Early Middle Ages and Romanesque art

When the Roman Empire fell, the Church became the greatest patron of art, and images were meant to show the sacred, not the world.

In the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, an art of gold and mosaic was created. Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the churches of Ravenna show figures floating against gold backgrounds without shadows or space. Icons – painted images of saints – followed fixed patterns that are still used in the Orthodox Church.

In the West the arts of writing and painting were preserved in the monasteries, where monks illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells with interlace and animals. Viking art, with its sinuous animal ornament, met Christian art in rune stones and churches.

From around the year 1000, Romanesque churches with thick walls, round arches and small windows were built all over Europe. Portals were filled with carved Last Judgement scenes, and capitals with monsters and biblical stories.