Early Medieval Art

In the first millennium, a rich and distinctive artistic tradition emerged in Europe. Early Medieval Art explores this tradition and tracks its development from c. 300 AD through c. 1000 AD, revealing forms of artistic expression ranging from brilliant illuminated manuscripts to decorative
chairs, rich embroidery, and precious metalwork.
Nees explores issues of artist patronage, craftsmanship, holy men and women, monasteries, secular courts, and the expressive and educational roles of artistic creation. Instead of treating early Christian art in the late Roman tradition and the arts of the newly established kingdoms of northern
Europe as opposites, he adopts a more holistic view, treating them as different aspects of a larger historical situation. This approach reveals the onset of an exciting new visual relationship between the church and the populace throughout medieval Europe. Moreover, it restores a previously
marginalized subject to a central status in our artistic and cultural heritage.

The first millennium saw a rich and distinctive artistic tradition form in Europe. While books had long been central to the Christian religious tradition, education, and culture, they now became an important artistic medium, sometimes decorated with brilliant colours and precious metals. Lawrence Nees explores issues of artist patronage, craftsmanship, holy men and women, monasteries, secular courts, and the expressive and educational roles of artistic creation. He discusses early Christian art within the late Roman tradition, and the arts of the newly established kingdoms of northern Europe not as opposites, but as different aspects of a larger historical situation. This approach reveals the onset of an exciting new visual relationship between the church and the populace throughout medieval Europe, restoring a previously marginalized subject to a central status in our artistic and cultural heritage.

1 - The Roman Language of Art
2 - Earliest Christian Art
3 - Conversion
4 - Art for Aristocrats
5 - Endings and Beginnings
6 - Craftsmanship and Artistry
7 - Saints and Holy Places
8 - Holy Images
9 - Word and Image
10 - Art at the Court
11 - Expressive and Didactic Images
12 - Towards a New Age

Lawrence Nees is Professor in the Department of Art History at the University of Delaware, where he has taught since 1978. He is the author of 'The Gundohinus Gospels' (Cambridge, Mass., 1987), 'A Tainted Mantle: Hercules and the Classical Tradition at the Carolingian Court' (Philadelphia, 1991), and editor of 'Approaches to Early Medieval Art' (Cambridge, Mass., 1998). He is currently completing a general book on Frankish manuscript illumination.