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For my final project I decided to recreate the sculpture of Capitoline She-Wolf. I use pen and paper to draw my recreation. Below is my links to both my paper and my presentation.
Paper: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j4vpcMJZi0I1XBxe5ykO_EQt-cJbJ4DuIZ-dfwd-eWc/edit?usp=sharing
Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PbvusYM5ogE6wcTuZH0jktq0iSYL_Vh34A72CXb53y0/edit?usp=sharingGabe, you had a great post and lots of detail that explained the Gothic period. I liked your explanation about the light literally entering through Christ I didn’t know about that.
Lacey, I also liked your clever statement “lock in a spot in heaven” because I believe this was very important in the Gothic period and still now. I really liked your statement about riches and divinity because the rich were building places of worship in their houses and buying expensive moralized books, while low class was still only about to afford to go to church and worship because of their lack in wealth. This to me proves that the higher classes believed they were locking in their spot over those of the lower class. Overall, your post was short and sweet but got your point across!
I would say private would be a good word to describe the Gothic period. Individuals had personal devotional objects and those who could afford it had private devotional spaces. Some individuals of the Gothic period carried small crosses or other religious items with them. Some people had moralized bibles but only the wealthy could afford these books because they were expensive at the time. The Book of Hours also became popular. Many individuals started to have the Book of Hours as the Gothic period continued. These books although they had numerous pictures throughout them, many individuals of this time period were still illiterate making it almost impossible for them to fully understand the Word of God. That brings questions to my head? Were these items and space a way to show class, a way to get away from the lower classes, or did private worship become popular? I believe it was another way to show class because again lower classes were unable to purchase these moralized books and all still went to the churches to worship. All the upper class was able to worship in their own homes with these moralized bibles at hand and private devotion spaces. I believe it was a way to separate classes once again.
The Gothic period shows us just how fast change can happen in the world. Abbot Suger created the point arch allowing these beautiful structure to expand the whole church and bring in light. The Romanesque churches had very thick and large columns to hold up these heavy walls, while gothic churches were thin columns created in to arches bringing a more elegant look. The windows were very small throughout the Romanesque period. The window became large in the Gothic period bringing in light from every angle of the church. These glass windows had beautiful designs on them and had various colors that luminated as the sun hit the windows. Suger read about divinity and light and how they related in various ways. Suger used these windows to transport all individuals that step into that church to a more heavenly place. He believed adding more light throughout the church would give these individuals a close feeling to Heaven and God himself.
Raven, I enjoyed your examples relating to our lives today. Although you gave great examples and explained pilgrimages fully, there is little information on the changes the churches made to accommodate for these pilgrimages. Great post however I would just include more information on the structural changes made during this time.
Due to the belief that the world would end in 1000, pilgrimages took over during the Romanesque period. Large quantities of various people started to move from church to church traveling mile after mile. The main reason for the start of the pilgrimage was to become closer to God and ensure their spots in heaven. These churches were open for people of all class and allowed large masses of people to join them in their services. People enjoyed making these pilgrimages because they got to travel, save their souls, and finally socialize. Many people were use to being segregated by class in their community and pilgrimages gave them the opportunity to be equal among those around them and gave them the option to socialize. During the Romanesque period churches started making aisles twice as big to allow these individuals to move freely throughout the church without interrupting the Mass. These pilgrimages brought lots of revenue for the churches and many believe this was the many reasoning for opening these churches along the way. The design change was very effective and gave the church a system to go by so that all individuals could learn about religion.
Raven, I enjoyed the pictures you added in your post this week. They were great examples and after reading your response it was different than most. I thought you added information no one else recognized and it gave me insight on the time period. You did a great job of sticking out and making your post unique.
During the medieval times, we start to see a use for art. Art during this era was used to help individuals who were illiterate understand religion, from these pictures/sculptures those who were unable to read the bible could gain understand of Christianity from these images. Religion spread quickly as medieval churches drew stories and important religious individuals all around the churches. From higher class to lower class, individuals in all classes were able to fully understand Christianity with the help of medieval art. This art did more than just help people would were unable to read the scripture, it gave those who were in lower classes a sight of hope that one day everyone could be equal. I believe that’s why so many people supported Christianity in this time. People enjoyed the togetherness, faith, and equality that the church portrayed.
Miranda, I thought you had many valid examples and points. I really enjoyed your first example which clearly shows the medieval times used Byzantine influence in their art. Really good post!
I saw more of a Byzantine influence rather than classical influence overall. Their art was always focusing on religion during this era, which to me points right to Byzantine art. Byzantine art had many images of religion and were against graven images, which to me explains the lack of artwork of this period. Although Byzantine art was the stronger influencer we see inspiration of the classical period also in the sense of images of angels and animals, however it is very limited. Overall, I believe Byzantine art was the main influence for the medieval times.
I like that you took a different take than most of our classmates in commenting mostly on the color scheme of the Dark Ages. The dark coloring was something different from the past wings we have viewed. That in itself I believe is innovation of culture.
Although there wasn’t as much art as previous wings, I don’t believe the Dark Ages was lacking cultural innovation. There was something unique about the Dark Ages. During this period we saw an increase in the use of animal style, which was not seen in past wings. I believe the main reason for people thinking the Dark Ages lacked innovation was because they focused mainly on religion and not their own culture, however religion was pretty steady over this time period and didn’t change much therefore I believe that was the reason for the lack of diversity of their art.
Tamara,
I thought you had a lot of great examples. I thought all of them were very relevant to prove your points for this discussion.Looking through the Byzantine art wing, there is a noticeable shift back in time to more of the Egyptian art era. I say this because realism is not shown in Byzantine art like it is shown in Greco-Roman traditions. There is more of 2D images again such as the hieroglyphics of the Egyptian era. Realism wasn’t important anymore in this era, however the importance for the meaning inside the art became most important. People were suppose to look at the image and get a better understanding for this era. This became the overall importance in art of this time changing the social and political climate of Eurasia.
