Court of Emperor Justinian, Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy
Explore the art and architecture of the Middle Ages through four transformational moments in history and how painters, sculptors, and architects responded to them: Roman Emperor Constantine the Great’s conversion to, and promotion of, Christianity; Charlemagne’s unification of Europe in a Holy Roman Empire under “barbarian” Frankish rule; cloistered monks promoting public pilgrimage to holy sites in the run-up to the Crusades, and French kings and bishops asserting their spiritual and political power in the great Gothic building campaigns. Independent art historian Judy Scott Feldman examines the art of the thousand-year period between classical antiquity and the Renaissance and its relationship to an evolving society infused with faith and spirituality.
10–11:15 a.m. Constantine’s Conversion
Constantine the Great ushered in the Middle Ages when he converted the Roman Empire to Christianity and moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople, modern Istanbul. Artists responded by transforming classical pagan traditions to serve Christian beliefs and practices: Roman catacombs, Old St. Peter’s Basilica, dazzling Ravenna mosaics, Hagia Sophia, icons and iconoclasm.
11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance
Charlemagne, celebrated as the father of Europe, established his court at the “second Rome” in Aachen in what is now Germany. He commissioned the most learned scholars and acclaimed artists and architects to celebrate and promote his goals for a renewal of the Roman Empire now on Frankish soil: Charlemagne’s Palace Chapel at Aachen, Irish illuminated manuscripts, the Coronation Gospels, the Gospel Book of Otto III.
12:45–1:15 p.m. Break
1:15–2:30 p.m. Monks, Relics, and Public Piety Around 1100
The cloistered world of medieval monks and the public cult of the saints became intermingled in the 11th century. Great stone-vaulted Romanesque pilgrimage churches with elaborately sculptured facades welcomed throngs from all over Europe to share in a monastic vision of eternal life. Jeweled reliquaries housing the bones of beloved saints gave pilgrims a glimpse of the coming together of heaven and earth and of otherworldly monastic spirituality and the Christian practice of pilgrimage. A strong advocate of pilgrimage, Bernard of Clairvaux chose the monastery and pilgrimage church of St. Mary Magdalene in Vézelay to preach advocacy of the Second Crusade in 1146: the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, the sculptured tympanum at Ste. Foy in Conques, St. Mary Magdalene in Vézelay.
2:45–4 p.m. The “12th-Century Renaissance” and the Gothic Cathedral
The great flowering of liberal arts learning, political power, and Christian theology in the 12th century sparked artistic and architectural innovations on an unprecedented scale. Gothic art and architecture flowered in the area around Paris, funded by French kings and bishops and inspired by technological innovations and intellectual discoveries from cathedral schools and visionary churchmen such as Suger of Saint-Denis and Bernard of Clairvaux: Notre-Dame, Chartres; Notre-Dame, Paris; Reims Cathedral; sculptured facades, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts.
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