Early French art - the story of French art in the Middle Ages
This page looks at the history of French art - notably painting - in the Middle Ages.
 Cave painting at Lascaux
Little remains of French
painting from before the year 1000 AD; the great centres of painting in
Europe before this time were in Italy, Byzantium and to a lesser degree
Spain; but not in France. It was only with the emergence of mediaeval
Europe from the tenth century onwards that France (that is the area of
Europe that is now France) became a key player on the international
stage.
 Detail of the 11th century fresco in the baptistry at Poitiers - depicting Christ.
While the Romanesque style in
architecture was gradually superceded by the Gothic
style from the 12th
century onwards, paintings in the Romanesque style continued to be used
to decorate churches in France, particularly in rural France, until
well into the 14th century. There are many fine examples of late
Romanesque mural art tucked away in small churches in rural France,
specially in the southern half of the country.
France has relatively
little in the way of painting from the early Gothic period; the
finest examples of early French Gothic art - as opposed to architecture
- are in the form of stained glass, as in the cathedral at
Chartres, or sculpture, notably the many fine examples of gothic
sculpture adorning French cathedrals. Like the Romanesque style, the
Gothic style of architecture was one that developed in France, from
where it quickly spread to much of Europe, and in particular to England
which, at the time, being ruled by Normans then Angevins, was an
integral part of the French cultural area.
 Gothic sculpture on the facade of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
By the 14th
century however, a different art of painting was developing rapidly in France, the art of the
illustrated manuscript. Of particular importance were French "Books of
hours", prayer books comprising prayers, psalms and biblical texts,
many of which were lavishly illustrated. The most famous of these is
the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, which contains over a hundred
page illustrations depicting, among other things, contemporary life.
At the same time, what can be considered as the first
"modern" school of European art was taking hold in parts of France. The
International Gothic school of painting spread to large parts of Europe
- in particular Flanders and Bohemia - thanks to the international
development of trade, increasing cultural links, and marriages among
Europe's royalty and aristocracy. In France, the most important centre
of the International Gothic movement was the Burgundian court. Dijon,
the capital of Burgundy, has some of the finest surviving examples of
International Gothic art in France, in the form of statues and
sculptures by the great Flemish artists Claus Sluter and Jacques de
Baerze.
Next ► : Renaissance art and architecture in France
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