Romanesque art

Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 C.E. to the rise of the Gothic Art, which rose in the 13th century or later, depending on region. The name Romanesque itself was a term coined in the 19th century to designate a style that was no longer Roman, but not yet Gothic. The term is both useful and misleading. Medieval sculptors and architects of southern France and Spain had firsthand knowledge of the many Roman monuments in the region, lending legitimacy to the term "Romanesque." However, "Romanesque Art" is not a return to classical ideals. Rather, this style is marked by a renewed interest in Roman construction techniques. The twelfth-century capitals from the cloister of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, for example, adopt the acanthus-leaf motif and the decorative use of drill holes, which were commonly found on Roman monuments. Likewise, the contemporary apse of Fuentidueña uses the barrel vault, widely used in Roman architecture. While emphasizing the dependence on "Roman art," the label ignores the two other formative influences on Romanesque art, the Insular style of Northern Europe and Byzantine Art, nor does it do justice to the innovative nature of Romanesque art.

Monasticism

The expansion of monasticism was the main force behind the unprecedented artistic and cultural activity of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. New orders were founded, such as the Cistercian, Cluniac, and Carthusian, and with these orders, more monasteries were established throughout Europe.

The new monasteries became repositories of knowledge: in addition to the Bible, the liturgical texts and the writings of the Latin and Greek Church Fathers, their scriptoria copied the works of classical philosophers and theoreticians, as well as Latin translations of Arabic treatises on mathematics and medicine. Glowing illuminations often decorated the pages of these books, and the most eminent among them were adorned with sumptuous bindings.

The synthesis of influences

More important than its synthesis of various influences, Romanesque art formulated a visual idiom capable of spelling out the tenets of the Christian faith. Romanesque architects invented the tympanum, on which the Last Judgment or other prophetic scenes could unfold, acting as a stern preparation for the mystical experience to be found within the church, and the symbolic nature of entering the holy building. Inside, as they meandered around the building, the faithful encountered other scenes from biblical history on doors, capitals and walls. "Byzantine influences," by way of Italy, found echoes in Romanesque art from the late eleventh century onward. The tenth-century plaque of the Crucifixion and the Defeat of Hades reveals that Byzantium had preserved certain features of Hellenistic art that had disappeared in the West, such as a coherent modeling of the human body under drapery and a repertoire of gestures expressing emotions. These elements are present in an ivory plaque depicting the Journey to Emmaus and the Noli Me Tangere carved in northern Spain in the early twelfth century. Compared to the Byzantine sculptor, however, the Romanesque artist imbued his composition with a heightened sense of drama through a more emphatic play of gestures and swirling draperies, with pearled borders.

Romanesque Sculpture

The first definite relation of architecture and sculpture appears in the Romanesque style. The mid-11th century makes the flowering of figurative sculpture, which had been confined to small art until then. One of the most important Romanesque achievements is the revial of the stone sculpture. As a result, the tendency to create relief carvings increased. Many of these carvings were found on church portals, particularly for religious reasons. Figures of Christ in his majestic form were the most common carvings. Romanesque sculpture is not confined to the portals but appears in delightful variety in church capitals and in clositer walks. The capital in its most general view has an intricate leaf-and-vine pattern with volutes, an echo of the Corinthian capital. Romanesque sculptors brought their imaginations to life as many of their sculptures included monstrous basilisks, griffins, lizards, and gargoyles.

Figures on the Tympanum of the south portal of St. Pierre, Moissac

Romanesque sculpture is influenced extensively by Islamic and Spanish sculpture. The extremely elongated figures of the recording angels; the curious, cross-legged, dancing pose of the Angel of Matthew; and the jerky, hinged movement are characteristic, in general, of human representation in the Romanesque period. An amalgam of the Carolingian style, Ottonian style, and Anglo-Saxon style, yielded the zigzad and dovetail lines of the draperies, the bandlike folds of the torsos, the bending back of the hands against the body, and the wide cheekbones that would identify the main features of Romanesque sculpture. In fact, Romanesque sculpture is influenced strongly by Greek sculpture. While in Greek sculpture, the emphasis is on the vivacity of the body, Romanesque sculptors focused on the head becoming humanly expressive well before the body is rendered as corporeal.

Mural Painting

The 11th century was witness to the blossoming of monumental mural painting. In contrast to Carolingian and Ottonian mural painting, ag reat deal of Romanesque painting survives, including some complete cycles of high quality. As in Romanesque sculpture, the drapery is strongly compartmentalized. The simplified faces, with enormous eyes, show startling disks of red on each cheek.

Civate

Italian Romanesque painting dating from the late elventh century adorns the simple Romanesque church of San Pietro al Monte in Civate, a remote spot in the foothills of the Alps. The scene of the biblical painting floats toward the top of the arch in a mighty involvement of linear curves and stabbing spears, forming one of the most powerful pictorial compositions of the Middle Ages.

Berzé-LA-Ville

A number of Romanesque fresco cycles survive in France in varying stages of preservation; most are very difficult to reproduce adequately. The symbol of Romanesque art in this region is the Christ in Majesty, a work of immense power, as well as the Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence. Saint Lawrence is shown lying upon the gridiron, which is aranged schematically parallel to the picture surface, and stylized flames rise from below it. The rest of the arched space is completely filled by the two executioners and the gigantic judge. The diagonal thurst fo the two long rods ending in iron forks, which hold the victim on the gridiron, crosses the comartmentalized drapery masse, whose striations show the influence of Byzantine drapery conventions but whose folds move with a fierce energy totallty alien to the elegant art of Constantinople. Also, the French limestone columns flanking the fresco have been painted to resemble the veied marble ones of Byzantine architecture.

Tahull

Although much of the Romanesque works in the region have been replaced by different fashions, the best-preserved group of Romanesque frescoes originally adorned the mountain churches of Catalonia in the picturesque corner of Spain. A powerful example is the Christ in Majesty, painted about 1123 in the Church of San Clemente de Tahull. Christ's mandorla is signed with the Alpha and Omega, while he holds a book inscribed with the words, "I am the light of the world." The drapery is rendered in broad, parallel folds, shaded arbitrarily with little elegance and much force. The delicacy of Christ's hands and feet and face are astonishing.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• A History of Romanesque Art Retrieved August 07, 2007
• Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Frederick Hartt, (Harry N. Abrams, Inc.) New York, 1989,

ISBN: 0-8109-1884-6

• Helen Gardner, Art Through the Ages, Sixth Edition, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 1975, ISBN: 0-15-503753-6

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