Medieval Painting

The Medieval painting is characterized by the rise of traditions the European painting has never known before. The phenomenon that had the most considerable influence was the spread of Christianity. This world religion was based on certain dogmas and principles that were incorporated into social living of all Europe very quickly.
As for painting, the only trend it encouraged at least till the beginning of the 13th century was iconography. Initially, it was Byzantine that came to be Greek and Russian, and Roman that came to be Roman Catholic afterwards correspondingly.
The whole Christian ideology was targeted at the reflection of Christ's life and divine role of the Church. No surprise that painting was supposed to meet only these demands.
It was very popular to decorate the walls of the Christian temples with frescoes, sculpture and sign-ups. All themes were doing with religion, so that's why the central place was taken by God and Angels, but not by the human being. The very idea of human being at the main spot was hieratic and prohibited by the clergymen.
However, the 13th century brings the uprise of the Romanesque painting with the emergence of panel painting.
The first artists that changed the European painting were Cimabue and his pupil Giotto. They used more realistic and dramatic approach to painting in Western culture. In the 14th century, churches started to be decorated with colourful stained glass.