The barbarian invasions
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320126565
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320126566
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320127795
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320128994
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320129277
about: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/320131505
about: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Art--Historiography--History
about: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Art, European
about: DefinedTerm
  alternate name: Art and race
abstract: "How the history of art begins with the myth of the barbarian invasion—the romantic fragmentation of classical eternity. The history of art, argues Éric Michaud, begins with the romantic myth of the barbarian invasions. Viewed from the nineteenth century, the Germanic-led invasions of the Roman Empire in the fifth century became the gateway to modernity, seen not as a catastrophe but as a release from a period of stagnation, renewing Roman culture with fresh, northern blood-and with new art that was anti-Roman and anticlassical. Artifacts of art from then on would be considered as the natural product of races and peoples rather than the creation of individuals. The myth of the barbarian invasions achieved the fragmentation of classical eternity. This narrative, Michaud explains, inseparable from the formation of nation states and the rise of nationalism in Europe, was based on the dual premise of the homogeneity and continuity of peoples. Local and historical particularities became weapons aimed at classicism's universalism. The history of art linked its objects with racial groups-denouncing or praising certain qualities as Latin or Germanic. Thus the predominance of linear elements was thought to betray a southern origin, and the painterly a Germanic or northern source. Even today, Michaud points out, it is said that art best embodies the genius of peoples. In the globalized contemporary art market, the ethnic provenance of works—categorized, for example, as African American, Latino, or Native American—creates added value. The market displays the same competition among races that was present at the foundation of art history as a discipline"--Publisher's description.
author: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/310211939
contributor: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/310211938
creator: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/310211939
language: eng
language: fre
subject of: Statement
  additional type: lang
  text: In English; translated from the French.
subject of: Statement
  additional type: http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300435416
  text: Includes translation
work example: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/301315398
type: CreativeWork

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property ID: NL-AmRIJ
value: 315398