Ускатеску Александра
Мадридский университет Комплутенсе, Испания
The weight of Classical visual culture during the Middle Ages is undeniable. Therefore, it is no surprising to observe the debt of the early Middle Ages to Roman art. Precisely, one of the most constant features of European art history is the way an art object is transmitted and transformed.
Paradoxically, the discontinuity in cultural transmission seems to reinforce survival of the auctoritas of antiquity. In the context of the history of European art, Roman art seems to play two opposing roles, in Settis’ words: the basis for the development of medieval art and a privileged source from which models and norms are extracted.
The issue is rather complex because, being aware of the impossibility of summarizing the subject in the temporary space available within this conference, my argument will be supported on three iconographic elements embedded in the discourse of the idea of Rome: the foundation myth of Romulus, the traditional personifications of cities and provinces, and the architectural icon reflecting oikoumene. In other words, these symbols summarize perfectly the idea of Rome transcended its own destruction and subsequent polarization of other centers of medieval power created by other peoples with a variable degree of Romanization and Christianization. Basically, what I present here is simply the analysis of search and seizure of cohesive elements by certain human groups against dominant powers and different cultures or religions. In this sense, I'm interested especially in reception and use of these artistic elements by the Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Lombards and Arabs, between the 5th and 9th centuries.