Carolingian and Ottonian Art

Carolingian and Ottonian art is the name given to the visual culture of the Latin West between the reign of Charlemagne and the reign of Henry II, roughly 750 to 1050. The Carolingian period saw the deliberate revival of classical and Christian art under the leadership of the Frankish court, the great monastery scriptoria, and the cathedrals of the new empire. The Ottonian period, beginning with the accession of Otto I in 962, continued and transformed the Carolingian tradition in the context of a new imperial program that consciously combined Roman, Byzantine, and Carolingian elements. The broader context is in the early medieval art and architecture, and the manuscript production is covered in the illuminated manuscripts of the early Middle Ages. The relationship to the earlier Insular and Anglo-Saxon tradition is treated in the Insular and Anglo-Saxon art, and the architectural context is in the early medieval architecture. The political and intellectual context is found in the Carolingian Empire, the Carolingian Renaissance, and Charlemagne and his reign.

The Carolingian and Ottonian traditions are conventionally treated together because of the conscious program of cultural revival that connected them. The Carolingian court school, the scriptoria of Tours, Reims, and Corbie, the great imperial workshops at Aachen, and the Ottonian court at Goslar all worked in conscious imitation of late Roman and Early Christian models, but they also developed distinctive new visual languages that would shape the Romanesque and Gothic art of the high Middle Ages. The technical and theological foundations of the medieval Latin West were established in this period, and the great manuscripts, ivories, and metalwork of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries are among the most studied objects in the history of Western art.

The Carolingian Visual Program

The Carolingian visual program was launched under Charlemagne (r. 768–814) and his successors, and it was closely tied to the broader program of cultural and religious reform known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The reform of the Latin liturgy, the correction of the Bible and the works of the Church Fathers, the foundation of new schools and scriptoria, the building of new churches and palaces, and the production of new works of art were all parts of a single coordinated program of imperial renewal. The visual arts were central to this program: a correct, beautifully written Bible was an act of devotion as much as a work of art, and a new church built in the late Roman style was a statement of imperial and Christian authority.

The greatest surviving works of Carolingian art are the manuscripts produced in the great scriptoria of the period. The Court School of Charlemagne (c. 780–900) produced the Godescalc Evangelistary, the Ada Gospels, and the Psalter of Charlemagne, all produced at Aachen in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. The Reims School (c. 800–850), associated with the archbishop Ebbo of Reims, produced the Ebbo Gospels and the Utrecht Psalter, both famous for their energetic, expressive style. The Tours School (c. 800–870), associated with Alcuin of York and his successors, produced the Vivian Bible, the Tours Bibles, and a large number of other biblical and patristic manuscripts. The Corbie School (c. 850–900), the Saint-Denis School, and the St. Gall School are the other major Carolingian scriptoria.

The visual language of the Carolingian scriptoria combined late Roman naturalism, Insular ornament, and local Frankish and Anglo-Saxon traditions in a complex synthesis. The classical revival is most visible in the figure style, in the architectural framing of the canon tables, in the imitation of late Roman architectural settings, and in the use of the classical author portrait. The Insular influence is most visible in the ornament — the interlace, the spirals, the key patterns — and in the integration of figural and decorative elements. The result is a visual language that is at once classicizing, ornamental, and Christian, and that set the standard for the medieval Latin West for centuries.

The Palace Chapel at Aachen and Carolingian Architecture

The Palace Chapel at Aachen (begun c. 792, dedicated 805), built under Charlemagne as the centerpiece of the new imperial palace, is the most important surviving example of Carolingian architecture. The chapel is a centralized octagonal building, inspired by the late Roman mausolea and by the church of San Vitale at Ravenna, with a central dome supported on eight piers. The construction used materials spoliated from late Roman buildings in Ravenna and Rome, including columns of granite, marble, and porphyry. The chapel, with its impressive central dome and its rich interior decoration of mosaic, marble revetment, and gilded bronze, was meant to be a deliberate imitation of the imperial architecture of late antiquity and a visual statement of the new imperial program.

The influence of the Palace Chapel on the subsequent architecture of the Latin West was substantial. The Carolingian westwork, the Ottonian double-choir church, the Romanesque centralized church, and the early Gothic cathedral all show the influence of the Aachen chapel. The surviving Carolingian churches at the Germigny-des-Prés in France, Müstair in Switzerland, and Cividale del Friuli in Italy show the spread of the Carolingian architectural tradition. The architectural development of the period is treated in the early medieval architecture.

Carolingian Ivory Carving and Metalwork

The Carolingian tradition of ivory carving was as impressive as the manuscript tradition. The Godescalc Evangelistary cover (c. 780), the covers of the Lorsch Gospels, the Gospel covers of Charles the Bald, the Uta Codex, the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram (c. 870), and many other surviving examples show the technical mastery of the Carolingian ivory workshops. The subjects include the Virgin and Child, the Crucifixion, the Christ in Majesty, the evangelist portraits, the scenes from the life of Christ, and the imperial portraits. The technique of carving in ivory, the choice of subjects, and the use of the ivory as a diplomatic gift all show the conscious revival of late Roman and Early Christian models.

Carolingian metalwork was equally distinguished. The Lothar Cross (c. 1000, Ottonian), the cross of Lothair II, the Bernward Cross (c. 1000), the great altar of Ratchis at Cividale, and the Pala d’Oro of St. Mark’s in Venice (begun in Constantinople, completed in the Latin West) exemplify the technique of goldsmithing, the use of precious stones, and the tradition of cloisonné enamel that was a major product of the imperial and ecclesiastical workshops.

The Ottonian Visual Program

The Ottonian visual program, developed under the Saxon dynasty from Otto I (r. 962–973) to Henry II (r. 1014–1024), continued and transformed the Carolingian tradition. The Ottonian court at Goslar, the great imperial cathedrals of Mainz, Trier, and Bamberg, and the great monasteries of Reichenau, Hildesheim, and Essen were the major centers of Ottonian artistic production. The Ottonian art was at once more hieratic, more Byzantine in its influence, and more strictly liturgical than its Carolingian predecessors. The imperial iconography, the use of the standing imperial figure in the frontispiece of the gospel book, the development of the monumental bronze doors, and the revival of monumental sculpture all date from this period.

The great Ottonian scriptoria included the scriptoria of the Reichenau, Hildesheim, Trier, Regensburg, Echternach, Cologne, and Bamberg. The famous gospels of Otto III (c. 1000), the gospels of Henry III (c. 1040), the Bamberg Apocalypse (c. 1000–1020), the Pericopes of Henry II (c. 1002–1014), and the Uta Codex (c. 1020) are the most famous surviving examples of Ottonian manuscript painting. The scriptoria developed a distinctive style that combined late Roman, Carolingian, and Byzantine elements in a new visual language of great power and sophistication.

The Bernward of Hildesheim and the Revival of Monumental Sculpture

The most significant artistic development of the Ottonian period was the revival of monumental sculpture. The bronze doors of the Hildesheim Cathedral, commissioned by Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim (c. 960–1022) and cast in a single campaign in 1015, are among the most important surviving works of early medieval sculpture. The doors consist of eight panels each, with Old Testament scenes on the left door and New Testament scenes on the right door, arranged in typological pairs. The technique of casting the bronze in a single piece, the careful arrangement of the figures in the panels, and the conscious imitation of late Roman relief are all characteristic of the Ottonian revival of monumental sculpture.

The Bernward Column, a hollow bronze column cast in the same campaign and originally designed to stand beside the doors, is similarly remarkable. The column is a single piece of cast bronze, decorated with scenes from the life of Christ that imitate the relief program of the famous Trajan’s Column in Rome. The technical achievement of casting such a large object in a single piece, the careful arrangement of the figural relief, and the conscious imitation of late Roman imperial models are all characteristic of the Ottonian visual program. The revival of monumental sculpture in the Ottonian workshops prepared the way for the great sculptural programs of the Romanesque and Gothic periods.

The Afterlife of Carolingian and Ottonian Art

The art of the Carolingian and Ottonian periods had a major influence on the subsequent development of Western art. The Romanesque sculpture of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Romanesque and Gothic manuscript painting of the same period, the great Romanesque and Gothic metalwork, and the great Romanesque and Gothic architecture all drew heavily on the Carolingian and Ottonian inheritance. The development of the Carolingian minuscule, the most important technical innovation of the Carolingian period, was the basis of the medieval Latin script tradition. The development of the Romanesque script, the Gothic script, the humanist script, and the modern printed book are all in continuity with the Carolingian achievement.

The Carolingian and Ottonian manuscript tradition was also preserved and developed in the monastic scriptoria of the central Middle Ages. The scriptoria of Reichenau, Hildesheim, St. Gall, and Corvey continued to produce manuscripts in the Ottonian style well into the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and the great Romanesque and Gothic manuscripts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries show the influence of the Ottonian style in their figure compositions, their architectural framing, and their ornamental programs. The techniques, the materials, and the iconographic conventions developed in the Carolingian and Ottonian periods remained standard practice for centuries.