildings, appeared.

All of them (a dozen large ones and hundreds of small ones) were built with roughly cut stone bounded with a thick layer of mortar on the outside. Large churches are longitudinal with one or three

Church of Saint Cross in Nin. The largest and most complicated central based church from the 9th century is dedicated to Saint Donatus in Zadar
.

Glagolitic. Soon, the Glagolitic writings were replaced with Latin on altar rails and architraves
of old-Croatian churches.

From the Crown Church of

Carolingian
crown, servant by his side and subject bowed to the king.

By joining the Hungarian crown in the twelfth century, Croatia lost its full independence, but it did not lose its ties with the south and the west, and instead this ensured the beginning of a new era of Central European cultural influence.

France

After the demise of the Carolingian Empire, France split into a number of feuding provinces, so that lacking any organized Imperial patronage, French art of the 10th and 11th centuries became localised around the large monasteries, and lacked the sophistication of a court-directed style.

Multiple regional styles developed based on the chance availability of Carolingian manuscripts (as models to draw from), and the availability of itinerant artists. The monastery of

Saint Germain-des-Prés. In Normandy
a new style developed from 975 onward.

Italy

See also:
Lombard Romanesque

Southern Italy benefited from the presence and cross-fertilization of the Byzantines, the Arabs, and the Normans, while the north was mostly controlled first by the Carolingians. The

Normans in Sicily chose to commission Byzantine workshops to decorate their churches such as Monreale and Cefalù Cathedrals where full iconographic programmes of mosaics
have survived. Important frescos and illuminated manuscripts were produced.

Spain and Portugal

Main article: Iberian pre-Romanesque art and architecture
Saint Frutuoso Chapel in Braga
, Portugal

The first form of Pre-Romanesque in

Visigothic art, that brought the horse-shoe arches to the latter Moorish architecture
and developed jewellery.

After the Moorish occupation, Pre-Romanesque art was first reduced to the

Mozarabic art
.

The best preserved Visigothic monument in

Saint Frutuoso Chapel in Braga
.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pre-Romanesque architecture.

References

  1. ^ "History of Art:Barbarian Art".
  2. ISBN 0-85331-487-X
  3. ^ "[Projekat Rastko] Valentin V. Sedov: Slavs in the Early Middle Ages". Archived from the original on 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2010-03-25.

External links
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