Medeival art can be divided up into three main groups: the Hiberno-Saxons (Ireland), the Carolingians, and the Ottonians. The Hiberno-Saxons were well known for their Celtic art, animal style, and illumination. They flourished during the 5th and 6th century A.D. The Carolingians were well known for their architecture, painting and decorative art and the Ottonians under Otto I the Great were known for their calligraphy and illumination.

This is a Pectoral with scenes from Scythian life crafted for the Scythians by the Greeks. It dates back to the fourth century B.C. It is an example of the Scythian "animal style", a generic term for the characteristic ornamentation of artifacts worn and carried by nomadic peoples who, for almost two millennia, (B.C. into A.D) moved restlessly to and fro across the vast, open grasslands that stretch from China into Western Europe.

This is the Purse cover from the Sutton Hoo ship burial. It came from Suffolk, England. It was crafted of gold and enamel and decorated with four symmetrically arranged groups of figures. The end groups consist of a man standing between two beasts. The two center groups are of eagles attacking ducks.

This is the Tara Brooch from Ireland made of bronze and overlaid with gold filigree, glass and amber settings. It was an article of Irish costume jewelry dating back to the 8th century

Here is an Ornamental page from the book of Lindisfarne. The Hiberno-Saxons often created illuminate manuscripts, an art that they were quite good at as seen here. Here, the craft of intricate ornamental patterning is manifested in a tightly compacted design in which serpentine interlacements of fantastic animals devour each other, curling over and returning on their writhing, elestic shapes. The rythym of expanding and contracting forms produces a most vivid effect of motion and change---a palpable rippling, as on the surface of rapids. On this ornamental page, the Celtic cross (characterized by the circle and roundness) is in the center. It is created from various zoomorphic forms.

This is The Scribe Ezra Rewriting the Sacred Records. It was copied from an Italian manuscript early in the 8th century by an illuminator with Italian training aquired in some Anglo-Saxon monastery.

A few years earlier, this figure, St. Matthews, from the Book of Lindisfarne was copied from the same picture copied by the last illuminator.

This is the High Cross of Muiredach which stands at 16 ft in height and comes from Ireland. It is a Celtic cross because the four arms of the cross are joined by four circular arcs.

This is a Wood carved ornament (porch of stave church). Here, gracefully attenuated animal forms intertwine with flexible stalks and tendrils in spiraling rythym; the effect of the natural growth is astonishing. It is so elaborate and intricate that it seems as though the animal-interlace art of design has reached its limits of effectiveness.

Abive is St. Matthew, from the Ebbo Gospels. The energy in this piece is frenzy-like and St. Matthew's hair even seems to stand on end. He looks as if in frantic haste. The artist of this piece has to have a vivid imagination. It sort of reminds me of Munch's "The Scream."

This is Psalm 150, from the Utrecht Psalter. This person too has a vivid imagination. The people are odd looking people with tense bodies, hunched shoulders, and heads which are thrust forward. Also, the piece is devoid of color. This piece is very sketchy and spontaneous rendered with a sort of nervous vitality.

This is the Interior of the Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne. Its interior view shows that the "floating" quality of San Vitale has been converted into a blunt massiveness and stiffened into solid geometric form; it is the first vaulted structure of the Western Middle Ages. The conversion of a complex and subtle Byzantine prototype into a building that expresses robust strength and clear structural articulation foreshadows the architecture of the eleventh and twelfth centuries and the style we call Romanesque.

Here is the Schematic plan for a monastery at St. Gall, Switzerland. The abbey church was at the center of everything, with the cloister on one side. Around the cloister were grouped the most essential buildings: dormitory, refectory, kitchen and storage rooms. Other buildings included infirmaries, schools, guest houses, bakeries, breweries, and workshops were grouped around this central core of church and cloister.

This is The nave at St. Michael's (restored). It has a nice rythym of alternating light inside it and the ceiling has been raised considerably from the old basilicas which were not so tall. The nave retains the continuous and unbroken appearance of its Early Christian predecessors.

Above is pictured Adam and Eve Reproached by the Lord. The style of the figures on it are derived from Caroligian manuscript illuminations but has an expressive strength of its own. The story is presented through simplicity of form and great pantomime with the passing back and forth of blame, guilt, fear, etc.

This is The Annunciation to the Shephards. It is a supreme example of an illumination done by the Ottonians in the Lectionary of Henry II. It is violent with emotion, brightly colored, and distinctly Ottonian.