turally. The unity of classical art was succeeded by regional Germanic aesthetics known as the barbarian styles, which flourished roughly throughout the Dark Ages (ca. 500-1000). Common to these styles was a focus on decorative patterns (as opposed to human figures), often with zoomorphic elements.
In Britain and Ireland, the artistic styles of the Celts (in Ireland and Scotland) and Anglo-Saxons (in England) blended to form the insular style. (“Insular” simply means “relating to an island”; thus, “insular style” is equivalent to “island style”.) Insular art is also known as “Hiberno-Saxon” or “Anglo-Celtic” art.
The barbarian styles represent the final flourishing of native Germanic art. Like other migratory peoples throughout the world, the native art of the Germanic tribes focused mainly on patterned decoration of portable objects (e.g. clothing, jewellery, harnesses, vessels, tools), in the form of leatherwork, woodwork, or metalwork (depending on the object). Indeed, metalwork (often embellished with stones) is the chief surviving form of sculpture in the barbarian styles.H351,1
Meanwhile, the human figure was restored as the central focus of Western art by the Carolingians and Ottonians. Carolingian art denotes artworks produced by the Carolingian Empire (ca. 750-900), while Ottonian art (which is founded upon that of the Carolingians) denotes works produced by the Holy Roman Empire during its first century (ca. 950-1050). Broadly speaking, Carolingian art exhibits greater three-dimensional realism than that of the Ottonians. The Carolingians injected a significant measure of classical realism into medieval art (thus reverting to an Early Christian level of realism), after which the Ottonians slid back into flat stylization.5
The Carolingians and Ottonians both excelled in carved ivory. In terms of larger sculpture, the best known Carolingian work is a set of doors at Aachen Cathedral. The most famous large Ottonian works are the bronze Bernward Doors and Bernward Column, both commissioned by the bishop Bernward at a German cathedral (St Mary's Cathedral, Hildesheim), and the wooden Gero Crucifix, which exceeds life-size.
Romanesque art, which developed from the three great traditions of the Dark Ages (barbarian, Carolingian, and Ottonian), flourished across Western Europe. Thus, for the first time since the fall of Rome, the West was aesthetically unified. The heart of the Romanesque period (and the subsequent Gothic period) was France.
The Romanesque and Gothic periods comprise the great age of cathedrals; the foremost sculpture of this age is architectural.
To the non-expert eye, it can be difficult to distinguish between Byzantine, Carolingian, Ottonian, and Romanesque sculpture. Gothic sculpture, on the other hand, stands clearly apart, thanks to a striking new degree of physical realism. Indeed, Gothic art embodies the transition from medieval stylization to the fully-developed realism of the Renaissance.
The Gothic age witnessed the return of statues as the principal sculptural type. Gothic statues are still usually architectural ornaments, however; independent, free-standing statues would not be revived until the Renaissance. Indeed, given that free-standing statues had been worshipped by the pagan Greeks and Romans, they were firmly discouraged by the medieval Church.H262,1
2 - "Western Painting", Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed April 2009.
3 - "Byzantine Art", Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed April 2009.
4 - "Byzantine art and architecture", Columbia Encyclopedia. Accessed July 2009.
5 - "Ottonian art", Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed February 2010.