Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/370

 352 THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE [chap. teusion of antique Roman Christian or Byzantine forms ; for example, the royal chapel at Aix-la-Chapelle was built upon the model of S. Vitale. No large sculpture comes down from the time of Charlemagne ; but the ivory carving copies or imitates Byzantine or antique Christian models. The painted church decora- tion followed the antique, and continued and also ex- tended the cycle of antique Christian subjects. In this church decoration, as well as in the miniatures, Byzantine and Syrian influence made itself felt through the ninth century. In at least one respect, however, miniature painting significantly departed from the an- tique. Instead of antique idyllic motives, it shows a veritable Teutonic and mediaeval interest in war and fighting. Also Celtic (Irish) and German motives appear in the purely decorative patterns of the manuscript illumination. Thus the architecture, sculpture, and painting of the Carolingian age are in the main a continuance or reproduction of the Christian antique and the Byzan- tine. The influence of these styles affected Caro- lingian art in a catholic manner, moulding the form and largely supplying the substance. There resulted that general uniformity which marks the art of the early Middle Ages. After the ninth and tenth centu- ries the effect of the antique and Byzantine, though still clearly marked, is less catholic; and the early mediaeval uniformity is broken by the growth of national individuality, which shows a different char- acter in the various countries of northern Europe. Some of the antique influences and survivals in mediaeval art may be mentioned. An example of the