Ottonian Renaissance
Some researchers describe the connection to Byzantine , late antiquity and Carolingian art as the Ottonian Renaissance during the 10th and 11th centuries, which were politically significantly influenced by the Ottonians . The Ottonian Renaissance is particularly reflected in the architecture and goldsmith's art through the use of spoilage and book illumination . The influence of Byzantine culture was particularly favored by Otto II's marriage to the Byzantine princess Theophanu .
Research Discussion
The concept of the Ottonian Renaissance is controversial in art historical research : Both the connection with the Ottonian sex and the concept of the Renaissance are problematic . The Ottonians, as commissioners of important works of art, had an influence on the fashions of their time, but were only one gender among many who commissioned buildings or works of art. An exemplary case for the problem: Meinwerk , who commissioned the Bartholomäuskapelle in Paderborn , which is Germany's first hall church and is often referred to as an example of the Ottonian Renaissance, was only very distantly related to the Ottonians. The building from around 1017, in which "Greek builders" were involved, according to one source, also shows no detectable Byzantine influences.
The concept of the Renaissance is controversial, as is the case with the Carolingian Renaissance , as it places too much emphasis on the revival of antiquity and the secularization of thought. For example, those who commissioned works of art from the 10th and 11th centuries were not concerned with reviving antiquity when using spoilage, but rather using the spoilage to give the new object greater significance in its time. Only the age was important, not an enthusiasm for antiquity as an epoch or the original meaning of the Spolie. In the Essen cross with the large melts , a spoil, an ancient gem of a theater mask depicting Medusa , even serves as an iconographic symbol for the evil conquered by Christ . Nor did Hrotswit von Gandersheim write her dramas to revive the ancient drama tradition, but to replace the ancient dramas that were perceived as objectionable as reading material with contemporary Christian content.
literature
- Oskar Rückert: Ottonian Renaissance. Selected pieces from Widukind von Corvey, Ruotger, Liudprand von Cremona, Hrotsvit von Gandersheim, Ekkehard IV. Von St. Gallen. Teubner, Leipzig 1926.
- Hans Naumann : Carolingian and Ottonian Renaissance. Englert and Schlosser, Frankfurt a. M. 1926. (Lecture at the ceremony of the Association of Friends and Supporters of the University of Frankfurt am Main in December 1926)
- Klaus Gereon Beuckers , Johannes Cramer, Michael Imhof : The Ottonians. Art - architecture - history. 2nd edition, Petersberg 2006, ISBN 3-932526-91-0 .