Medieval Wall Painting
Apparently the past was less plain than we have been lead to believe :
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Medieval Wall Paintings - E. Clive Rouse
“It must be realized that all medieval churches in England were more or less completely painted…Far too many people merely regard a wall painting from the point of view of artistic merit. Is it a good picture? This was not uppermost in the mind of the medieval painter. He had two objects in view and they were crystal clear. He was there to be devotional and he was there to teach.”
In a largely illiterate age, where few books were available at any rate, sacred wall paintings were a way for biblical stories to be passed on to the masses. Indeed they have been called The Biblia Pauperum or The Poor Man’s Bible.
Because these stories needed to be quickly understood by everyone a kind of visual shorthand and exaggeration was used - complete with haloes for the good, comic hats, and gestures of blessing and judgment (Rouse includes a nice little description of nearly a dozen commonly understood hand positions).
Because of the Victorian’s mistaken belief that these works were valueless scribbling, and the subsequent stripping of the walls of countless early churches, it is difficult to judge any artistic merit on the part of the artists. It is clear, however, that English artists’ interest in emphasizing the basics was very different from the continental artists’ more elaborate and fully colored images.
Wall paintings also existed outside of the Church, but very few survive. In the Middle Ages most castles had painted walls (the best preserved are in Longthorpe Tower), and by the Renaissance they had begun to appear in smaller homes as well. Subjects that would have been forbidden in a church, as well as purely decorative elements such as flower, could often be found in private homes. Learning about this art form gives us a richer, warmer view of the past as it truly was, and not the cold, stern vision that has come down to us.
“There is no reason to suppose that most castles and great houses of the medieval date were not decorated…but most of the castles are now ruinous and destroyed.”
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Medieval Wall Paintings - E. Clive Rouse
“It must be realized that all medieval churches in England were more or less completely painted…Far too many people merely regard a wall painting from the point of view of artistic merit. Is it a good picture? This was not uppermost in the mind of the medieval painter. He had two objects in view and they were crystal clear. He was there to be devotional and he was there to teach.”
In a largely illiterate age, where few books were available at any rate, sacred wall paintings were a way for biblical stories to be passed on to the masses. Indeed they have been called The Biblia Pauperum or The Poor Man’s Bible.
Because these stories needed to be quickly understood by everyone a kind of visual shorthand and exaggeration was used - complete with haloes for the good, comic hats, and gestures of blessing and judgment (Rouse includes a nice little description of nearly a dozen commonly understood hand positions).
Because of the Victorian’s mistaken belief that these works were valueless scribbling, and the subsequent stripping of the walls of countless early churches, it is difficult to judge any artistic merit on the part of the artists. It is clear, however, that English artists’ interest in emphasizing the basics was very different from the continental artists’ more elaborate and fully colored images.
Wall paintings also existed outside of the Church, but very few survive. In the Middle Ages most castles had painted walls (the best preserved are in Longthorpe Tower), and by the Renaissance they had begun to appear in smaller homes as well. Subjects that would have been forbidden in a church, as well as purely decorative elements such as flower, could often be found in private homes. Learning about this art form gives us a richer, warmer view of the past as it truly was, and not the cold, stern vision that has come down to us.
“There is no reason to suppose that most castles and great houses of the medieval date were not decorated…but most of the castles are now ruinous and destroyed.”