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Visigothic art and architecture

{{Short description|Art of the Visigoths}}

{{one source|date=April 2020}}

File:San_Juan_de_Baños.jpg in Baños de Cerrato, Spain]]

File:Capela de S. Frutuoso.JPG in Braga, Portugal]]

File:Cripta Visigoda Palencia.JPG of the cathedral of Palencia, Spain]]

File:Carranque-basilica.JPG in Carranque, Spain]]

The Visigoths entered Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) in 415 and they rose to be the dominant people there until the Umayyad conquest of Hispania of 711 brought their kingdom to an end.

This period in Iberian art is dominated by their style. Visigothic art is generally considered in the English-speaking world to be a strain of Migration art, while the Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking worlds generally classify it as Pre-Romanesque.

Branches of Visigothic art include their architecture, crafts (especially jewellery), and their script.

Visigothic architecture

The only remaining examples of Visigothic architecture from the 6th century are the church of San Cugat del Vallés in Barcelona, the hermitage and church of Santa Maria de Lara in Burgos, Saint Frutuoso Chapel in Braga, the church of São Gião in Nazaré and the few remnants of the church at Cabeza de Griego in Cuenca. However, their style developed over the next centuries, though the prime remaining examples of it are mostly rural and often run-down. Some of the characteristics of their architecture are:

  • Generally basilican in layout, sometimes a Greek cross plan or, more rarely, a combination of the two. The spaces are highly compartmentalised.
  • Horseshoe arches without keystones.
  • A rectangular, exterior apse.
  • Use of columns and pillars with Corinthian capitals of unique design.
  • Barrel vaults with cupolas at the crosses.
  • Frequent use of marble as material.{{Cite journal |last=Domingo Magaña |first=J. A. |date=2015 |title=The use of marble in Hispanic Visigothic architectural decoration |url=https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/3070637 |journal=The Use of Marble in Hispanic Visigothic Architectural Decoration |language=en |pages=527–535}}
  • Walls of ashlar blocks, occasionally alternating with Roman brickwork.
  • Decoration commonly of animal or plant motifs.

Examples include:

See also

References

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  • Diego Marin, La Civilizacion Espanola, pp. 34 -47, 1969, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
  • Bradley Smith, Spain: A History In Art, pp. 52-56, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, NY, no publication date given, about 1971.

External links

{{commons category|Visigothic art}}

  • [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/156533 Age of spirituality : late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century] from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20071116022655/http://www.circuloromanico.com/ El portal del Arte Románico; Visigothic, Mozarabic and Romanesque art in Spain.]

{{Architecture of Portugal}}

{{Architecture of Spain}}

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Category:Architectural history

Category:Early Germanic architecture