Mediaeval Sicily, aspects of life and art in the middle ages . In predisposedlocalities a ripple or two would be enough to setthe latent forces free. This seems to have beenthe case in Apulia, where one easily notices, inearly Mediaeval Art, a double set of influences :the Lombard influence, almost certainly due toimmigration, though no names of craftsmen havebeen handed down to us; the Byzantine influence,due partly to immigration and close contact ingeneral with the former rulers, but due also to thisother cause, discussed above: direct visual im-pression, coming at the right moment, of prod
Mediaeval Sicily, aspects of life and art in the middle ages . In predisposedlocalities a ripple or two would be enough to setthe latent forces free. This seems to have beenthe case in Apulia, where one easily notices, inearly Mediaeval Art, a double set of influences :the Lombard influence, almost certainly due toimmigration, though no names of craftsmen havebeen handed down to us; the Byzantine influence,due partly to immigration and close contact ingeneral with the former rulers, but due also to thisother cause, discussed above: direct visual im-pression, coming at the right moment, of productsof superior craftsmanship and fascinating sugges-tiveness. There are in Apulian art unmistakablesigns of Lombard influence, and almost directevidence of the direct copying of Byzantine carvingsin ivory, of which the carved lintel at the Martoranain Palermo is an instance ; but it was copying inthe grand free medisval way, taking a suggestionfrom the carved border of an ivory casket for thesuperb scroll of one of their magnificent XXXIX, XL. Cnipi^ Taorinina CAPITALS, CLOISTER, MONREALE /? 225 THE CLOISTER OF MONREALE o theory of influence can take away from theoriginality, the true Romanesque audacity andsense of form of Apulian sculpture. Is it to bewondered at that the art-loving Norman kings,the rulers of Trani and Bari, should have called inrepresentatives of workshops of this uncontestedsuperiority ? * They were not the only ones at work at Monreale,called in to hasten the completion of the ambitiouscloister, or flocking in as the report spread of thegreat work going on. Several of these waves ofinfluence have reached Monreale and co-operatedin the formation of what may perhaps be calledthe Sicilian school of sculpture, a blend of manyelements, fused into one by work in common ; abusy workshop, working under the direction of askilled master, wise enough to let individual talenthave full play while forming a school from amongthe sons of the immigrants or th
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectart, bookyear1910
