Medieval Art: Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic
Medieval art covers Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic production, roughly 300–1400. The exam tests building types, vaulting, mosaic and glass programmes, iconography, and the ability to distinguish periods by formal evidence.
Core rules
- Early Christian: catacomb painting; basilica plan (nave, aisles, apse, clerestory); Santa Sabina; Ravenna mosaics at San Vitale, with Justinian and Theodora panels.
- Byzantine: Hagia Sophia (pendentive, dome); iconoclasm (726–843); icons and iconostasis; gold ground, frontal figures, hierarchical scale.
- Romanesque: pilgrimage church; barrel and groin vaults; thick walls, small windows; tympanum (e.g. Sainte-Foy, Conques); Santiago de Compostela.
- Gothic: pointed arch, rib vault, flying buttress; Chartres, Notre-Dame Paris, Sainte-Chapelle; stained glass, rose window, vertical emphasis.
Worked example
A church has a pointed arch, rib vault, large glazed clerestory and external flyers. Identify the system and explain the effect. Answer: Gothic. Reasoning: the pointed arch and rib vault channel loads to piers; the flying buttress transfers lateral thrust outward, allowing thinner walls and larger windows. This is not Romanesque, where thick walls and small openings carry the load, nor Byzantine, where the dome and pendentives dominate.
Traps
Gothic was a later pejorative, not a self-description. Flying buttresses do not hold the roof up directly; they resist vault thrust. Byzantine and Romanesque both use round arches, but Byzantine churches are centrally planned and domed, Romanesque basilican and vaulted. Iconoclasm is an image controversy, not a style. Gothic is not only architecture: sculpture and stained glass are part of the programme.