Early Medieval

Art

Purse cover, from the Sutton Hoo ship burial (Suffolk, England), c. 625, gold, glass, and

enamel cloisonné with garnets and emeralds

art of migratory people/ predatory subject matter/ interlaced pattern

Cross and carpet page from the

Lindisfarne Gospels

(Northumbria, England), c. 698-721, tempera on

vellum

Hiberno-Saxon, or Insular/ Celtic cross with a

transom

use of serpents, dragons, and other fantastic animals

rubrum (“entry in red”)/ minium/ incipit

and explicit

varied styles within the Book of Lindisfarne/

sacred act of copying images/ amarius and a

scriptorium

Chi-rho-iota page from the Book of

Kells (Iona, Scotland), late eighth or early ninth century

use of abbreviations/ chi-

rho iota/ curves and ripples

inclusion of human and

animal shapes

High Cross of Muiredach

(Monasterboice, County Louth, Ireland), 923

large mass and scale/ church

above the transom/ wheel and the circle

Animal head post, from the Oseberg

ship burial (Norway), c. 825, wood

Vikings/ fusion of interlaced pattern

and the animal form/ gruesome rituals of

human sacrifice/Odin, Thor, and Freya/ Valhalla/

stave church

Two views of the Oseberg ship (Oslo)

Left: Wood carved portal of the stave church at Urnes,

Norway, c. 1050-1070

Below: drawing of a stave church

Equestrian portrait of Charlemagne

(Metz, Germany), early ninth century

Saint Matthew from the Coronation Gospel Book of Charlemagne

(Aachen, Germany), c. 800-810, ink and tempera on vellum

Charlemagne and Aachen (Aix-la-

Chapelle)/ reliance on prototypes for artistic inspiration

(i.e. the Mediterranean style)/ Caroline

minuscule

Saint Matthew from the Ebbo

Gospels (Hautvillers, near Reims, France), c. 816-835, ink and tempera on

vellum

classical calm replaced by a

frenzy of energy

Saint Luke from the Ebbo Gospels

(Hautvillers, near Reims,

France), c. 816-835, ink and tempera on

vellum

Illustrations to Psalms 43 and 44,

from the Utrecht Psalter, c. 820-32 CE

Cover of the Psalter of Charles

the Bald (St. Denis, France), c. 865,

ivory panel set in silver-gilt with

filigree work and precious stones

rich, decorated surfaces/ continued

intellectual and artistic endeavors

during the Carolingian period

Left: front cover of the Lindau Gospels,

c. 870, goldBelow: back cover

Odo of Metz. Interior of the

Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne

(Aachen, Germany), 792-

805

modeled after San Vitale/ second-storied throne