Ottonian art is a
style in
pre-romanesque German art, covering also some works from the
Low Countries, northern Italy and eastern France. It was named by the art historian
Hubert Janitschek after the
Ottonian dynasty which ruled Germany and northern Italy between 919 and 1024 under the kings
Henry I,
Otto I,
Otto II,
Otto III and
Henry II. With
Ottonian architecture, it is a key component of the
Ottonian Renaissance (circa 951–1024). However, the style neither began nor ended to neatly coincide with the rule of the dynasty. It emerged some decades into their rule and persisted past the Ottonian emperors into the reigns of the early
Salian dynasty, which lacks an artistic "style label" of its own. In the traditional scheme of art history, Ottonian art follows
Carolingian art and precedes
Romanesque art, though the transitions at both ends of the period are gradual rather than sudden. Like the former and unlike the latter, it was very largely a style restricted to a few of the small cities of the period, and important
monasteries, as well as the court circles of the emperor and his leading
vassals.