The first part of the Middle Ages, from about the 6th to the 11th centuries AD, is usually called the Dark Ages. During this time of turmoil, art was kept mainly in monasteries. In the 5th century AD, Varranian tribes from northern and central Europe roamed the continent. For hundreds of years they dominated Western Europe. These people produced art in which the main element was pattern. They were particularly fond of the structures of intertwining dragons and birds.
The best of Celtic and Saxon art can be found in manuscripts from the 7th and 8th centuries. Book illustrations, illumination, and miniature painting, practiced since late Roman times, became common in the Middle Ages. Illumination was the decoration of text, capital letters, and margins. Gold, silver and bright colors were used. A miniature is a small picture, often a portrait. The term was originally used to describe the decorative block around the initial letters in a manuscript.
Charlemagne, who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in the early ninth century, tried to revive the classical art of the late Roman and early Christian periods. During his reign, miniature artists imitated classical art, but they also conveyed personal feelings through their subjects.
Very little wall painting has survived from the Middle Ages. Churches built during the Romanesque period (11th-13th centuries) had some great frescoes, but most of them have disappeared. In the churches of the Gothic period (XII-XVI centuries) there was not enough room for wall paintings. Book illustration was the main work of the Gothic painter.
Among the best illustrated manuscripts were books of hours – collections of calendars, prayers and psalms. A page from an Italian manuscript shows carefully decorated initials and a finely detailed marginal scene of St. George slaying a dragon. The colors are brilliant and gem-like, like stained glass, and the gold shimmers over the page. Gracefully delicate leaf and floral designs border the text. The artists probably used magnifying glasses to do such intricately detailed work.