The processes which shaped Early Christian and Medieval art were highly complex, and resulted from the need of a new and fast growing religion to form an architectural and visual language. This language developed out of the encounter between various traditions such as Roman art, art of the east and Jewish art, and created intricate iconographical, compositional, structural and stylistic codes and traditions which will have an immense influence on both western and Byzantine art for hundreds of years.     

The course whishes to investigate central aspects of the development of medieval art, from its beginnings, through the diverse art created following the great invasions and under the Merovingians, Lombards and Visigoths, concluding with the Carolingian revival. The course aims to introduce to the students central works of art in major centers in the west and in Byzantium (Rome, Constantinople, Ravenna, Milan, The Holy Land, Arles) and in different media (book illumination, sculpture, ivory, mosaic decoration, minor arts, and architecture) while providing interpretive tools for analyzing the visual language of the early Middle Ages.