Medieval aesthetics

1
Medieval aesthetics

• 1. The iconoclastic controversy and the goals of
  Medieval art
• Pope Gregory the Greats letter of 600
• John Damascenes statement of c.720
• Empress Theodora the restoration of images in
  843 A.D.

2
Medieval aesthetics

• In this controversy, three justifications are
  offered for the use of religious images
• (1) A way of teaching
• (2) Enhances worship
• (3) The Incarnation

3
Medieval aesthetics

• Conclusions the goals of early Medieval art
  were practical
• To teach
• To enhance worship
• 2. Byzantine mosaics the new abstraction
• Founding of Constantinople in 324
• Movement (for a brief time) of the capital of the
  Western Roman Empire to Ravenna (402-c.540) -
  images

4
Medieval aesthetics

• James Snyder the new abstraction
• Harold Osbornes distinction between two types of
  abstraction
• pure abstraction
• abstraction-in-representation
• Byzantine works of art are symbol systems for
  referring the mind and feelings to something
  other than the work of art--to God, the saints,
  moral lessons, religious doctrine

5
Medieval aesthetics

• The idea of a work of art as a symbol system
  continued into the high middle ages
• Example Gothic architecture
• Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis (1081-1151) the rise
  of Gothic
• Sugers rebuilding of Saint-Denis beginning in
  1134

6
Medieval aesthetics

• Influence of Dionysius the Areopagite (c.500
  A.D.)
• The objects within the church the entire
  building are symbol systems which refer the mind
  and emotions (whole self) to the Divine.
• images

7
Medieval aesthetics

• 4. The Medieval reluctance to accept sensuous
  enjoyment of beautiful objects
• Augustine (354-430)
• Aquinas (1224-1274)
• 5. The social status of the artist in the Middle
  Ages
• See essay by Castelnuovo
• The stigma in the Middle Ages against manual
  labor, inherited from ancient Greece Rome

8
Medieval aesthetics

• There was a hierarchy within the arts -- roughly
• architects, illuminators, miniturists at the
  top - image 1 image 2
• goldsmiths glassmakers next
• painters sculptors at the bottom
• The anonymity of most medieval artists reflects
  their social status

9
Medieval aesthetics

• The status of the medieval artist began to change
  in the 12th century
• Signatures of artists become more widespread
  reflecting the gradual ennoblement of the
  artist (234)
• Artists gradually break out of the ghetto of the
  mechanical arts (237)

10
Medieval aesthetics

• The role of Dante (1265-1321) in this change in
  the status of the artist
• His praise for Cimabue Giotto
• frescoes from the
• Scrovegni chapel, Padua