Beautiful Art from the Middle Ages

I must first say that I love this style of gold that I’m seeing in all the Italian churches, for me it almost eclipses stained glass; however, there is a part of me that feels the two techniques (as both were used for teaching the Bible to the illiterate) should not be compared. The mosaics were all very intriguing however I decided to focus on the apse mosaic of the Santa Maria in Trastevere church, as I found it’s portrayal of a “Glimpse of Heaven” very interesting. I could clearly identify the medieval technique of sizing things according to their importance as Jesus is much bigger than the Virgin Mary, and the Virgin is bigger St. Peter and all the other Saints surrounding them even though this would be very unrealistic for a woman. This is designed to portray Jesus, the Virgin and the Saints as they would be seen in Heaven. One cannot help but notice that their attire is that of Emperor and Empress. This was clearly meant to explain to people their place in Heaven by comparing them with figures that they knew.
This was all very interesting to me mainly because I’ve never thought of art in such a way. I think it’s interesting to start learning all the fine details that were put into it and then all of the sudden you start to find meaning everywhere you go. This is just like how I looked at the styling of the tops of the columns in the church and could automatically tell which ones were from a different era. It’s something I might not have notice before or might have thought was a strange design done mostly on purpose. I was disappointed to learn from a website http://web.comhem.se/~u13117202/smtrast.htm that the deep colors were added in the late Medieval and early Renaissance period, although the original outline was from much early. The coloring was brilliant and to be honest I can’t believe its still so brilliant even if it has only been around as long as the Renaissance.