Early Medieval Art

The Romanesque and Gothic art that was assembled by Raymond Pitcairn in the early part of this century represents the world's finest and most extensive collection of medieval sculpture and stained glass still in private hands. …

The first encounters of nontraveling Americans with the external forms of medieval art took place in the nineteenth century, through the Gothic revival—which we now tend to look upon with contempt—and Henry H. Richardson’s monumental but peculiar Byzantine-Romanesque architectural sctructures. …

The first centuries of the Christian Era were ones of extraordinary upheaval: the great traditions of the classical world were transformed by dramatic changes in the political and social structure, by continual warfare against invaders, and by the growing influence of the nascent religion Christianity. The trend of this period has been interpreted by some historians as the decline of civilization, but it is represented by its art as a time of cultural experimentation. …