Rick Steves' Europe
Art Bites 135: Sculpture, Pulpits, Altarpieces, and Relics
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The greatest art of the Middle Ages was Gothic church art.
The greatest art of the Middle Ages was Gothic church art: jewel-filled treasuries, statues of saints with the symbols of their martyrdom, Virgin Marys radiant on their heavenly thrones, and frightening images of hell.
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Rick Steves' Europe
Art Bites 135: Sculpture, Pulpits, Altarpieces, and Relics
Clip | 7m 8sVideo has Closed Captions
The greatest art of the Middle Ages was Gothic church art: jewel-filled treasuries, statues of saints with the symbols of their martyrdom, Virgin Marys radiant on their heavenly thrones, and frightening images of hell.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipAs the Church was the leading patron of the arts throughout the Middle Ages, it owned the greatest artistic treasures.
And many of those treasures remain in situ█ not in museums but in the churches— where they were originally designed to be seen.
The centerpiece of each church was the altar, generally with an elaborate single piece of art— painted█ or carved-- featuring Christ, the Virgin Mary, a patron saint, or a particular Bible scene.
Some altarpieces were huge and overwhelming— telling the story of Christ scene by scene from manger to resurrection.
And many altar pieces come with panels on hinges.
Some have many panels that, when opened, reveal a series of scenes designed to better inspire worship.
Here, we see the end of the Virgin█s life on earth with heartbreaking medieval emotion.
Many church altars had a painting like this one, showing Mary seated on a throne, with Baby Jesus on her lap, flanked by saints with plate-like halos, amid the radiance of heaven█ made with real gold leaf to glow, especially in the candlelight.
This opulent altarpiece also tells the story of Jesus like pages of a comic book ripped out and laid side by side.
It wasn█t terribly realistic by modern standards: Mary█s throne looks cockeyed█ and the food could slide right off this table█ but the art brought sacred stories to life, inspiring the faithful.
Imagine the power of Gothic Art— emotionally, religiously, and politically.
In the Middle Ages, art was the advertising of the day—a perspective-shaping tool.
Artists were hired by the powerful to inspire█and also to promote conformity.
Church art has always had an agenda: to teach by telling stories and through symbolism: Martyrs were known by how they died: riddled with arrows— St Sebastian█ decapitated█ St. Dennis death by grilling— it█s gotta be St. Lawrence.
Gospel writers are shown holding a book.
If a man has a cross in his halo█ it can only be Jesus.
And some regular person suddenly in the company of saints?
Likely an important financial supporter of the church█ a reminder of how people believed such patronage would help get you to heaven.
Accurate realism was not a concern.
Paintings came with no natural setting, just an ethereal gold background.
Buildings may have had four walls but little sense of actual depth.
Bodies were flat and expressions said little.
The main thing: tell the story.
And if the message wasn█t clear enough, the artist could literally spell it out.
A hellish hot-tub taught that people from all walks-- nobles, kings, even bishops— can end up in hell.
You were reminded that one day your sins would be accounted for as if written on a ledger.
But it wasn█t all fire and brimstone.
While Artists generally worked anonymously, they sometimes injected a little playfulness and personality: This man has a toothache.
Another pulls a thorn from his foot.
And here, a farmer clobbers a thief so hard his hat falls off.
Medieval pulpits—from where the priest preached— were often masterpieces in themselves, with finely carved Bible stories and symbols that reinforced the gospel message.
Readings were figuratively and literally supported by venerable leaders of the faith.
Church treasuries are like museums— safely protecting jewel-incrusted gold and silver featuring dazzling workmanship, war trophies, and priceless gifts—like this gold-encrusted “unicorn tusk.” Dazzling jeweled vessels, called reliquaries, were often masterpieces of art designed to protect relics.
A relic is some physical reminder of Christ or a saint, like their bones or possessions█ the finger of St. Theresa█ the jaw of St. Anthony█ perhaps a skull of a saint complete with jewels and silver█ or better yet, a full, regally dressed skeleton.
Holy relics were the “ruby slippers” of medieval Europe.
To the faithful, relics had power — they helped answer prayers, win wars — and ultimately, they helped you get to heaven.
That█s why pilgrims traveled far and wide to venerate relics, making the High Middle Ages a golden age of travel.
In Venice, they came for the supposed bones of St. Mark.
In Padova, the vocal chords of St. Anthony.
An especially sought-after relic was a supposed piece of the original cross, like this one— with an actual nail hole-- carried in a jewel-encrusted case by the emperors.
In Paris, this entire church— so famed for its windows today-- functioned as a reliquary itself, purpose-built to house the supposed Crown of Thorns in all its glory.
To this day, pilgrims pray at these relics.
If a request for a miracle is answered, they might leave a votive— that█s a token of gratitude for the saint█s divine intervention.
All of these elements— from relics to statues, from soaring arches to sun pouring through stained glass— were part of a unified ensemble of art bringing the stone shell of the cathedral to life and designed to keep the church central to people█s lives.
Mix in a little music, and Gothic churches created a powerful experience inspiring Europeans during this Age of Faith.
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Art Bites 195: Social Realism, the Art of Communism
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Clip | 1m 51s | The art of Communism diligently promoted the heroic symbols of the state as propaganda. (1m 51s)
Art Bites 194: Picasso’s "Guernica"
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Clip | 2m 54s | With the large Cubist-inspired painting, Picasso put a human face on “collateral damage.” (2m 54s)
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Clip | 1m 36s | With heavy outlines and brilliant colors, Chagall celebrated nature and its creator. (1m 36s)
Art Bites 192: Surrealism and Salvador Dalí
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Clip | 2m 34s | Surrealists explored the subconscious painting everyday images in jarring juxtapositions. (2m 34s)
Art Bites 191: Edvard Munch and Expressionism
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Clip | 2m 6s | Expressionism captured emotions, trauma, and cynicism with distorted and garish works. (2m 6s)
Art Bites 190: Romanticism and Romantic Era Painting
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Clip | 2m 43s | Epic, melodramatic canvases, images that stir the emotions, and an embrace of nature. (2m 43s)
Art Bites 189: Pablo Picasso: Cubism, "Guernica," and Much More
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Clip | 5m 14s | Picasso invented Cubism, captured the horror of warfare, and found freedom in abstraction. (5m 14s)
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Clip | 1m 35s | Gustav Klimt, with paintings like “The Kiss” captured a simmering hedonism in Vienna. (1m 35s)
Art Bites 187: Toulouse-Lautrec
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Clip | 1m 46s | Toulouse-Lautrec painted the turn-of-the-century bohemian scene on Paris’ Montmartre Hill. (1m 46s)
Art Bites 186: Modern Art and the Isms of the 20th Century
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Clip | 4m 31s | 20th-century art was a parade of isms: Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism. (4m 31s)
Art Bites 185: Art Nouveau, Mucha, and Gaudí
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Clip | 5m 3s | Art Nouveau went organic with willowy maidens, melting eaves, and an embrace of nature. (5m 3s)
Art Bites 184: Vincent van Gogh
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Clip | 3m 1s | Van Gogh’s wild brush strokes and vivid colors portrayed the world he felt so intensely. (3m 1s)
Art Bites 183: The Post-Impressionists: Seurat, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh
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Clip | 3m 51s | Dots, slabs, primitive Tahitian scenes, wild brush strokes, and vivid colors. (3m 51s)
Art Bites 182: Claude Monet and His Waterlilies
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Clip | 2m 10s | The true subject of Monet’s “Waterlilies” is the changing reflections on the pond. (2m 10s)
Art Bites 181: Rodin, Impressionism in Sculpting
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Clip | 1m 27s | Auguste Rodin brought Impressionism to stone with iconic statues like “The Thinker.” (1m 27s)
Art Bites 180: Impressionism, Monet, Renoir, and Degas
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Clip | 6m 20s | The Impressionists revolutionized art with a focus on nature: light, shadow, and color. (6m 20s)
Art Bites 179: Northern Baroque Painting: Hals, Steen, Vermeer
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Clip | 4m 53s | Hals, Steen, Vermeer painted slices of regular life and group portraits of city bigwigs. (4m 53s)
Art Bites 178: Baroque Music, Bernini for Your Ears
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Clip | 2m 5s | This mini piano concert demonstrates how Baroque music can be like Bernini for your ears. (2m 5s)
Art Bites 177: Rubens, a Master Painter of the Northern Renaissance
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Clip | 3m 28s | Rubens painted mythic battles, Catholic miracles, bloody hunts, and “Rubenesque” women. (3m 28s)
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Clip | 1m 53s | Gritty realism, stark lighting, and drama gave Caravaggio’s art an emotional punch. (1m 53s)
Art Bites 175: Bernini and Baroque Sculpture
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Clip | 5m 37s | Rome was Bernini’s gallery where you can see his squares, fountains, and finest statues. (5m 37s)
Art Bites 174: Baroque Art as Propaganda
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Clip | 3m 29s | Baroque art was propaganda for the state or for the Church. (3m 29s)
Art Bites 173: Baroque Art, the Catholic Church, and the Virgin Mary
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Clip | 3m 42s | Pro-Vatican Baroque featured big canvases, dramatic statues, and exuberant architecture. (3m 42s)
Art Bites 172: The Reformation and the Baroque Age
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Clip | 5m 6s | The roots of Baroque go back to the 1500s when it told the story of the religious wars. (5m 6s)
Art Bites 171: Neoclassical Art, the Age of Revolution, and Napoleon
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Clip | 5m 6s | The French Revolution came with art that celebrated liberty, equality, and brotherhood. (5m 6s)
Art Bites 170: Neoclassical Art and Architecture, the Age of Enlightenment
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Clip | 5m 49s | Neoclassical was a stern, no-frills style that celebrated a new age of science and reason. (5m 49s)
Art Bites 169: Rococo Art and Architecture, Baroque Gone Wild
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Clip | 2m 7s | Rococo art featured aristocrats playing in their Baroque palaces and bucolic backyards. (2m 7s)
Art Bites 168: Royal Palaces of the Baroque Age and Versailles
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Clip | 5m 36s | Versailles, with its heavenly painted ceilings, was the ultimate Baroque palace. (5m 36s)
Art Bites 167: Royal Portraits and Velázquez
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Clip | 3m 33s | Painters, such as Velázquez, were paid to make royals look more divine than they were. (3m 33s)
Art Bites 166: Rembrandt, The Great Dutch Master
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Clip | 3m 51s | Rembrandt earned a living painting and told Bible stories with a subtle mastery of drama. (3m 51s)
Art Bites 165: Sandro Botticelli
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Clip | 2m 24s | Botticelli painted big colorful celebrations of the Renaissance like a fertile springtime. (2m 24s)
Art Bites 164: The Medici Family, Patrons of the Florentine Renaissance
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Clip | 3m 27s | The Medici family nurtured and employed the great Florentine Renaissance artists. (3m 27s)
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Clip | 2m 6s | A humble monk, Fra Angelico frescoed exquisite sacred scenes for his monastery. (2m 6s)
Art Bites 162: Early Renaissance Painting: Giotto, Masaccio, Fra Angelico
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Clip | 5m 26s | These painters brought art from medieval two-dimensional to more life-like 3-D. (5m 26s)
Art Bites 161: Donatello and Early Renaissance Statues
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Clip | 3m 12s | The sculptor Donatello gave his proud statues unprecedented realism and emotion. (3m 12s)
Art Bites 160: Renaissance Artists: Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello
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Clip | 4m 58s | Florence, home of the Renaissance, was also home to three early artistic heroes. (4m 58s)
Art Bites 159: The Renaissance Defined
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Clip | 3m 30s | For two centuries, the Renaissance was an explosion of secular learning, art, and culture. (3m 30s)
Art Bites 158: Hieronymus Bosch and "The Garden of Earthly Delights"
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Clip | 2m 7s | Bosch’s three-paneled masterpiece takes you from earthly delights to a nightmarish Hell. (2m 7s)
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Clip | 2m 6s | Weyden’s exquisitely detailed Last Judgment is filled with symbolism. (2m 6s)
Art Bites 156: Pieter Brueghel the Elder for a Slice of Flemish Life
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Clip | 2m 14s | Brueghel was a master of slice-of-life scenes capturing country folk at play. (2m 14s)
Art Bites 155: Oil Painting, an Improvement over Tempera
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Clip | 2m 9s | Oil paints freed artists like Jan van Eyck, Raphael, and Leonardo to raise the bar. (2m 9s)
Art Bites 154: The Northern Renaissance, Flemish Painting, and Jan van Eyck
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Clip | 3m 10s | Flemish paintings were happy slice-of-life scenes, feel-good, and affordable. (3m 10s)
Art Bites 153: Albrecht Dürer, Realism, Humanism, and the Master Engraver
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Clip | 1m 54s | Albrecht Dürer’s meticulous attention to detail was ideal for his work as an engraver. (1m 54s)
Art Bites 152: El Greco and Mannerism
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Clip | 4m 8s | El Greco painted supernatural visions, faces that flicker, and otherworldly altarpieces. (4m 8s)
Art Bites 151: The Age of Discovery: Portugal and Spain
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Clip | 5m 52s | Portugal had lacy Manueline architecture and Spain’s emperor had far-flung tastes. (5m 52s)
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Clip | 6m 53s | Michelangelo sculpted “David,” painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and designed St. Peter’s. (6m 53s)
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Clip | 3m 36s | Raphael’s sweet Madonnas set a new standard in High Renaissance painting. (3m 36s)
Art Bites 148: Building a Gothic Cathedral Out of 13 Tourists
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Clip | 2m 2s | Gothic church design is best illustrated by building one with 13 travelers. (2m 2s)
Art Bites 147: Gothic Church Architecture, the Pointed Arch and More Light
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Clip | 6m 51s | The Gothic Age was famed for its towering churches filled with glorious stained-glass windows. (6m 51s)
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