BARBARIC, ART. - Under the name Barbarian art are included the artistic manifestations of the Nordic peoples, and in particular of the Germanic race, who invaded between the 4th and 9th centuries the territory of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, under this definition is also included the art of the peoples who remained outside the Roman orbit, such as the Scandinavians or the Irish, and of certain nomadic peoples, for example, the Avars or Scythians, coming from Asia.
The majority of scholars have taken the year 375 as the beginning of the migration and therefore of the manifestations, for us the most interesting, of Barbarian art. But the movement of the Nordic peoples and the development of their art began already much earlier, with the struggle of the Germans against the Roman Empire (around 166) and with the advance of the Marcomanni and the Goths, who moved from the Baltic to the Black Sea, carrying in their works traces of the contacts they had had with the Mediterranean peoples: important objects of Roman art (goldsmithing, ceramics, glass and examples of glyptics) had in fact penetrated since the first centuries (treasure of Hildesheim) even into the Scandinavian countries; without however removing from the art of Germany of this epoch the preponderance of Celtic influence. But in the workmanship of certain categories of objects, on the other hand, technical peculiarities are found, such as, for example, filigree, which demonstrate contacts with the culture of Hellenistic southern Russia and of the Danubian countries. In the 3rd century, in the new kingdoms of the Goths, in southern Russia, and of the Vandals, in Slovakia, a characteristic art already develops: there appears then for the first time, for example, a type of broad-shaped fibula (derived from Roman prototypes), which subsequently becomes common to the art of all the Germanic peoples (examples in the tombs of Sacrau near Breslau, dated around the year 300). Immediately afterwards the adoption of glass pastes and stones is also noted. One sees clearly how in the first period, that is up to the middle of the 6th century, geometric ornament and color predominate, and how later, up to the middle of the 8th century, ornament with animal forms develops, stylized and deformed in an abstract manner; the human form is almost completely absent.
The different artistic products of the various ethnic groups differentiate themselves progressively more sharply from one another, even if contacts exist between them. Thus the art of the Goths of the Black Sea is distinguished from that of the same Goths occupying Italy, and the art of the Western peoples who form the Merovingian kingdom (Franks, Thuringians, Alemanni and Bavarians), of the Lombards (after the year 568) in Italy, of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in England (from the middle of the 5th century) and of the Nordic peoples in Denmark and in the Scandinavian peninsula is defined more clearly.
Among the objects of Barbarian art preserved today, religious works are extremely scarce, such as the gold crosses of the Lombard tombs in Italy and southern Germany; of sculpture, what is known is especially the decoration of the Lombard monuments of northern Italy and of the Visigothic churches of Spain. In architecture, as the churches of Ravenna or Capua demonstrate, the old forms of Italian art predominate; only the Visigoths create an autonomous style.
Of the greatest importance for the development of Barbarian art is the work of the Goths. In the great kingdom that they created during the 3rd century in southern Russia, they underwent various influences: of the old Hellenistic culture of the country, of the provincial Roman, Sarmatian, Persian art and of the peoples of central Asia. From this mixture of different styles dominated by the taste of the Goths, there arises toward the beginning of the 4th century a new style of well-defined character, of which the liveliness of color is typical. Goldsmithing, as can be seen in the treasure of Petrossa earlier than 376 (today lost), demonstrates a very rich use of precious stones, destined to develop even more during the 5th century. For the most part the goldsmithing is worked in cells (cloisonnée); this technique of inserting stones into cells, especially red almandines, comes from Persian and Indian art; the stones themselves used by the Goths were supplied for the most part, and already cut, by India.
New and characteristic for this phase of Barbarian art is also the type of fibula in the shape of an eagle, of gold and almandines, which becomes increasingly stylized in the form of the animal, as the fibula of Cesena of c. 500 demonstrates. Objects of that type were also produced by the Visigoths during their kingdom in southern France (412-507); their art, by contrast, becomes coarser during the occupation of Spain (507-711). The most famous treasure of that era is that of Guarrazar with the votive crowns of Swinthilla (621-631) and of Recceswinth (649-72), preserved in the museum of Madrid. Spanish architecture, too, harks back to the style of the Visigoths. The most beautiful churches are found at S. Juan de Baños (661), at S. Pedro de Nava, at S. Miguel de Liño near Oviedo, to which is joined, for its formal characteristics, the great royal hall of Naranco (c. 750). The ornamental decoration of this monument recalls that of the church of S. Pedro de Nave and still demonstrates the influence of ornament on wood, typical of Germanic art.
Technically different, even if often with the decoration of almandines, are the works of the Ostrogoths in Italy (443-555), as can be seen in the fragments of Theodoric's cuirass, formerly in the museum of Ravenna. The alveolate arrangement, composed of triangles surmounted by discs, recalls the frieze that recurs on the exterior of the king's tomb in Ravenna.
The Lombards left few traces during their migrations. They produced true works of art especially after their arrival in Italy (568-774), learning from the Goths the technique of the alveoli (Zellenverglasung), and filigree from the East. As ornament they preferred interlace, as can be seen not only in goldsmithing (e.g., the crosses of the tombs) but also in sculpture. Animal ornament reached the Lombards from the north and developed in their art later, after 630. But in time Lombard culture adapted itself increasingly to Italian taste, also undergoing Byzantine influence; thus among the objects found in the tombs of Nocera Umbra and Castel Trosino (Rome, National Museum and Museum of Palazzo Venezia) or of Civezzano (Cividale, museum) are found purely Byzantine ornaments.
Among the most important works are some pieces belonging to Queen Theodelinda, such as the binding of an evangeliary, given to her by Pope Gregory the Great in 603, the fragment of a helmet with the portrait of King Agilulf (591-615), of more properly barbarian workmanship (Florence, Bargello museum). The sculptural ornaments, with the same motifs of interlace or animal figures (Rome and Ravenna), are more strongly marked by Italian style. Certainly worked by Lombards was the altar that Duke Ratchis (744-49) erected in S. Martino at Cividale in memory of his father Pemmo; to it is similar the baldachin of the patriarch Callistus (c. 740). More refined is the style of the sarcophagus of Theodore (d. 720) at Pavia, and that of St. Cumian at Bobbio, where, alongside Byzantinizing forms, are found Irish motifs, such as are also found in the miniatures of northern Italy ("scriptoria" of Verona, Bobbio or Novara).
The art of the peoples of the Merovingian kingdom underwent until the end of the 6th century the strong influence of Roman provincial art, as can be seen also in ceramics and glass, and together with that of Gothic art, to which the love of color is owed. In a second period (600-750) an autonomous style took shape, which expressed itself especially in goldsmithing, although the works with oblique grooves still reveal derivations from Roman art. In Italy, once interest in the alveoli had arisen through contact with the Lombards, the first influences of the so-called animal style are noted, probably coming from the Anglo-Saxons (mid-6th century). Alemannic art also produced liturgical vessels, such as the chalice of Duke Tassilo at Kremsmünster (777) or reliquaries, such as the fine example of Chur, and was often sensitive to Irish influences, especially in miniature painting (e.g., the "scriptorium" of St. Gall, the works of Corbie, Luxeuil, Fleury, Laon, in which traces of the East nonetheless persist). Greater relations with the old Roman culture are noted in the western zones (Trier, Mainz, Cologne) where there are some ivories certainly worked still by foreigners, perhaps Orientals.
The Germanic peoples, Saxons, Angles and Jutes who invaded England between 441 and 449 brought with them the art of their old countries. But already at the end of the 5th century they became independent and found an autonomous style, which is divided between a group, around Kent, of Jutes, who maintained contacts with Merovingian art, and a group of Anglo-Saxons in the north. In the various pieces of the treasure of Sutton Hoo from the beginning of the 7th century (British Museum), decorated in various techniques with filigrees, glasses, stones such as almandines, are recognized the contacts with French, Lombard, Scandinavian art and are found pieces imported from Byzantium.
With Christianity, around the middle of the 7th century, new currents entered. From Kent also came Irish influences, in goldsmithing and painting, with animal style (Book of Durrow, end of the 7th century). In sculpture the stone crosses are characteristic, of which the oldest example is that of Collingham (Yorkshire) of 651, with interlace and the symbols of the evangelists; in the more important crosses (Ruthwell and Bewcastle) are evident influences of the Christian East which persist also in the very important miniatures.
The art of the Scandinavian countries has a much more homogeneous and native development, although even here foreign contributions are not lacking, so much so that this art represents more clearly the characteristics of northern barbarian art. The colorism, which in the 6th century came from Pontic culture, did not last long, since the invasion of the Huns (375) cut off relations with those populations; more important are the influences of Roman provincial art and of western Germany, which provided geometric and vegetal motifs, while the animal motifs, which already towards the second half of the 5th century entered Scandinavian art as an inheritance of Roman provincial art transmitted by the Anglo-Saxons, invaded in the 6th century almost completely every decoration; towards 600 the ornaments lose their original stylization because of Lombard and Alemannic influences (tombs of Vendel in Sweden). In another phase, towards the beginning of the 8th century, the animal motifs become more organic in ornamental distribution but become even more abstract in form; they then seem to provoke, at the beginning of the 9th century, the reaction towards the plasticism proper to the art of the Vikings (800-1100), which is not exempt from Anglo-Saxon and also Carolingian contributions; in the 9th and 10th centuries some vegetal motifs mark contacts with the East (in the 11th and 12th centuries the acanthus used on the continent will also appear), and the first Christian motifs emerge which recall the Irish miniatures, as the stone of Jellinge (c. 980) demonstrates with the image of the crucifix and with the reverse occupied by a great beast, similar to what occurs in wooden works (door of the church of Urnes, 11th century, in Norway and reliquaries in the cathedral of Cammin, of c. 1000). The art of textiles, too, still recalls, in the tapestries of Skog (12th century), the stylized art of the stones with the runes, while in that of Baldishol (Oslo, museum) it follows French prototypes. - See Plates LIII-LIV.
(property of Volbach)
Bibliography30 works
G. Federico Volbach