Anglo-Saxon art
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Anglo-Saxon art covers artwork produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, particularly from the time of King Alfred (871-899), when there was a revival of English culture after the end of the Viking invasions, to the early 12th century, when Romanesque art became the new movement. Prior to King Alfred there had been the Hiberno-Saxon culture (the fusion of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic techniques and motifs).
Anglo-Saxon art is manifested most obviously through illuminated manuscripts. Good examples include the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold manuscript, which drew on Hiberno-Saxon art, Carolingian art and Byzantine art for style and iconography. A 'Winchester style' developed that combined both northern ornamental traditions with Mediterranean figural traditions, and can be seen in the Leofric Missal (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodl, 579). The Harley Psalter was influenced by the Carolingian Utrecht Psalter—all of which underscore the larger trend of an Anglo-Saxon culture coming into increasing contact with, and under the influence of, a wider Latin Mediaeval Europe.
However, manuscripts were not the only expression of Anglo-Saxon art. Perhaps the best known piece of Anglo-Saxon art is the Bayeux Tapestry which was commissioned by a Norman patron from English artists working in the traditional Anglo-Saxon style. Anglo-Saxon artists also worked in fresco, ivory, stone, metalwork (for example the Fuller brooch) and enamel, many examples of which have been recovered through archaeological excavation and some of which have simply been preserved over the centuries, especially in churches.
