Бюхсель Мартин
Франкфуртский университет имени Иоганна Вольфганга Гёте, Германия
A longstanding discussion concerning Carolingian art has centered on the following question: Did artists of the Carolingian period who incorporated Classical and Early Christian patterns into their work perceive these earlier art forms as Classical art charged with imperial significance, or did they make use of them merely because of their basic formal interest? For anyone investigating this question, the Pfalzkapelle in Aachen functions as the most famous example of traditional imperial iconography.
But this is not the only problem. We cannot talk about Carolingian book illuminations and ivories without remarking that the style of these works is normally done in a classical vein. We distinguish this style from the insular style. But if we try – looking at Carolingian works of art – to reconstruct ancient models, we must realize that Carolingian artists were not only able to combine motifs of different sources, but that they also combine different classical styles. Sometimes, they reproduce a model without repeating the style of the model itself, although their reproduction is stylistically done in a classical vein. This ability to remake rather than merely reproduce is the starting point for some conceptions that depart from the Carolingians’ ancient sources.
My discussion will focus on some different examples of the reception of classical patterns in Carolingian art and will demonstrate which different solutions various Carolingian artists have found.