Art in the Age of Charlemagne

Sajitz, Marina (2000) Art in the Age of Charlemagne. MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The art in the age of Charlemagne has been the subject of very many exhibitions, like 'Karl der Grosse' held in 1965 in Aachen and the more recent one in Paderbom 'Kunst und Kultur in der Karolingerzeit'. The purpose of this exhibition is however not to reiterate what others and their catalogues have already stated. It is to look at the art of the early Carolingians critically, in the light of how much or how little it actually owes to the antiquity and to what extent the term 'Renovatio imperii romani' can be applied to Carolingian art in connection with antiquity. The term 'Carolingian renovatio' provokes the notion of a renaissance in art and architecture. Although when Charlemagne started his ambitious goal 'renovatio', he did not have manuscripts, metalwork, architecture in mind, but the revival of the Roman Empire under his leadership. On various occasions the word 'renovatio' appears in contemporary letters and documents, but these do not hint at the status which art held during this time. The present exhibition will demonstrate how art perfected the overall concept. It will also show what Carolingian art borrowed from antiquity, how it appropriated classical art forms and, finally, how innovative and totally detached it is from classical art.

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Additional Information: Adviser: Michael Michael
• Keywords: Art history, Medieval history
• Date of Award: 2000
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2000-76069
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 19 Nov 2019 16:52
• Last Modified: 19 Nov 2019 16:52
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/76069