Celtic art
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| - | '''Medieval art''' covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of [[art history]] in [[Western art history|Europe]]. | ||
| - | Art historians classify Medieval art into major periods and movements. They are [[Early Christian art]], [[Migration Period art]], [[Celtic art]], [[Pre-Romanesque art|Pre-Romanesque]] and [[Romanesque art]], [[Gothic art]], [[Byzantine art]] and [[Islamic art]]. In addition each "nation" or culture in the Middle Ages had its own distinct artistic style and these are looked at individually, such as [[Anglo-Saxon art]] or [[Viking art]]. Medieval art includes many mediums, and was especially strong in [[sculpture]], [[Illuminated manuscript]]s and [[mosaic]]s. There were many unique genres of art, such as [[Crusade art]] or [[animal style]]. | ||
| - | ==Subsequent reputation== | ||
| - | Medieval art had little sense of its own art history, and this ignorance was continued in later periods. The Renaissance generally dismissed it as a "barbarous" product of the "[[Dark Ages]]", and the [[Gothic_architecture#The_term_.22Gothic.22|term "Gothic"]] was invented as a deliberately pejorative one, apparently in the 1530s by [[Giorgio Vasari]]. That the Goths had ceased to feature in European history some 600 years before the style named after them appears is an indication of the vagueness as to the chronology of medieval art of the leading art historian of the day, and one relatively interested in the origins of the styles of his day. Illuminated manuscripts continued to be collected by [[antiquarian]]s, or sit unregarded in monastic or royal libraries, but paintings were mostly of interest if they had historical associations with royalty or others. The long period of mistreatment of the [[Westminster Retable]] by [[Westminster Abbey]] is an example; until the 19th century it was only regarded as a useful piece of timber. But their large portrait of [[Richard II of England]] was well looked after, like another portrait of Richard, the [[Wilton Diptych]]. | ||
| - | There was no equivalent for pictorial art of the "[[Gothic survival]]" found in architecture, once the style had finally died off in Germany, England and [[Scandinavia]], and the [[Gothic Revival]] long focused on [[Gothic Architecture]] rather than art. The understanding of the succession of styles was still very weak, as suggested by the title of [[Thomas Rickman]]'s pioneering book on English architecture: ''An Attempt to discriminate the Styles of English Architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation'' (1817). This began to change with a vengeance by the mid-19th century, as appreciation of medieval sculpture and its painting, known as Italian or Flemish "Primitives", became fashionable under the influence of writers including [[John Ruskin]], [[Eugène Viollet-le-Duc]], and [[Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin|Pugin]], as well as the romantic [[medievalism]] of literary works like Sir [[Walter Scott]]'s ''[[Ivanhoe]]'' (1819) and [[Victor Hugo]]'s ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' (1831). Early collectors of the "Primitives", then still relatively cheap, included [[Prince Albert]]. | ||
| - | Among artists the German [[Nazarene movement]] from 1809 and English [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]] from 1848 both rejected the values of at least the later Renaissance, but in practice, and despite sometimes depicting medieval scenes, their work draws its influences mostly from the [[Early Renaissance]] rather than the Gothic or earlier periods - the early graphic work of [[John Millais]] being something of an exception. [[William Morris]], also a discriminating collector of medieval art, absorbed medieval style more thoroughly into his work, as did [[William Burges (architect)|William Burges]]. | + | '''Celtic art''' is a art associated with various people known as [[Celts]]; those who spoke the [[Celtic languages]] in [[Europe]] from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient people whose language is unknown, but where cultural and stylistic '''similarities''' suggest they are related to Celts. Also covered by the term is ''Celtic revival'' art from the 18th century to the modern era, which began as a conscious effort by [[Modern Celts]] to express self-identification and [[nationalism]]. |
| - | By the later 19th century many book-illustrators and producers of decorative art of various kinds had learned to use medieval styles successfully from the new museums like the [[Victoria & Albert Museum]] set up for this purpose. At the same time the new academic field of [[art history]], dominated by Germany and France, concentrated heavily on medieval art and was soon very productive in cataloguing and dating the surviving works, and analysing the development of medieval styles and iconography. [[Franz Theodor Kugler]] was the first to name and describe Carolingian art in 1837; like many art historians of the period he sought to find and promote the national spirit of his own nation in art history, a search begun by [[Johann Gottfried Herder]] in the 18th century. Kugler's pupil, the great Swiss art historian [[Jacob Burckhardt]], though he could not be called a specialist in medieval art, was an important figure in developing the understanding of it. Medieval art was now heavily collected, both by museums and private collectors like [[George Salting]], the [[Rothschild family]] and [[John Pierpoint Morgan]]. | + | Typically, ''Celtic art'' is ornamental, avoiding straight lines and only occasionally using symmetry, without the imitation of nature central to the [[Classicism|classical]] tradition, often involving complex symbolism. Celtic art has used a variety of styles and has shown influences from other cultures in their knotwork, spirals, key patterns, lettering, zoomorphics, plant forms and human figures. |
| - | After the decline of the Gothic Revival, the anti-realist and expressive elements of medieval art have proved an inspiration for many modern artists. | + | ''Celtic art'' is a difficult term to define, covering a huge expanse of time, geography and cultures. A case has been made for artistic continuity in Europe from the bronze age, and indeed the preceding neolithic, age however the 'celtic' culture is generally considered to arise in the Iron Age at around 1000BC. There are three "traditions" of ''Celtic art'', the first being the continental [[Iron age]] art mainly associated with [[La Tène culture]] which draws on native, classical and (perhaps via the [[Mediterranean]]) oriental sources. The second, Iron Age art in Britain and Ireland, draws on the continental tradition while adding distinctive regional styles. The third, the Celtic "renaissance" of the early Middle Ages in Ireland and parts of Britain, is also called [[Insular art]]. This third tradition formed the basis for the art of the ''Celtic revival'' beginning in the late 18th century. |
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| - | German-speaking art historians continued to dominate medieval art history, despite figures like [[Émile Mâle]] (1862-1954) and [[Henri Focillon]] (1881-1943), until the Nazi period, when a large number of important figures emigrated, mostly to Britain or America, where the academic study of art history was still developing. These included the elderly [[Adolph Goldschmidt]] and younger figures including [[Nikolaus Pevsner]], [[Ernst Kitzinger]], [[Erwin Panofsky]], [[Kurt Weitzmann]], [[Richard Krautheimer]] and many others. [[Meyer Schapiro]] had immigrated as a child in 1907. | + | |
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Revision as of 12:40, 11 August 2009
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Celtic art is a art associated with various people known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient people whose language is unknown, but where cultural and stylistic similarities suggest they are related to Celts. Also covered by the term is Celtic revival art from the 18th century to the modern era, which began as a conscious effort by Modern Celts to express self-identification and nationalism.
Typically, Celtic art is ornamental, avoiding straight lines and only occasionally using symmetry, without the imitation of nature central to the classical tradition, often involving complex symbolism. Celtic art has used a variety of styles and has shown influences from other cultures in their knotwork, spirals, key patterns, lettering, zoomorphics, plant forms and human figures.
Celtic art is a difficult term to define, covering a huge expanse of time, geography and cultures. A case has been made for artistic continuity in Europe from the bronze age, and indeed the preceding neolithic, age however the 'celtic' culture is generally considered to arise in the Iron Age at around 1000BC. There are three "traditions" of Celtic art, the first being the continental Iron age art mainly associated with La Tène culture which draws on native, classical and (perhaps via the Mediterranean) oriental sources. The second, Iron Age art in Britain and Ireland, draws on the continental tradition while adding distinctive regional styles. The third, the Celtic "renaissance" of the early Middle Ages in Ireland and parts of Britain, is also called Insular art. This third tradition formed the basis for the art of the Celtic revival beginning in the late 18th century.
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