Carolingian art comes from theFrankish Empire in the period of roughly 120 years from about 780 to 900—during the reign ofCharlemagne and his immediate heirs—popularly known as theCarolingian Renaissance. The art was produced by and for the court circle and a group of importantmonasteries under Imperial patronage; survivals from outside this charmed circle show a considerable drop in quality of workmanship and sophistication of design. The art was produced in several centres in what are now France, Germany, Austria, northern Italy and theLow Countries, and received considerable influence, via continental mission centres, from theInsular art of the British Isles, as well as a number of Byzantine artists who appear to have been resident in Carolingian centres.
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There was for the first time a thoroughgoing attempt in Northern Europe to revive and emulate classical Mediterranean art forms and styles, that resulted in a blending of classical and Northern elements in a sumptuous and dignified style, in particular introducing to the North confidence in representing the human figure, and setting the stage for the rise ofRomanesque art and eventuallyGothic art in the West. The Carolingian era is part of the period inmedieval art sometimes called the "Pre-Romanesque". After a rather chaotic interval following the Carolingian period, the newOttonian dynasty revived Imperial art from about 950, building on and further developing Carolingian style inOttonian art.
Having established an Empire as large as theByzantine Empire of the day, and rivaling in size the oldWestern Roman Empire, the Carolingian court must have been conscious that they lacked an artistic style to match these or even the post-antique (or "sub-antique" asErnst Kitzinger called it)[1] art still being produced in small quantities inRome and a few other centres in Italy, whichCharlemagne knew from his campaigns, and where he was crownedHoly Roman Emperor in Rome in 800.
As symbolic representative of Rome he sought therenovatio (revival) of Roman culture and learning in the West, and needed an art capable of telling stories and representing figures with an effectiveness which ornamental Germanicmigration period art could not.[2] He wished to establish himself as the heir to the great rulers of the past, to emulate and symbolically link the artistic achievements ofearly Christian andByzantine culture with his own.
But it was more than a conscious desire to revive ancient Roman culture. During Charlemagne's reign theByzantine Iconoclasm controversy was dividing theByzantine Empire. He supported the Western church's consistent refusal to follow iconoclasm; theLibri Carolini sets out the position of his court circle, no doubt under his direction. With no inhibitions from a cultural memory of Mediterranean paganidolatry, he introduced the first Christian monumental religious sculpture, a momentous precedent for Western art.
Reasonable numbers of Carolingianilluminated manuscripts and small-scale sculptures, mostly in ivory, have survived, but far fewer examples of metalwork, mosaics and frescoes and other types of work. Many manuscripts in particular are copies or reinterpretations of Late Antique or Byzantine models, nearly all now lost, and the nature of the influence of specific models on individual Carolingian works remains a perennial topic in art history. As well as these influences, the extravagant energy ofInsular art added a definite flavour to Carolingian work, which sometimes usedinterlaced decoration, and followed more cautiously the insular freedom in allowing decoration to spread around and into the text on the page of a manuscript.
With the end of Carolingian rule around 900, high quality artistic production greatly declined for about three generations in the Empire. By the later 10th century with theCluny reform movement, and a revived spirit for the idea of Empire, art production began again. New Pre-Romanesque styles appeared in Germany with theOttonian art of the next stable dynasty, in England with lateAnglo-Saxon art, after the threat from theVikings was removed, and in Spain.
The most numerous surviving works of the Carolingian renaissance areilluminated manuscripts. A number of luxury manuscripts, mostlyGospel books, have survived, decorated with a relatively small number of full-pageminiatures, often includingevangelist portraits, and lavishcanon tables, following the precedent of theInsular art of Britain and Ireland. Narrative images and especially cycles are rarer, but many exist, mostly of theOld Testament, especiallyGenesis;New Testament scenes are more often found on the ivoryreliefs on the covers.[3] The oversized and heavily decorated initials of Insular art were adopted, and thehistoriated initial further developed, with small narrative scenes seen for the first time towards the end of the period—notably in theDrogo Sacramentary. Luxury manuscripts were giventreasure bindings or rich covers with jewels set in gold and carved ivory panels, and, as in Insular art, were prestige objects kept in the church or treasury, and a different class of object from the working manuscripts kept in thelibrary, where some initials might be decorated, and pen drawings added in a few places. A few of the grandest imperial manuscripts were written onpurple parchment. TheBern Physiologus is a relatively rare example of a secular manuscript heavily illustrated with fully painted miniatures, lying in between these two classes, and perhaps produced for the private library of an important individual, as was theVatican Terence. TheUtrecht Psalter, stands alone as a very heavily illustrated library version of the Psalms done in pen and wash, and almost certainly copied from a much earlier manuscript.
Other liturgical works were sometimes produced in luxury manuscripts, such assacramentaries, but no Carolingian Bible is decorated as heavily as the Late Antique examples that survive in fragments. Teaching books such as theological, historical, literary and scientific works from ancient authors were copied and generally only illustrated in ink, if at all. TheChronography of 354 was a Late Roman manuscript that apparently was copied in the Carolingian period, though this copy seems to have been lost in the 17th century.
Carolingian manuscripts are presumed to have been produced largely or entirely by clerics, in a few workshops around the Carolingian Empire, each with its own style that developed based on the artists and influences of that particular location and time.[4] Manuscripts often have inscriptions, not necessarily contemporary, as to who commissioned them, and which church or monastery they were given to, but few dates or names and locations of those producing them. The surviving manuscripts have been assigned, and often reassigned, to workshops by scholars, and the controversies attending this process have largely died down. The earliest workshop was the Court School of Charlemagne; then aRheimsian style, which became the most influential of the Carolingian period; a Touronian style; a Drogo style; and finally a Court School of Charles the Bald. These are the major centres, but others exist, characterized by the works of art produced there.
The Court School of Charlemagne (also known as theAda School) produced the earliest manuscripts, including theGodescalc Evangelistary (781–783); theLorsch Gospels (778–820); theAda Gospels; theSoissons Gospels; theHarley Golden Gospels (800-820); and theVienna Coronation Gospels; ten manuscripts in total are usually recognised. The Court School manuscripts were ornate and ostentatious, and reminiscent of 6th-century ivories and mosaics fromRavenna, Italy. They were the earliest Carolingian manuscripts and initiated a revival of Roman classicism, yet still maintainedMigration Period art (Merovingian andInsular) traditions in their basically linear presentation, with no concern for volume and spatial relationships.
In the early 9th-century ArchbishopEbbo of Rheims, atHautvillers (nearRheims), assembled artists and transformed Carolingian art to something entirely new. TheGospel book of Ebbo (816–835) was painted with swift, fresh and vibrant brush strokes, evoking an inspiration and energy unknown in classical Mediterranean forms. Other books associated with theRheims school include theUtrecht Psalter, which was perhaps the most important of all Carolingian manuscripts, and theBern Physiologus, the earliest Latin edition of the Christianallegorical text on animals. The expressive animations of the Rheims school, in particular the Utrecht Psalter with its naturalistic expressive figurine line drawings, would have influence on northern medieval art for centuries to follow, into the Romanesque period.
Another style developed at the monastery ofSt Martin of Tours, in which large Bibles were illustrated based on Late Antique bible illustrations. Three large Touronian Bibles were created, the last, and best, example was made about 845/846 forCharles the Bald, called theVivian Bible. TheTours School was cut short by the invasion of theNormans in 853, but its style had already left a permanent mark on other centers in the Carolingian Empire.
Thediocese of Metz was another center of Carolingian art. Between 850 and 855 asacramentary was made for BishopDrogo called theDrogo Sacramentary. The illuminated "historiated" decorated initials (see image this page) were to have influence into the Romanesque period and were a harmonious union of classical lettering with figural scenes.
In the second half of the 9th century the traditions of the first half continued. A number of richly decorated Bibles were made for Charles the Bald, fusing Late Antiquity forms with the styles developed at Rheims and Tours. It was during this time aFranco-Saxon style appeared in the north of France, integrating Hiberno-Saxon interlace, and would outlast all other Carolingian styles into the next century.
Charles the Bald, like his grandfather, also established a Court School. Its location is uncertain but several manuscripts are attributed to it, with theCodex Aureus of St. Emmeram (870) being the last and most spectacular. It contained Touronian and Rheimsian elements, but fused with the style that characterized Charlemagne's Court School more formal manuscripts.
With the death of Charles the Bald patronage for manuscripts declined, signaling the beginning of the end, but some work did continue for a while. TheAbbey of St. Gall created theFolchard Psalter (872) and theGolden Psalter (883). This Gallish style was unique, but lacked the level of technical mastery seen in other regions.
Luxury Carolingian manuscripts were intended to havetreasure bindings—ornate covers in precious metal set with jewels around central carved ivory panels—sometimes these were donated some time after the manuscript itself was produced. Only a few such covers have survived intact, but many of the ivory panels survive detached, where the covers have been broken up for their materials. The subjects were often narrative religious scenes in vertical sections, largely derived from Late Antique paintings and carvings, as were those with more hieratic images derived fromconsular diptychs and other imperial art, such as the front and back covers of theLorsch Gospels, which adapt a 6th-century Imperial triumph to the triumph of Christ and the Virgin.
Important Carolingian examples of goldsmith's work include the upper cover of theLindau Gospels; the cover of theCodex Aureus of St. Emmeram, which can be precisely dated to 870, is probably a product of the same workshop, though there are differences of style. This workshop is associated with theHoly Roman EmperorCharles II (the Bald), and often called his "Palace School". Its location (if it had a fixed one) remains uncertain and much discussed, butSaint-Denis Abbey outside Paris is one leading possibility.[5] TheArnulf Ciborium (a miniaturearchitectural ciborium rather than thevessel for hosts), now in theMunich Residenz, is the third major work in the group; all three have fine relief figures inrepoussé gold. Another work associated with the workshop is the frame of an antiqueserpentine dish in theLouvre.[6] Recent scholars tend to group the Lindau Gospels and the Arnulf Ciborium in closer relation to each other than the Codex Aureus to either.
Charlemagne revived large-scale bronze casting when he created a foundry atAachen which cast the doors for hispalace chapel, in imitation of Roman designs. The chapel also had a now lost life-size crucifix, with the figure of Christ in gold, the first known work of this type, which was to become so important a feature of medieval church art. Probably a wooden figure was mechanicallygilded, as with the OttonianGolden Madonna of Essen.
One of the finest examples of Carolingian goldsmiths' work is the Golden Altar (824–859), apaliotto, in theBasilica of Sant'Ambrogio inMilan. The altars four sides are decorated with images in gold and silverrepoussé, framed by borders offiligree, precious stones andenamel.
TheLothair Crystal, of the middle of the 9th century, is one of the largest of a group of about 20 engraved pieces ofrock crystal which survive; this shows large numbers of figures in several scenes showing the unusual subject of the story ofSuzanna.
Sources attest to the abundance of wall paintings seen in churches and palaces, most of which have not survived. Records ofinscriptions show that their subject matter was primarily religious.[7]
Mosaics installed inCharlemagne's palatine chapel showed an enthroned Christ worshipped by theEvangelist's symbols and theTwenty-Four Elders of theApocalypse. This mosaic no longer survives, but an over-restored one remains in theapse of theoratory atGermigny-des-Prés (806) which shows theArk of the Covenant adored by angels, discovered in 1820 under a coat of plaster.
The villa to which the oratory was attached belonged to a key associate of Charlemagne, BishopTheodulf of Orléans. It was destroyed later in the century, but hadfrescos of theSeven liberal arts, theFour Seasons, and theMappa Mundi.[8] We know from written sources of otherfrescos in churches and palaces, nearly all completely lost. Charlemagne's Aachen palace contained a wall painting of theLiberal Arts, as well as narrative scenes from his war in Spain. The palace ofLouis the Pious atIngelheim contained historical images from antiquity to the time of Charlemagne, and the palace church containedtypological scenes of the Old and New Testaments juxtaposed with one another.
Fragmentary paintings have survived atAuxerre,Coblenz,Lorsch,Cologne,Fulda,Corvey,Trier,Müstair,Mals,Naturns,Cividale,Brescia andMilan.
Spolia is the Latin term for "spoils" and is used to refer to the taking or appropriation of ancient monumental or other art works for new uses or locations. We know that many marbles and columns were brought from Rome northward during this period.
Perhaps the most famous example of Carolingian spolia is the tale of an equestrian statue. In Rome, Charlemagne had seen theEquestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in theLateran Palace. It was the only surviving statue of a pre-Christian Roman Emperor because it was mistakenly thought, at the time, to be that ofConstantine and thus held great accord—Charlemagne thus brought an equestrian statue fromRavenna, then believed to be that ofTheodoric the Great, to Aachen, to match the statue of "Constantine" in Rome.
Antiquecarved gems were reused in various settings, without much regard to their originaliconography.
