Overview

We begin here, in the Medieval and Byzantine world between 1000 and 1400, because this was an era of foundation and transformation. While it is often called the ""Middle Ages,"" suggesting it was only a bridge between the ancient and modern worlds, it was in fact a period of extraordinary creativity. Artists, architects, and thinkers forged visual languages that would resonate for centuries. Between 1000 and 1400, the artistic landscape was defined by two great spheres: The Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople, carried forward the traditions of Rome while creating shimmering mosaics, icons, and domed churches that emphasised spiritual transcendence. Western Europe, structured around feudalism and bound by the Catholic Church, gave rise to monumental cathedrals, luminous manuscripts, and the first stirrings of naturalism in painting. In these four centuries we see: The rise of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, from fortress-like abbeys to the soaring heights of Notre-Dame in Paris. (Diagram suggestion: Romanesque vs Gothic architectural features) The flourishing of manuscript illumination in monasteries, where knowledge was preserved and adorned. The emergence of artists who began to question strict Byzantine conventions, experimenting with weight, perspective, and emotion - Cimabue, Duccio, and Giotto among them. The first recognisable individual artistic personalities, celebrated in their lifetimes and remembered across centuries. This was not a static world. It was a period of plague and pilgrimage, of Crusades and commerce, of new universities and shifting powers. In the interplay of challenge and change, art became both a reflection of society and a means of envisioning something greater.

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