Romanesque art
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Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the
Characteristics
Outside Romanesque architecture, the art of the period was characterised by a vigorous style in both sculpture and painting. The latter continued to follow essentially
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Colours were very striking, and mostly primary. Presently, these colours can typically only be seen in their original vividness in samples of stained glass and well-preserved manuscripts. Stained glass became widely used, although few survive today.[citation needed] In an invention of the period, the tympanums of important church portals were carved with monumental schemes, often Christ in Majesty or the Last Judgement, but treated with more freedom than painted versions, as there were no equivalent Byzantine models.
Compositions usually had little depth and needed to be flexible to be fit into the shapes of
Background
During this period, Europe grew steadily more prosperous, and art of the highest quality was no longer confined, as it largely was in the
The lay artist was becoming a valued figure – Nicholas of Verdun seems to have been known across the continent. Most masons and goldsmiths were now lay, and lay painters such as Master Hugo seem to have been in the majority, at least of those doing the best work, by the end of the period. The iconography of their church work was no doubt arrived at in consultation with clerical advisors.
Sculpture
Metalwork, enamels, and ivories
Precious objects in these media had a very high status in the period, probably much more so than paintings – the names of more makers of these objects are known than those of contemporary painters, illuminators or architect-masons. Metalwork, including decoration in
The bronze
The Cloisters Cross is an unusually large ivory crucifix, with complex carving including many figures of prophets and others, which has been attributed to one of the relatively few artists whose name is known, Master Hugo, who also illuminated manuscripts. Like many pieces it was originally partly coloured. The Lewis chessmen are well-preserved examples of small ivories, of which many pieces or fragments remain from croziers, plaques, pectoral crosses and similar objects.
Architectural sculpture
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With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the tradition of carving large works in stone and sculpting figures in bronze died out, as it effectively did (for religious reasons) in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) world. Some life-size sculpture was evidently done in
Sources and style
Figurative sculpture was based on two other sources in particular, manuscript illumination and small-scale sculpture in ivory and metal. The extensive friezes sculpted on Armenian and
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Images that occurred in metalwork were frequently embossed. The resultant surface had two main planes and details that were usually incised. This treatment was adapted to stone carving and is seen particularly in the
A feature of the figures in manuscript illumination is that they often occupy confined spaces and are contorted to fit. The custom of artists to make the figure fit the available space lent itself to a facility in designing figures to ornament door posts and lintels and other such architectural surfaces. The robes of painted figures were commonly treated in a flat and decorative style that bore little resemblance to the weight and fall of actual cloth. This feature was also adapted for sculpture. Among the many examples that exist, one of the finest is the figure of the
One of the most significant motifs of Romanesque design, occurring in both figurative and non-figurative sculpture is the spiral. One of the sources may be Ionic capitals. Scrolling vines were a common motif of both Byzantine and Roman design, and may be seen in mosaic on the vaults of the 4th century Church of Santa Costanza, Rome. Manuscripts and architectural carvings of the 12th century have very similar scrolling vine motifs.
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Another source of the spiral is clearly the
Another influence from
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Subject matter
Most Romanesque sculpture is pictorial and biblical in subject. A great variety of themes are found on capitals and include scenes of
A feature of some Romanesque churches is the extensive sculptural scheme which covers the area surrounding the portal or, in some case, much of the facade.
The purpose of the sculptural schemes was to convey a message that the Christian believer should recognize wrongdoing, repent and be redeemed. The
Often the sculpture is alarming in form and in subject matter. These works are found on capitals, corbels and bosses, or entwined in the foliage on door mouldings. They represent forms that are not easily recognizable today. Common motifs include
The
Late Romanesque sculpture
One of these is the Pórtico da Gloria dating from 1180, at Santiago de Compostela. This portal is internal and is particularly well preserved, even retaining colour on the figures and indicating the gaudy appearance of much architectural decoration which is now perceived as monochrome. Around the doorway are figures who are integrated with the colonnettes that make the mouldings of the doors. They are three-dimensional, but slightly flattened. They are highly individualised, not only in appearance but also expression and bear quite strong resemblance to those around the north porch of the Abbey of St. Denis, dating from 1170. Beneath the tympanum there is a realistically carved row of figures playing a range of different and easily identifiable musical instruments.
Painting
Manuscript illumination
A number of regional schools converged in the early Romanesque illuminated manuscript: the "Channel school" of England and Northern France was heavily influenced by late Anglo-Saxon art, whereas in Southern France the style depended more on Iberian influence, and in Germany and the Low Countries, Ottonian styles continued to develop, and also, along with Byzantine styles, influenced Italy. By the 12th century there had been reciprocal influences between all these, although naturally regional distinctiveness remained.
The typical foci of Romanesque illumination were the Bible, where each book could be prefaced by a large
Wall painting
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The large wall surfaces and plain, curving vaults of the Romanesque period lent themselves to mural decoration. Unfortunately, many of these early wall paintings have been destroyed by damp or the walls have been replastered and painted over. In England, France and the Netherlands such pictures were systematically destroyed or whitewashed in bouts of
A classic scheme for the full painted decoration of a church, derived from earlier examples often in
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One of the most intact schemes to exist is that at
The now-dispersed paintings from Arlanza in the Province of Burgos, Spain, though from a monastery, are secular in subject-matter, showing huge and vigorous mythical beasts above a frieze in black and white with other creatures. They give a rare idea of what decorated Romanesque palaces would have contained.
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Other visual arts
Fashion
In
Embroidery
Romanesque embroidery is best known from the Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux, France or the Tapestry of Creation in Girona, Spain,[12] but many more closely worked pieces of Opus Anglicanum ("English work" – considered the finest in the West) and other styles have survived, mostly as church vestments.
Stained glass
The oldest-known fragments of medieval pictorial stained glass appear to date from the 10th century. The earliest intact figures are five prophet windows at Augsburg, dating from the late 11th century. The figures, though stiff and formalised, demonstrate considerable proficiency in design, both pictorially and in the functional use of the glass, indicating that their maker was well accustomed to the medium. At
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Most of the magnificent stained glass of France, including the famous windows of Chartres, date from the 13th century. Far fewer large windows remain intact from the 12th century. One such is the Crucifixion of Poitiers, a remarkable composition which rises through three stages, the lowest with a quatrefoil depicting the Martyrdom of St Peter, the largest central stage dominated by the crucifixion and the upper stage showing the
See also
Notes
- ^ Some (probably) 9th century near life-size stucco figures were discovered behind a wall in Santa Maria in Valle, Cividale del Friuli in Northern Italy relatively recently. Atroshenko and Collins p. 142
- ISBN 0-85331-324-5
- ISBN 0-85331-487-X
- ^ Howe, Jeffery. "Romanesque Architecture (slides)". A digital archive of architecture. Boston College. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
- ^ Helen Gardner, Art through the Ages.
- ^ a b c d e Rene Hyughe, Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantine and Medieval Art
- ^ Roger A. Stalley, "Irish Art in the Romanesque and Gothic Periods". In Treasures of Irish Art 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D., New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art/Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
- ^ "Satan in the Groin". beyond-the-pale. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
- ISBN 0-7195-3971-4
- ISBN 3-89508-447-6
- ISBN 978-0-226-16926-2.
- ^ Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) (1993). The Art of medieval Spain, A.D. 500–1200. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 309–312.
- ^ George Seddon in Lee, Seddon and Stephens, Stained Glass
- ^ Church website Archived 2008-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
References
- Focillon, Henri (1980). The Art of the West in the Middle Ages: Vol. 1 – Romanesque. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801491917.
- Legner, Anton, ed. (1985), Ornamenta Ecclesiae, Kunst und Künstler der Romanik (in German), Köln: Schnütgen Museum.
- Rudolph, Conrad, ed. (2016), A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe (2nd ed.).
External links
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- Metropolitan Museum Timeline Essay
- crsbi.ac.uk (Electronic archive of medieval British and Irish Romanesque stone sculpture)
- Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland
- Romanes.com Romanesque Art in France
- Círculo Románico: Visigothic, Mozarabic and Romanesque art's in all Europe
- Romanesque Sculpture group on Flickr