Anglo-Saxon art
Anglo-Saxon art is the name given to art in England from the 5th to 11th centuries. She developed her own styles and forms and differed from the cultures of Ireland , Scandinavia and Western Europe. The high points were the 7th and 8th centuries - especially in blacksmithing - and the 10th and 11th centuries.
Important works of art were created as church buildings, sculptures, sacred objects , book illumination and textile design . Today only a few testimonies from this period have survived, as most of the works of art were destroyed in the centuries that followed, especially during the Reformation .
history
The Germanic Angles , Saxons and Jutes have settled in eastern England since the 5th century . They encountered a numerically small Celtic population, which was culturally influenced by Roman rule. Ceramics and other utensils have been preserved from this period.
In 597, 40 mostly Irish monks came to England to reorganize church structures. Irish influences can be recognized in the following period in the design of church buildings as well as in the illumination.
Since the 9th century, Viking incursions from Denmark increased. Few works of art are known from this period. In contrast, Anglo-Saxon art flourished in the 11th century. Western European influences (Ottonian art, Romanesque ) are clearly visible. The Anglo-Saxon period ended with the conquest of England by the Normans in 1066, although works of art in the Anglo-Saxon style ( Bayeux Tapestry ) were created afterwards .
architecture
In England and Wales around 50 churches have survived that still contain traces of Anglo-Saxon architecture. All of these churches were changed in the following centuries, so that the original form is only partially recognizable. The earliest churches are from the 7th century and are Irish in character. There is no known church that was built on top of a previous Roman building. The preserved churches are made of stone, only in Greensted is a wooden church preserved. The buildings were created in two styles:
- "Southeastern type": churches with an apse as the end of the choir, the central nave is about 1½ to 1¾ times as long as it is wide (also in northern Hexham)
- "Northern type": Churches with a straight choir closure, the central nave is usually more than three times as long as it is wide
Anglo-Saxon architecture developed some specific stylistic elements, for example pointed upper window and door finishes and columns with sinuous ornamentation. It was characterized by a tendency towards decoration, which was to develop into a determining element in later architectural styles. Since the 10th century, Romanesque influences from Western Europe have been increasingly recognizable.
Anglo-Saxon secular buildings are hardly preserved.
Book illumination
The font design of the oldest surviving manuscripts from the late 7th or early 8th century in England is designed in the " insular style ". This had been brought along with Irish monks. Pictorial images in the same manuscripts, on the other hand, followed Italian models who had come to England with Roman missionaries ( Gospels of Lindisfarne , Codex Aureus of Stockholm ).
Since the 10th century the Utrecht Psalter , which originated in the Frankish Empire and was in Canterbury between the end of the 10th century and 1200 , promoted the reception of Carolingian art of the Metz school in England. An idiosyncratic illusionistic style of drawing developed in Winchester Abbey since the 10th century, which remained dominant in England for a long time. The main works of this school are the Benediktionale by Æthelwold, written around 980, and the pontifical by Archbishop Robert, with its small folds in garments and strong emphasis on movements. In the decades that followed, the Anglo-Saxon style of drawing increased in stylization, with over-long figures and even greater movement, until it approached the Romanesque figure style after the middle of the century.
sculpture
Only a few examples of the originally numerous stone floor crosses have survived in England. The crosses were usually richly decorated and probably painted in color. The oldest preserved is from the 8th century. There were probably also many wooden crosses, only one of which has survived today. Anglo-Saxon crosses had a long shaft and were made from the shapes of Irish high crosses .
Many sculptures have been made in English churches since the 10th century, only a few fragments of which have survived today.
Ivory carving
Some book covers, crosses and figurative representations have been preserved from walrus ivory and walrus ivory . Below is the upper part of an artfully crafted dew cross with a depiction of Christ with the snake from the 8th century. A style of its own developed in Winchester, a figural representation of the baptism of Christ from the 10th century has survived. This probably also includes a corpus of the crucified Christ made of walrus ivory on an Ottonian, possibly German cross, also from the 10th century.
Frank's Casket, Titus conquers Jerusalem
Tau cross, 8th century
Book cover (?), Ascension Day, 8th century
Baptism of Christ, Winchester style, 10th century
Reliquary cross , 10th century
Textile art
Evidence of Anglo-Saxon textile art has only been preserved since the 10th century, mostly only in small pieces from reliquary containers or grave goods. Liturgical clothing, age blankets and representative items of clothing were artfully embroidered and often streaked with gold or silver threads, pearls and glass beads. A work that is unique in the world and by far the most famous example of Anglo-Saxon textile design is the Bayeux Tapestry , which is over 68 meters long and depicts the Norman conquest and is one of the most outstanding works of art of the Middle Ages.
literature
- Catherine E. Karkov: The Art of Anglo-Saxon England. Boydell Press, Woodbridge (Suffolk) 2011, ISBN 1-84383-628-9 , ISBN 978-1-84383-628-5 .
- Leslie Webster: Anglo-Saxon Art. British Museum Press, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-7141-2809-2 .
- David M. Wilson: Anglo-Saxon Art. From the Seventh Century to the Norman Conquest. Overlook Press, Woodstock (New York) 1984.
Web links
Remarks
- ^ David M. Wilson: Anglo-Saxon Art. From the Seventh Century to the Norman Conquest. Overlook Press, Woodstock (New York) 1984, pp. 40, 49.
- ^ London, British Library , Add. 49598.
- ^ Rouen , Bibliothèque municipale, Ms. 369.