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Miranda I like how you pointed out how great of an influence religion had on every walk of life regardless of social class. I think it makes sense the king and royal family would have a private chapel, their safety was most likely a matter of concern. But I wonder how true to intentions were behind the other wealthy families who went about buying the extravagent moralizing bibles and other religious items for private devotions
I think this is an interesting concept. The moralizing bibles and the private chapels for worship are two of the examples we see of private devotion. I do wonder what the motivation behind the private devotions were. After all the Bible doesn’t say god loves the rich more than the poor, so I wonder if the rich simply used private devotion as means to show off their wealth, or to avoid intermingling with lower social classes. Or if they truly thought private devotion and spending immense amounts of money would lead to winning more approval from god than the people attending the public church services.
Gabe, I like the explanation you gave about how the light entering the windows refers to a metaphor of christ entering the world through god. It is super interesting how much thought was put into these stained glass windows. I wonder how the first stained glass came to be.
The significance of the stained glass windows is incredibly important considering they were the driving factor to change the design of the Romanesque church to the gothic church era. The first stained glass windows in the church were created by a man who believed might to be a physical manifestation of God. Upon entering the church the visitors would be symbolically transported to Heaven. As the churches grew higher and higher, there was more space for the addition of stained glass windows. as a result the architecture had to adapt to accommodate the windows. Some of the changes include the addition of the flying buttresses to add support, and the vaults or arches became more pointed in shape.
Raven I loved your examples of yoga and field-trip groups. You explained everything very clearly, great post!
The Pilgrimage held many purposes and meanings. It may have been a way to declare gratitude since doomsday had not occurred, and/or to ensure salvation if doomsday were to come. A pilgrimage may been taken to purify the soul or produce healing benefits. Or for an everyday person to see the world, or mingle with people from different social classes. Criminals would even take pilgrimages for repentance. In the peoples journey to visit these sacred places they could grow weary, with this in mind church created images to encourage the weary travelers. The Last Judgement is very often depicted. The churches also designed the architecture in such a way to make it easier and more subtle for the pilgrims to walk through the church without disturbing mass. Its actually very interesting the design tactics they used to accommodate the travelers.
Aubri, I like how you pointed out that the art played a massive role in the authority and control the church had on society. That reminds me of how in past art like ancient Egypt or the ancient near east the large scale or elaborateness was used to legitimize a kings rule and divine right. I feel the church is kind of channeling the same idea
The churches provided artwork so the illiterate could connect the words to the pictures. Instead of providing written bibles, the artwork was a way to tell the stories to all classes of people. The Bayeux Tapestry is an example of this, or the image of the Last Judgement Tympanum, at the Cathedral of St. Lazare, Autun. The church obviously constructed these visuals with the purpose of getting the message across to people in all levels of society. Another example of an important message waiting for any person upon entering the church can be seen at the Church of Sainte’Foy, and the image of the last judgement. The placement in particular means the message is aimed at every single person passing into the church, not simply the illiterate. The artwork used by church was a very useful tool to portray the Bible stories and the important messages being preached.
The influence of the Byzantine art stood out to me a lot more than Classical period influence did. It is clear to see that art focused on religion during the medieval times. I think a lot of the inspiration for such pieces came from the influence of the Byzantine artworks, especially in the way that we don’t see the creation of graven images but we do see images centered around Christ. I think the early medieval period took a lot of inspiration from the Byzantine and Classical period and turned it into their own unique interpretations, such as the Book of Kells.
Lucas, it does seem like most of the art was focused on the Christian religion doesn’t it, I wonder if this if it is because this is the only art that survived, or just what we are mainly being shown in this class. I agree with you the illuminated manuscripts are totally unique and very cool pieces of art. I like the connection you make about how widespread the religion was even without efficient communication tools.
I wouldn’t say the Dark Ages lacked cultural production and innovation, perhaps the productions of art and architecture in this period were less focused on specific cultures and more focused on religion, but then again religion can be seen as part of culture.Some unique productions seen in this time period would be the beautiful and intricate insular, or Hiberno-Sacon, art such as the Book of Kells, or the Lindesfarne Gospel book. These works are super interesting and obviously extremely detailed, and the use of animal style in combinations of other styles is actually pretty unique compared to any art work we have seen before in earlier time periods.The Celtic Knots as seen on the High Cross of Ahenny is also a unique piece of Celtic culture that makes an appearance in this time period.
As Lucas already stated, I too think the Byzantine art seemed to devolve somehow. to me it seems that art is not about the skill of the artist, or ask focused on little details as we have seen in previous art, but is more geared towards getting the message across. This art is being used as a means to tell a story, the stories in the scriptures, or of the saints or martyrs. I think the culture was less focused on evolving their art, and moe focused as strictly using art as a communication device.
Hi Aubri, that was a really thorough response that provided some great background! you made a lot of good points and I have to agree with you this is a really interesting issue! I like how you pointed out the church may have cut corners, but also the paintings and images were an easy way to tell the stories in the scriptures. Great post!
I have to admit I was a little confused by this question, but here it goes. In comparison to last weeks art there is stark difference. While the Christian art made quite an effort to avoid showing any figure as godly or someone to be worshipped, the Byzantine art didn’t seemed as concerned. Instead I think many of the art works could be seen as objects of worship, or graven images. Also it depicts in the CHURCH OF SAN VITALE art that could be confusing because some of figures are being shown as more important, or godly than others. The saints obviously were very important to the culture with many churches and artworks dedicated to them. I wonder if people saw this as a means to worship the saints, I could see how a church dedicated to a saint would cause some confusions as to whether the purpose is to worship god or the saint.
