A History of European Art

Lecture 2: Carolingian and Ottonian Art

seen at San Vitale. Its massive, muscular appearance is more reminiscent of

Roman architecture.

Another striking aspect of the Carolingian artistic revival is its persuasive

recollection of the Classical style of Greco-Roman antiquity, to be seen, for

example, in its illuminated manuscripts. The depiction we see of St. Matthew,

from the Gospel Book of Charlemagne (c. 800–810), was said to have been

found in the tomb of Charlemagne in the palace chapel. The signi¿ cance

of the painting lies in the forceful three-dimensionality of the body, as seen

through the robes. The pose is derived from a Classical prototype of an

author portrait—a painting in which a

famous writer was shown seated with

an open book, reading or writing—but

what impresses us is the degree to

which the Carolingian artist understood

how to recreate a believable, solid

human body.

The artist does not make any attempt

to suggest space beyond that occupied

by the body—the background is

basically À at bands of color. Even

more interesting is another illuminated

St. Matthew, this one from the Gospel Book of Archbishop Ebbo of Reims

(c. 816–835), commonly called the Épernay Gospel. This painting represents

the mature and distinctive Carolingian ¿ gure style, one that is suffused with

linear movement and physical intensity. It has an expressive urgency that

often recurs through later centuries of northern European art. Note also the

angel who served as St. Matthew’s inspiration in the top right corner.

In 813, Charlemagne selected one of his sons, Louis the Pious, to share

his power and to succeed him. Charlemagne died on January 28, 814, and

when Louis died in 840, a war of succession broke out among his sons. The

events of the next century—including raids by the Vikings—culminated in

the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, headed ¿ rst by the German king

Otto I (Otto the Great), whose coronation as emperor in 962 established a

political entity that endured in various permutations until the early 19th

The polygonal S. Vitale is

quite massive outside, but

inside it is distinguished

by much light, reÀ ected

from some of the ¿ nest

and most important

mosaics of the early

Byzantine period.