Page [99]

  7*THE CELTIC-GERMANIC ORNAMENT. 
oubts no longer exist as to the fact that before they came into contact with
the Rornans, the 
Celts and Germans had their own characteristic national art, even, although
the same had not advanced beyond the bronze and iron periods. It is difficult
to strictly separate Celtic from Germanic ornament, the connections between
the two races were so varied and so intimate, that what was characteristic
of the one was transplanted to the other. The Celts, who had occupied the
whole of Europe, were after 
 Franconian Warrior a time driven out from Germany and Austria 
 (Hottenroth). by the Germans, there must have been there 
  fore ample opportunity, before the Romans 
came into contact with the Germans, for Celtic and Germanic art to exercise
mutual and abiding influence on each other. The Romans became, afterwards,
the instructors of both in ornamentation, and under the influence of Roman
art, Celtic and Germanic art came closer to each other, the relationship
developing into a most intimate connection at that period when the Germans
held possession of the Western Empire of the Romans. 
 After the fall of the Roman Empire, Byzantian influence predominated, and
as the Roman style became developed, a new art period made itself manifest.
Pure Celtic ornament, far purer than in France, existed in the British Islands
up into the 12th century. This part of the subject, however, will be treated
of when dealing with the art of the Middle Ages.