The first characteristic is chivalry. This deals with knights and their code of honor, which included being of service, being honest, and helping those less fortunate. The second characteristic is magic. This came in many forms, especially in what we would consider today as the supernatural.

Early medieval art shared some defining characteristics including iconography, Christian subject matter, elaborate patterns and decoration, bright colors, the use of precious metals, gems, and other luxurious materials, stylized figures, and social status.

Medieval art was produced in many media, and works survive in large numbers in sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, metalwork and mosaics, all of which have had a higher survival rate than other media such as fresco wall-paintings, work in precious metals or textiles, including tapestry.

Medieval society was feudal, based on a rigid hierarchy and divided into three orders, or social classes: the nobles, the clergy and the peasants. What does it mean that Medieval society was rigid? People believed that these three orders were established by God and nobody should change this system.

Early Medieval art had three major influences: Christianity, the classical world of Rome and the pagan North. The cultures of the pagan North, including the Anglo-Saxons and the Celts, added their intricate patterns and designs to early Medieval art.

Medieval art was prominent in European regions, the Middle East and North Africa, and some of the most precious examples of art from the Middle Ages can be found in churches, cathedrals, and other religious doctrines.

Byzantine art, architecture, paintings, and other visual arts produced in the Middle Ages in the Byzantine Empire (centred at Constantinople) and in various areas that came under its influence.

Macedonian art New churches were commissioned, and the standard architectural form (the “cross-in-square”) and decorative scheme of the Middle Byzantine church were standardised. Major surviving examples include Hosios Loukas in Boeotia, the Daphni Monastery near Athens and Nea Moni on Chios.

Generally speaking, the main characteristics of Byzantine art include a departure from classical art forms that were highly realistic in nature. Byzantine artists were less concerned with mimicking reality and more in tune with symbolism, religious symbolism in particular.

Byzantine art preferred stylized imagery over naturalistic depictions. The aim of their art was to inspire a sense of wonder and admiration for the church. In this way, their use of graceful, floating figures, and golden tesserae emphasized the otherworldliness of the religious subjects.

Using bright stones, gold mosaics, lively wall paintings, intricately carved ivory, and precious metals in general, Byzantine artists beautified everything from buildings to books, and their greatest and most lasting legacy is undoubtedly the icons which continue to decorate Christian churches around the world.

Byzantine art (4th – 15th century CE) is generally characterised by a move away from the naturalism of the Classical tradition towards the more abstract and universal, there is a definite preference for two-dimensional representations, and those artworks which contain a religious message predominate.

Combining features of Roman and Byzantine buildings and other local traditions, Romanesque architecture exhibits massive quality, thick walls, round arches , sturdy piers , groin vaults , large towers, and symmetrical plans. The art of the period was characterized by a vigorous style in both painting and sculpture.

Romanesque art, architecture, sculpture, and painting characteristic of the first of two great international artistic eras that flourished in Europe during the Middle Ages.

If they did have stone roofs, the walls had to be very thick in order to hold up the roofs, and there couldn’t be very many windows either. So Romanesque buildings were often very heavy and dark inside.

In Carolingian and early Romanesque architecture the window openings, partly for structural reasons, were small and few in number. It was then that pictorial windows of stained glass became a major art form and in northern Europe the most important single element in church decoration.