Beginning in the reign of Charlemagne, the Carolingians concentrated their money on small, highly decorated pieces. The book cover of the Lindau Gospels is just one of many elaborate, religious and portable works of art created by the Carolingians. The cover was created around 870 for the Lindau Gospels, with the main focus of the cover being the crucifixion of Christ. The cover is in gold with additions of precious jewels and pearls. This book cover represents the typical Carolingian style of this time period. The book cover for the Lindau Gospels is rectangular in shape, featuring a cross in the center with a depiction of Christ crucified on it. This is the area of the work that your eyes are immediately drawn to. This work uses hierarchy of scale, the act of making important figures much larger than other figures, when depicting Christ to show that he is important. Implementing this technique draws your full attention to even the largest figure, Christ. The body of Christ is depicted in a realistic and youthful way. His body fills most of the empty space at the bottom of the cross, but the cross is slightly larger than Christ. However, Christ's face lacks many details and is depicted with a solemn expression and with closed eyes. Around his head is a halo made of metals and jewels. In the upper part of the cross, the part that the body of Christ does not fill, there is a short inscription and two small figures shaped in a circular shape. The small figures are depictions of the sun and moon. The cross in the center of the book cover creates four quadrants adjacent to the cross. The entire cover of the book is arranged very symmetrically, it can even be said that the...... half of the paper ......n creates the mosaics of San Vitale. The jewelry worn by the figures in the mosaics is made of real precious stones and metals which, just like the book cover, were expensive. Mosaics are made of tiles, small pieces of stone or glass cut to create an image. It probably took a long time to create the San Vitale mosaic, just like the book cover. Religion was, and still is, very important to people, so it was common to devote time and money to creating religious art. In conclusion, the book cover for the Lindau Gospels is an excellent representation of Carolingian art in the early Middle Ages. The book cover is just one of the many elaborate, religious, and portable works they created. The book cover shares multiple themes and characteristics with the Mosaics of San Vitale. Both works were very important for the Christian community which influenced their creation.
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