Italy Secondaria di secondo grado – classe 2ª Art history (liceo artistico, musicale e coreutico)

1. Origins to the 14th century

Greek and Roman art · Early Christian to Gothic

• Ancient Art: From Cave Walls to Roman Arches – Ancient art runs from cave paintings (over 40,000 years ago) to the fall of Rome (476 CE). Prehistoric people painted animals and hands with ochre and charcoal and raised megaliths using post-and-lintel. Egypt made stiff, rule-based figures for eternity. Greece searched for ideal beauty and balance in marble temples and statues. Rome copied Greek forms but added the arch, concrete and the dome, and used art and buildings to show the power of the state.
• Medieval Art: From Mosaics to Gothic Cathedrals – Medieval art in Europe and the Mediterranean covers about 300 to 1400 CE. Early Christian art took over the Roman basilica and catacomb paintings. Byzantine art added domes, gold mosaics and icons. Romanesque churches (c. 1000–1150) have round arches, thick walls and small windows, with teaching sculpture over doors. Gothic cathedrals (from c. 1140) use pointed arches, ribbed vaults and flying buttresses to build tall, thin walls filled with stained glass. Monks made illuminated manuscripts. Late Gothic painters like Giotto made art more lifelike, opening the way to the Renaissance. Art in this age mainly served faith and taught stories to people who could not read.