Middle Ages Decorative Interiors

Taylor Speer-Sims
March 24, 2012

 

Only on the Inside:

Decorative Finishes Inside the Homes of the Western European Aristocrat During the Middle Ages

            Housing of the Middle Ages elite had not been too much like it had been before their time. The Romans had their way of decorating that was so obvious that all descendent peoples were able to discern it openly. It was thought that the western peoples did not have had any type of class when it came to decorating their dwellings. The ostentatious decorations of the Islamic peoples had been another comparative that left Europeans wanting in style. Many of the interiors from the Middle Ages have disappeared over time leaving bare stone. This did not mean that these interiors were like that at the time of early occupancy. Decorations just deteriorated without being refurbished. The fact was that there had been high style decorative finishes within the dwellings of the western Christian Europeans even during the dark ages.

            Castles, manner houses, and palaces of the Middle Ages elite has had a bad rap throughout history. Many people have believed that these buildings had bare stone walls with lots of dead animals hanging from them.[1] While this had been true to an extent, there had been other decorations as well. People throughout history have always had a tendency to adorn themselves, why would they not adorn their abodes as well?  Why would the people of the Middle Ages be any different from those that came before or after?

            The Middle Ages had had different styles of decoration than what had occurred before, and after, this time. It was not that they had a lack thereof. Different societies expressed themselves  with “distinctions from the outside world as well as differences within groups.”[2] There had also been differences for “class differentiation and collective selection”.[3] Religious differences may have created some differences, but this probably occurred later within homes of the wealthy (Protestant vs. Catholic). While this had been the dark ages, many elite living quarters may not have been so gloomy.

            Gloomy dark rooms painted in black and red was the response from many people today when asked what a gothic house would have looked like. This was not gothic. This description of modern “Goth” would not have fit in with the dwellings of the Middle Ages.  Gothic rooms did have red and black within, but they also had blues, greens and golds. Gem colors seem to have been what was most preferred, at least by the numerous Medieval paintings this author has seen. These colors had been painted on walls, as well as used in their textiles.

            Textiles had been used far more than they used currently. Cloths of wool or silk covered walls, tables and beds.[4] They created borders, and had been draped over chairs.[5] Luxurious fabrics had been laid upon the floors as rugs, and had covered windows.[6] The wealthy wanted to show how affluent they had been buy using as much as they could afford to buy. And, they displayed their rich fabrics conspicuously.

            Fabric covered walls in many different ways. It had even been used as a sort of wallpaper. Tacking at the top by beautiful brackets not only kept it from falling down, but it also added another dimension. The brackets themselves had been decorative, and the fabric that it held had also not been plain.[7] Silk had been the preferred material of the elite for wall coverings because of the texture, appearance, and also the prestige that it brought.

            Other forms of fabric wall coverings used for prestigious purposes included woven tapestries. Tapestries had been used for thousands of years in many different cultures. People of the Middle Ages were of no exception. Intricate patterns had been woven in rich and highlighted colors. No less than twenty different colors had been able to be used by the Medieval weaver. This had been a class of artisan that passed their craft from father to son. These pieces had been individual works of art that had even been passed to the victor by the loser on the battlefield. They were very expensive, and quite large. Even so, some had been sewn to others to create a larger cover if it were needed.[8]

            Other spaces that had been covered by rich fabrics and tapestries had been doorway and alcove entrances. The mosaic of Theodora clearly shows two of these. The alcove had two tri-colored swags over the alcove where courtiers had been waiting for her. Red, white and blue were hung so that their stripe would be vertical to the entrance. A drape or tapestry hung in the doorway near a fountain. The doorway cloth was white with gold trim and embellishments, hanging from four fixed points at the top of the jamb.[9]

Cloth curtains may not have been used over windows, but they were used to accentuate an area, and as dividing screens. Cloth dividing screens had been used to separate areas to make them more private. These had been used for changing areas, as well as for when the bath was brought into a room.[10] Otto III had a two-toned drape behind his throne that had been set up as a type of accentuation marker. The top and bottom areas had been green and had been embroidered in a white floral design. The middle area, which appeared to have taken up a little over one-third of the drape, had been red spotted with white embroidery.[11] This type of accentuation was used again in Donors by an unknown painter. The Madonna and Christ child sat in a chair in front of an ornate fabric panel attached at the wall by six roundels. It could be argued that this was a religious scene, but it clearly took place in the donor’s home.[12]

Shutters certainly were not a recent addition to the homes of wealthy aristocrats. People of the Middle Ages added beauty wherever they could. Tapestries or beautiful fabric may have been added to cover the window, just as they had been used in doorways. Most paintings show a type wooden shutter in multiple levels and/or layers. In Campin’s Annunciation Triptych, a type of wooden screen covered the open window, and a solid cover rested against the wall.[13] In Van DerWeden’s Annunciation, the windows had only one layer of shutter, but they were in two tiers so that one could have been open while the other was closed.[14] Again, while both of these scenes were of religious significance, they both had been painted in contemporary settings.

More contemporary domestic scenes of the rich showed that cloth was not the only thing that covered the walls. Walls of bedrooms and other living areas had been covered in plaster, and then painted in beautiful colors. Lime and gypsum had been the component for the three coated layer that had been used over beams, brick and stone. Plaster protected the surface from wear and tear, and it also added isolative factors.[15] These walls could have been painted when wet, creating a fresco. Or, the builders could have allowed the occupants to have changed colors on their own whim. Rooms in one Medieval castle had the lower half of the wall painted in diamonds to resemble tiles.[16] The rooms in Campin’s Annunciation Triptych and in Van DerWeden’s Annunciation both had uncovered plastered walls. Both rooms were painted. However, Van DerWeden had a goldish-green room, and Campin had a cream colored paint. The walls behind the blue fabric with gold fleur-de-lis, in the room of Christine de Pisan, had been a lighter shade of the blue/purple.[17]

Christine de Pisan also showed evidence of beauful rugs over flooring. Intricate desings in multiple colors were placed over a floor that could have been tile. Carpets could have been woven like the tapestries. They had definitely had been woven with a needle at this point in history. Some had been created to recreate patterns of the Islamic tiles and Persian rugs.[18] Some had flowers and animals woven into them. The rugs in the room of The German Feast appeared to have been like the straw rugs that had been so popular in the Victorian Era.[19] The carpet beneath the knees of the Madonna in Van derWeden’s artwork has many intracacies. This was an obvious example of expensive woven handiwork that occurred in the Middle Ages.

Rugs covered many types of floors in the European Middle Ages. Floors of plain wood would certainly have been acceptable in service areas. However, flooring that a more affluent croud would have seen would have been of a much more luxurious material. Blue tile was below Christine de Pisan’s orange carpet. The best visual of a Medieval tiled floor was the one beneath Gabrial and Mary in Van derWeden’s painting. Green and yellow tile pieces created a zigzag geometric pattern with squares of smaller diamonds.[20] While there was no evidence that this intricacy had been typical, there also was none that idicated the opposite. Romans created beautiful floors before, and the Moslems did so contemporarily. As people have always wanted what others had, there was no reason to believe that beautiful floors had not been a part of the rooms of the western wealthy Christians as well.

The German Feast also showed an ornately carved hood over the fireplace within the scene. The fireplace itself in this painting appears to have been very small, but within a large alcove. The hood most probably the function of ornamentation and fire retardency. In both paintings of the annunciation, the rooms had fireplaces also. These had been a little different in appearance, as well as decoration and function than that of the German fellows. While the one in the German Feast held a primary place within the room, the feminine areas appear to have pushed them into a place of service, or really un-service due to the season. Both had a decorative seating bench situated in front. One fireplace had no ornamentation and the other had gargoyles attached to the side moldings. In all three the vent was high off the ground, indicating that this would have been a standard within the building industry of the Middle Ages.[21]

Different buildings had different types of ceilings as well. Romanesque buildings had barrel vaulted ceilings, Gothic had rib-vaulted, and buttressed ceilings, and then there were the buildings that fell somewhere in the middle. These seem to have had flat ceilings. Christine de Pisan’s chamber cleary shows a barrel vaulted ceiling. She had red and green streemers crossing the room at the lowest level of the sides, These were held from the center ceiling by their opposite color ribbon.[22] Champin’s ceiling had beautiful rich polished mahogany panneled cielings that were flat except for the panneled support beam.[23] Van derWeden showed another type of ceiling. This one had walnut coffered ceilings.[24] In Birth of the Virgin by Pietro Lorenzetti, St. Anne was lying upon a bed in front of a white fabric wall, underneath a fabulously decorative vaulted ceiling.  Underneath the sky painted, rib vaulting, there were arches that had been painted green with triangular windows set in the center.[25] This had been a spectacular type of ceiling for any lady that had lain underneath. These examples indicated the different constructive and decorative styles that existed in the Middle Ages.

The ceilings of these homes of the Middle Ages also carried the weight of the lighting for the room. Chandeliers made of metal and brass had been used in these houses. They had been held to the ceilings by chains and brackets. The room in The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck had an intricately patterned chandelier in the center.[26] Van derWeden’s room also had an intricate chandlier, but this one was more delicate, more feminine, than that of van Eyck’s. This room also had a pewter sconce over the fireplace, just below the hood.[27] Interestingly Campin’s room did not have a chandelier, but he placed two decorative pewter sconces on the top of the fireplace here, also just below the hood. Another indication of common usage.

Common usage of glass in windows had been a completely different story. Glass had been made of lead and had been very expense. These pieces had been created in small square or diamond shapes so that if they had broken, they would be less expensive to replace. The windows of the Middle Ages had been either clear, which would have been somewhat milky due to the lead, or stained.[28] The only painting that indicated stained glass within a living area had been Campen’s piece. These had been very small and had the appearance of tiny coats of arms.[29] In all of the other paintings noted, the areas in front of the shutters appear to have been glass free.

Arguments to this work may include the themes of the paintings used to make this paper. At the time when these paintings had been completed, it had been a common practice to place the Virgin in a room of a wealthy homeowner. This would have made it easy for a wealthy patron to surrendor his currency to the local rectory.[30]  Others may argue that this could not be considered high style because of the lack of ostentation in the living areas. Just because there was not any loud colors does not mean that there had been a lack of exhibitionism. Painted or frescoed walls and ceilings appeared in the living areas. Carved pieces had been over and around fireplaces. Rich fabric covered almost every area. Taste just changed due to time, as well as culture. 

Time and culture certainly had influenced the interiors of the dwellings of the wealthy Middle Ages citizenry.  While there may have been rooms that had been decorated with animal trophies, there had also been rooms of high society that did not include any carcases what so ever. Plain stone could have been the walls where no elite visitor would have seen. Plain floorboards also had been used. But the fact that these had not been the norm was the most important feature to the aristocratic resident. There had been flaunting displays of wealth by the use of beautiful features that included decorative finishes within the homes of the aristocratic western Christians.

Bibliography:

d’Allemtejo, Senhora Rafaella. “Portuguese Needlework Rugs, Also Called Arraiolos

Carpets (Tapetes de Arraiolos)”. FridayValentine.com. Ocotober 2001. http://www.fridayvalentine.com/rafaella/arraiolos.html (accessed March 24, 2012).

“History of Tapestries, A”, Tapestry Art Designs: Fine European Tapestries. N.d.

http://www.tapestry-art.com/history.html. (accessed March 25, 2012).

“Repairing Historic Flat Plaster Walls and Ceilings”, National Park Service, U.S.

Department of the Interior. 1966. http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief21.htm. (accessed March 12, 2012).

Roach-Higgins, Mary Ellen, Joanne B. Eicher and Kim K. P. Johnson. Dress and Identity.

(New York: Fairchild Publications, 1995.

Speer-Sims, Taylor. “Crappy Areas of the Middle Ages”. Research paper for class. APUS.

2012.

Artwork Bibliography: (Used as Primary Sources)

Campin, Robert. Annunciation Triptych. http://learnearnandreturn.files.

wordpress.com/2011/03/584px-campin_annunciation_triptych.jpg. (accessed March 20, 2012).

Christine de Pisan Presents her Work to Isabeau of Bavaria. C. 1420. Oil on Canvas.

http://www.virtue.to/articles/home_companion.html. (accessed February 14, 2012).

DerWedenn, Van. 1450 Oil on canvas. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/

weyden/annunc.jpg. (accessed February 14, 2012).

Donor. C. 1400.  In “Patronage and the Status of the Artist”. N.d.

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/patronage-and-the-status-of-the-artist.html. (accessed February 28, 2012).

German Feast, The. 1400’s. http://www.virtue.to/articles/home_companion.html. (accessed

February 15, 2012).

van Eyck, Jan . The Arnolfini Portrait. 1434. Oil on canvas. In “Daily Artist”.

http://dailyartist.blogspot.com/2010/12/jan-van-eyck-c-1395-july-9-1441.html. (          accessed March 25, 2012).

Van derWeden. 1450 Oil on canvas. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/

weyden/annunc.jpg. (accessed February 14, 2012).

Originally written for class at American Military University.

---

[1] Anonymous.  Personal communication with author March 14, 2012.

[2]  Mary Ellen Roach-Higgins, Joanne B. Eicher and Kim K. P. Johnson. Dress and Identity. (New York: Fairchild Publications, 1995.) 159.

[3] Ibid, 378.

[4] Christine de Pisan Presents her Work to Isabeau of Bavaria. C. 1420. Oil on Canvas. http://www.virtue.to/articles/home_companion.html. (accessed February 14, 2012).; The German Feast. 1400’s. http://www.virtue.to/articles/home_companion.html. (accessed February 15, 2012).

[5] Theodora and Attendants, Mosaic on the South Wall of the Apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy. 654 A.D. in Kleiner, Fred. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History, Vol. 1, 13^th ed. (Boston: Wadsorth Cengage Learning, 2009.),  239.

[6] Senhora Rafaella d’Allemtejo. “Portuguese Needlework Rugs, Also Called Arraiolos Carpets (Tapetes de Arraiolos)”. FridayValentine.com. Ocotober 2001. http://www.fridayvalentine.com/rafaella/arraiolos.html (accessed March 24, 2012).; German

[7] Christine de Pisan Presents her Work to Isabeau of Bavaria.

[8] “A History of Tapestries” Tapestry Art Designs: Fine European Tapestries. N.d. http://www.tapestry-art.com/history.html. (accessed March 25, 2012).

[9] Theodora and Attendants, Mosaic on the South Wall of the Apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.

[10] Taylor Speer-Sims. “Crappy Areas of the Middle Ages”. Research paper for class. APUS. 2012.

[11] Otto III Enthroned, folio 24 rectory of the Gospel Book of Otto III, from Reichenau, Germany, 997-1000. in Kleiner, Fred. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History, Vol. 1, 13^th ed. (Boston: Wadsorth Cengage Learning, 2009.), 306.

[12] Donor. C. 1400.  In “Patronage and the Status of the Artist”. N.d. http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/patronage-and-the-status-of-the-artist.html. (accessed February 28, 2012).

[13] Robert Campin. Annunciation Triptych. http://learnearnandreturn.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/584px-campin_annunciation_triptych.jpg. (accessed March 20, 2012).

[14] Van derWeden. 1450 Oil on canvas. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/weyden/annunc.jpg. (accessed February 14, 2012).

[15] “Repairing Historic Flat Plaster Walls and Ceilings”, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. 1966. http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief21.htm. (accessed March 12, 2012).

[16] De Otsisto. “Re: Medieval castle Decorations”. Personal email to author. February 14, 2012.

[17] Campin; Van derWeden; Christine de Pisan.

[18] d’Allemtejo.

[19] German Feast.

[20] Van derWeden.

[21] Campin; Van derWeden; German Feast.

[22] Chapin.

[23] Bonnie Speer. Personal communication with author. March 25, 2012.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Pietro Lorenzetti. Birth of the Virgin. From the altar o Saint Savinus, Siena Cathedral, Siena, Italy, 1342. Tempera on wood, 6’1” x 5’ 11” Museo dell ‘Opera del Duomo, Siena. In Fred Kleiner. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History, Vol. 1, 13^th ed. (Boston: Wadsorth Cengage Learning, 2009.),  388.

[26] Jan van Eyck. The Arnolfini Portrait. 1434. Oil on canvas. In “Daily Artist”. http://dailyartist.blogspot.com/2010/12/jan-van-eyck-c-1395-july-9-1441.html. (accessed March 25, 2012).

[27] Van derWeden.

[28] Speer.

[29] Campen.

[30] Fred Kleiner. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History, Vol. 1, 13^th ed. (Boston: Wadsorth Cengage Learning, 2009.),  388.