CAROLINGIAN ART — Carolingian art encompasses the art of Western Europe during the reign of the Carolingians (751–911), especially the art of the court of Charlemagne (768–814) and his successors. It arose spiritually in the cultural centers of the imperial court, at Aachen, Ingelheim, and Nijmegen, but developed in the great monasteries in direct relations with the royal family, such as at Saint-Denis, Reims, Metz, Tours, Saint-Riquier, Lyon, Echternach, Mainz, Fulda, Lorsch, and Reichenau, and soon spread to Switzerland (Saint Gall) and northern Italy (Milan). Rome and central Italy were little influenced by this art.
This artistic flowering assumed in many respects a Renaissance character, given the evident influence of classical and early Christian monuments. The new orientation was already announced under Pippin, when Anglo-Saxon missionaries in Germany, such as St. Boniface, increasingly came into contact with Rome.
But perhaps more than these spiritual ties, Charlemagne’s political idea, and above all that of the *renovatio Romani Imperii*, with his coronation in Rome (800), also announced changes in the field of art. Charlemagne’s ideal was Constantine the Great. Alongside the emperor, intimate advisors such as Alcuin, Rabanus Maurus, Einhard, and Angilbert promoted the new ideas, both in politics and in humanistic studies and art.
Classical form dominated, but the survival of Merovingian art was still clearly felt, with influences from various cultures, especially Irish, Byzantine, and at times Muslim.
The emperor did not limit his interest to new architecture, painting, or the minor arts; he also shaped the spirit of this artistic movement.
With the development of political and religious life, there also began a great architectural activity, especially in recently subdued lands. New churches arose at Lorsch (c. 767), Paderborn (777), Bremen (789), Aachen (c. 790–805), Centula (c. 790–836), Germigny-des-Prés (c. 800), and many other places. Around the imperial palaces, too, there are many accounts that excavations at Nijmegen and Ingelheim have confirmed. Generally, these developed from the ancient royal hall, adding other structures on the model of prototypes existing in Italy and Africa.
Here, contact with the Muslim world is evident. Sources speak of the grandiose complexes of the new monasteries; of Saint Gall (820), an old plan survives, and the arrangement of the churches and buildings at Lorsch can be clearly understood from recent excavations. Little, however, is known of secular architecture (e.g., the “house of Rabanus Maurus” at Winkel).
The new churches were built in various forms. While the old basilican type without a transept, typical of the Merovingian era, continued in some cases, preference was given to the basilica with a transept, modeled on Roman churches of the 4th century, as at Saint-Denis (c. 754–75), Fulda (c. 790–819), Seligenstadt (c. 831–40), or Hersfeld (c. 831–50). Sometimes these churches had separate bell towers, such as the church of the Savior at Monte Cassino.
The separation of the clergy, which was increasing in the great abbeys, from the laity led to new demands in architecture; the building developed toward an entrance in a western block (*Westwerk*), which may also have served as a baptistery. This is seen in the basilica at Lorsch (c. 774), now destroyed; but the grandest example was at Saint-Riquier in Centula (c. 790–799), rebuilt by Angilbert, Charlemagne’s son-in-law. Churches with polygonal plans, on the other hand, derived from Byzantine prototypes; the finest example is the octagonal chapel at Aachen (c. 790–805), reminiscent of Ravenna’s San Vitale.
The sculptural decoration of palaces and churches largely imitated classical forms, and indeed ancient marbles, capitals, and columns were transported from Rome and Ravenna to Aachen, Centula, Werden, Fulda, Lorsch, Hersfeld, Ingelheim, and Nijmegen for use in new constructions. Einhard’s letter mentions that capitals were copied from ivory models. The chancel screens and bronze doors in Aachen Cathedral also imitate classical forms.
Carolingian art — Interior of the church of Saint Michael, built by Abbot Eigil between 818 and 822, Fulda.
Carolingian art — Gospel book, known as the *Codex Aureus* or *Codex Adue*. Miniature depicting St. Luke (late 8th century). Trier, Stadtbibliothek.
Of the extremely rich decoration with mosaics, frescoes, and sculptures in Carolingian palaces and churches, almost nothing remains. Occasionally, however, works of ancient art were highly honored, and we know of a large equestrian statue of a king that Charlemagne transferred from Ravenna to Aachen; certainly the small statue of an emperor from Metz, now in the Louvre, is a copy of such a prototype, just as the she-wolf (or bear) in Aachen Cathedral recalls the *lupa* of Rome.
There are many records of monumental painting, but very little survives. Of the mosaics, only one example remains at Germigny-des-Prés (806), which recalls eastern prototypes. Of the mosaics of Aachen, only drawings survive. Some fresco fragments found at Lorsch (now in the museum at Darmstadt) give an idea of the beauty of the wall paintings of the Carolingian age, whose development is further documented by the frescoes at Mals (before 881) and Münster (now in Zurich, National Museum).
Illuminated manuscripts allow us to study the orientations of the different schools. Near the imperial court, perhaps in Aachen itself, flourished the *Schola palatina*, of which a group of manuscripts with classicalizing miniatures survives. One of its finest products is the Gospel book of the emperor, now in the treasury of Vienna. Another group of illuminated manuscripts derives from a school that found its prototypes in classical painting but also shows eastern influences. Its most significant product is the manuscript that Ada, perhaps the emperor’s sister, donated to St. Maximin at Trier (Trier, Stadtbibliothek). From the *Schola palatina* derives the school of Metz, flourishing especially under Louis the Pious (d. 870), and that of Reims. Another monastery closely tied to the court and especially supported by Charles the Bald is Saint-Denis. Very close to its products is the splendid Bible of
S. Paolo (Rome), probably written for Charles the Fat (ca. 880–88) by Ingolert, who shows a combination of influences from the various schools of Metz, Reims, and Tours. The school of Fulda came into contact with England through St Boniface, but was strongly influenced, along with Rabanus Maurus, by Tours.
In the eastern part of the kingdom, the school of St Gall developed. In Italy, the illuminations of the schools of Bobbio and Ivrea, and sometimes even those of Montecassino, show in their most advanced phase influences from Frankish abbeys as well.
The development of the minor arts, especially in the field of ivories, follows a similar line. The earliest works from the time of Charlemagne indeed show evident classical elements, as do the ivories of the Ada school. The school of Metz also initially shows many elements of classical taste; such is the case of the binding of the Sacramentary of Drogon (826–55) in Paris.
In the field of goldsmithing too, enormous losses must be lamented. However, some pieces remain, and they show a stylistic evolution similar to that of illuminations and ivory carvings.
The altar of Valvignano in S. Ambrogio in Milan, dedicated around 833 by Bishop Angilbert (824–66), is very close to the school of St-Denis, but was certainly made in Milan.
For glyptics too, sources recall many works executed with precious or engraved stones, but few have come down to us. In this field as in that of imperial seals, classical or early Christian style and technique were revived.
Almost nothing remains of the many fabrics that adorned the walls of palaces and churches or were used for worship. What has survived shows that silk fabrics were largely imported from the East, but sometimes also came from Italy.
Just as in politics, so in art during the Carolingian period, after the division of the empire, a separation between eastern and western territories becomes increasingly evident. Indeed, while in the time of Charlemagne the artistic manifestations of the territory of his empire were characterized by a revival of classical forms, later, with the intensification of influences from the various currents of Eastern art, the orientations of taste proper to the Franks and the Germans became more clearly defined. — See Pl. LII.