Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of England, whose sophisticated art was influential in much of northern Europe. The two periods of outstanding achievement were the 7th and 8th centuries, with the metalwork and jewellery from Sutton Hoo and a series of magnificent illuminated manuscripts, and the final period after about 950, when there was a revival of English culture after the end of the Viking invasions. By the time of the Conquest the move to the Romanesque style is nearly complete. The important artistic centres, in so far as these can be established, were concentrated in the extremities of England, in Northumbria, especially in the early period, and Wessex and Kent near the south coast.
Shoulder-clasps from Sutton Hoo, early 7th century
11th century walrus ivory cross reliquary (Victoria & Albert Museum)
Bird from the Sutton Hoo shield (part replica)
The evangelist portrait and Incipit to Matthew from the Stockholm Codex Aureus, one of the "Tiberius group", show the Northumbrian Insular and classicising continental styles that combined and competed in early Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. It was probably made in Canterbury.
Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-century art historians, especially for Romanesque architecture, which retained many basic features of Roman architectural style – most notably round-headed arches, but also barrel vaults, apses, and acanthus-leaf decoration – but had also developed many very different characteristics. In Southern France, Spain, and Italy there was an architectural continuity with the Late Antique, but the Romanesque style was the first style to spread across the whole of Catholic Europe, from Sicily to Scandinavia. Romanesque art was also greatly influenced by Byzantine art, especially in painting, and by the anti-classical energy of the decoration of the Insular art of the British Isles. From these elements was forged a highly innovative and coherent style.
The painted crypt of San Isidoro at León, Spain
The "Morgan Leaf", detached from the Winchester Bible of 1160–75. Scenes from the life of David.
Master of Pedret, The Virgin and Child in Majesty and the Adoration of the Magi, apse fresco from Tredòs, Val d'Aran, Catalonia, Spain, c. 1100, now at The Cloisters in New York City.
The Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral, Cologne, Germany