Online Paintings

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Ottonian Paintings

Posted by clementina at 11:14 PM

In pre-Romanesque Germany, the current style was what has come to be known as Ottonian art. With Ottonian architecture, it is a key component of the Ottonian Renaissance (circa 951 – 1024) named for the emperors Otto I, Otto II, and Otto III. The style persisted past the Ottonian emperors, however, and into the reigns of the early Salinas.

After the decline of the Carolingian Empire, the Holy Roman Empire was re-established under the Saxon Ottonian dynasty. From this emerged a rehabilitated faith in the idea of Empire and a reformed Church, creating a period of heightened cultural and artistic passion. It was in this atmosphere that masterpieces were created that fused the traditions from which Ottonian artists derived their inspiration: models of Late Antique, Carolingian, and Byzantine origin.

Ottonian monasteries produced some of the most magnificent medieval illuminated manuscripts. They were a major art form of the time, and monasteries received direct sponsorship from emperors and bishops, having the best in equipment and talent available.

Among the greatest talents was the so-called Master of the Regis rum Gregory, or Gregory Master, who worked chiefly in Trier in the 970s and 980s. He was responsible for several miniatures in the influential Codex Egbert, a gospel dictionary made for Archbishop Egbert of Trier, probably in the 980s.

However, the majority of the 51 images in this book, which represent the first extensive cycle of images depicting the events of Christ's life in a western European manuscript, were made by two monks from the island monastery of Reichenau in Lake Constance. Subsequently, the Reichenau scriptorium specialized in Gospel illustration in liturgical books, many of them, such as the Munich Gospels of Otto III and the Periscope Book of Henry II imperial commissions.

Other important monastic scriptoria that flourished during the Ottonian age include those at Convey, Hildesheim, Regensburg, Echternach, and Cologne. In addition, much very fine small-scale sculpture in metals--usually embroidered with gems, enamels, crystals, and cameos--and ivory were made during the Ottonian period.