Medieval+art

 Medieval Arts By: Chas Edelberger Art in the Medieval Times was very important for understanding their culture. Art back then was often based on religion. Although there were many different and great peices of art made, not very many artists' names were known because artwork was often done in small groups of craftsmen who rarely signed their work. __ Sculptures __  Some of the most common materials that were used for sculptures were ivory, stone, or wood. Chisels were used to carve shapes into the sculpture and smaller details were made with smaller tools. Larger sculptures, such as statues in front of a cathedral, were split up among a group of craftsmen. For example, one craftsman would do the head, another would do the clothes, and so on. In the later Middle Ages, the artists dissected human bodies so they could make more realistic sculptures.

__Stained Glass Windows__ Stained glass windows are windows that are colored and usually in a church so usually has religious pictures on it. A common picture made on stained glass windows is a man crusifed which is a common form of punishment of a crime. There are five steps to making stained glass windows: Step 1: Sand is mixed with potash to make glass. Step 2: L ong metal pipes are used to blow glass into cylinders which are then cut and dried into flat rectangles. Step 3: The glass is cut into the pieces required to make the picture with a dividing iron (a metal pole with a red hot point) Step 4: The glass is painted with details. Step 5: The painted glass is then reassembled and put into a church window.

__Paintings__ Paintings were very intricate with great detail but were often unrealistic. For example, priest were often painted larger than the others in the painting to resemble their importance. Paintings in an altar are called Altarpieces. The paint itself was made by grinding up color pigments and sometimes mixing them together to make different colors. Becoming a painter is a lot like becoming a master in any profession, starting as an apprentice and working your way up to a master.

__Music and Dance__ Music and Dance were often used in celebration. Peasants made their own instruments, such as pipes with bone, reeds, animal horns, and animal skin. Wealthy people had more complicated instruments made for them, for example, the harp. Music, like other types of art in the Middle Ages, were based on religion. The first type of religious music was the Plainsong (a chorus sang chants based no the bible) which were later upgraded to songs with instruments in the backround. There were many different ways to write music but one of the more important ways was writing musical symbols over the words in a prayer book because that was the beginning of musical notation. Dances often took place at occurences like fairs, wedding ceremonies, and holy days. These dances were often danced in lines or circles but in the 1300s the nobles created one of the first pair dances called the //basse dance.// This was often done by the pairs coming out with their introducing bows and continued with 5 complicated dance steps.

Work Sited Rodger, Ellen. __Arts and Literature in the Middle Ages.__ New York, NY []