The Arts in the Middle Ages and at the Period of the RenaissanceJacob, P. L.
History
The Arts in the Middle Ages and at the Period of the Renaissance
Jacob, P. L.
Art, Medieval; Art, Renaissance; Middle Ages
It is worthy of remark that the monuments of this age are generally
wanting both in dates and the name of the sculptor. Not more than five
or six of the principal artists or directors of artistic works of the
period are mentioned by name in any historical records. Among them,
however, are Tutilon, a monk of Saint-Gall, who at once poet, sculptor,
and painter, ornamented with his works the churches of Mayence and Metz;
Hugues, Abbot of Montier-en-Der; Austée, Abbot of St. Arnulph, in the
diocese of Metz; Morard, who, with the co-operation of King Robert,
rebuilt, towards the end of the tenth century, the old church of St.
Germain-des-Prés, at Paris; lastly, Guillaume, Abbot of St. Benignus, at
Dijon, who took under his direction forty monasteries, and became chief
of a school of Art, as well as their head on religious matters. The
doorways of the churches of Avallon, Nantua, and Vermanton, executed at
this epoch, bear witness to the rigour of an improved taste; and it may
be well said that this abbot Guillaume, who for a long series of years
directed a number of artists, who also in their turn became chiefs of
schools, exercised as powerful an influence on French art as Nicholas of
Pisa on Tuscan art in the following century.
But although it embraced within its influence a very extended sphere,
the school of Burgundy did not fail to find on the ancient Gallic soil
very skilful and industrious rivals. The districts of Messin, Lorraine,
Alsace, Champagne, Normandy, and the Ile-de-France, in short all the
various centres of the South, possessed numerous artists, each of whom
impressed on their works their own special character of individuality.
While all this activity was prevailing in France, Italy had as yet taken
so insignificant a part in the revival of Art, that in 976 Peter
Orseolo, Doge of Venice, having formed the idea of rebuilding the
basilica of St. Mark, was compelled to summon from Constantinople both
architects and artists.
A period of check to any progress took place in France, however, just as
in all the rest of Europe, when, at the approach of the year 1000, the
whole population became subject to an ideal dread that the end of the
world was at hand; but when this date was once passed, every school of
art set vigorously to work, and the most remarkable monuments of
Romanesque architecture sprang up throughout Europe in every direction.
Then it was that the artists of Burgundy built and ornamented, among
other churches and monasteries, the Abbey of Cluny, the apse of which
consisted of a bold cupola, supported by six columns thirty-six feet in
height, of
[Illustration: Fig. 278.--Tomb of Dagobert, executed by order of St.
Louis, in the Abbey-Church of St. Denis. It represents the King carried
away by Demons, after his death, towards the Infernal Bark, from which
he is rescued by Angels and the Fathers of the Church. (Thirteenth
Century.)]
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