This is a lecture on Romanesque and Gothic Art to give to a college introductory survey course. It should take about an hour and a half to an hour and forty-five minutes to work through with students.

1. Romanesque and Gothic
Art
Romanesque and Gothic are types of European Medieval art and architecture.
The term “Romanesque” was coined in the 19th
century.
It means “in the manner of the Romans” and refers to the influence of ancient
Roman art on European art and architecture from about 1000 – 1200 CE.
Romanesque art is closely followed in time and place by Gothic art.
The term “Gothic” was coined during the Renaissance, around 1550, by early art
historian Giorgio Vasari. He felt that this art was so “monstrous and barbarous”
that it evoked the uncouth Goth tribe that led to the downfall of Rome. This style
in art and architecture lasted from about 1150 – 1375 CE.

2. This period marks the rise of the pilgrimage, or journey to a sacred place. Pilgrimages were believed to purify the soul, to
indicate piety, to heal illness, to do penance for sins, and hopefully to achieve salvation. Many pilgrims traveled “the Way
of Saint James” to the Spanish church of Santiago de Compostela.

3. Reliquary of Ste. Foy at Conques Abbey Ste. Foy Abbey, Conques, France, c. 1051-1120
Pilgrims go to churches and venerate their relics. Relics are religious objects connected to a saint or
venerated person. They are often housed in protected, jewel-encrusted containers called reliquaries.

4. Arm Reliquary, Belgium, c. 1230
"It is not an impure idol that receives the worship
of an oracle or of sacrifice, it is a pious memorial,
before which the faithful heart feels more easily
and more strongly touched by solemnity, and
implores more fervently the powerful intercession
of the saint for its sins.“ – Bernard of Angers, 11th
century
A speaking reliquary is shaped
like the body part that it is said
to contain.
X-ray image showing a human arm bone

5. St. Sernin, Toulouse, c. 1120
Pilgrimage church
Cruciform shaped
“After the year of the millennium, which
is now about three years past, there
occurred, throughout the world,
especially in Italy and Gaul, a rebuilding
of church basilicas…It was as if the whole
earth, having cast off the old by shaking
itself, were clothing itself everywhere in
the white robe of the church.”
-- Raoul Glaber, monk
“Lord, I have loved the beauty of your
house, and the place where your glory
dwells.” Psalm 26:8

6. Floorplan, St. Sernin, c. 1120 Floorplan of Old Saint Peter’s Basilica
(restoration drawing), c. 319-350

7. Church floor plan

8. Interior, St. Sernin
The thrust of a barrel vault
Vaults or vaulting – arched
forms that create a roof or
ceiling.

9. St. Sernin, Toulouse, c. 1120
Pont du Gard, near Nîmes, France, ca. 1-10 CE

10. The parts of a Romanesque portal
The portal is part of
the façade or
decorated front of
the building.

11. Gislebertus, Tympanum, Saint Lazare, Autun, France, 1120-35
Mandorla
-- almond-
shaped
full body
halo

13. The good side, to the right of Christ

14. Pilgrims from the lintel.
They are toward the right, bound to be saved Souls beg an angel to get into heaven

15. To Christ’s left: the damned. The Archangel Michael weighs souls.
Demons try to alter the scales to get souls on their side.

16. Latin inscription: “May this terror terrify those whom earthly error binds. For
the horror of these images here in this manner truly depicts what will be.”

18. Last Judgment of Hunefer, 1285 BCE
Ancient Egypt, New Kingdom
Gislebertus, Tympanum, Saint Lazare,
Autun, France, 1120-35 CE
Medieval Europe, Romanesque Sculpture

19. Christ leading crusaders into battle, detail from an Apocalypse,
with commentary (The "Queen Mary Apocalypse"), early 14th
century, f. 37 (British Library)
The crusades (1096-99, 1147-49, 1189-92, and six
more) were supposedly holy wars. Knights would
attack holy lands like Jerusalem to wrest these lands
from the Muslims and win then back for Christendom.
Crusade means “the taking of the cross.”
Crusading was often seen as penitential warfare that
would allow knights to make amends to God for their
sins and to achieve salvation. In this way, crusades
were a type of pilgrimage.
Military orders, like the Knights Templar, were
religious orders in which members took traditional
monastic vows like poverty, chastity, and obedience,
and fought on behalf of the Christian faith.
“The knight of Christ is glorified in slaying the infidel
because thereby Christ is glorified.”
-- Bernard of Clairvaux
http://www.history.com/topics/crusades

20. Viewing the Bayeux tapestry at the Bayeux
Museum; Bayeux tapestry, c. 1070, embroidered wool on
linen, 20 inches high (Bayeux Museum)

21. The death of King Harold at the Battle of Hastings

22. Falconer
Normans with horses on boats, crossing to England, in
preparation for battle

23. Norman’s first meal in England, at the center is Bishop Odo,
who gazes out as he offers a blessing over the cup in his hand

24. Wounded soldiers and horses

25. Meme!
Contemporary Internet Applications of the Bayeux Tapestry
http://bayeux.datensalat.net/

26. The Bayeux Tapestry – Animated!

27. Roman turtle (testudo) formation on the
frieze of Trajan’s Column, 113 CE
Cavalry Attack on the Bayeux Tapestry, c. 1070 CE

28. The Beginning of the Gothic Style
Choir of the Abbey of St. Denis, France, 1140-44
“The dull mind rises to the truth through material things, and is
resurrected from its former submersion when the light is
seen.” – Abbott Suger
Suger called the colored light that would stream in the stained
glass windows lux nova (new light).

29. “heavenly light”: new imagery, similar iconography
Cathedral of St. Denis, 1140-44 Dancing with the Stars, 2015

30. Notre Dame, Chartres Cathedral, 1194—1220, Chartres, France

31. Royal Portal, Chartres Cathedral, 1145—55, Chartres, France
Christ from Royal Portal

32. South Transept Portal, Chartres Cathedral, 1194 The Annunciation and Visitation, Jamb Statues, central
doorway, west façade, Reims Cathedral, 1230-1255

33. Notre Dame, Chartres Cathedral, France, after 1194 fire

34. Interior, St. Sernin, Toulouse Interior, Notre Dame, Chartres

35. Notre Dame, Chartres Cathedral, France,
after 1194
Key Architectural Developments of
the Gothic Style:
•Pointed arches instead of round
arches. Pointed arches are
stronger and look taller. They
direct the eye upward.
•Rib vaults instead of barrel vaults.
Rib vaults do not need as much
support from walls; their thrust is
down more than out.
•Flying buttresses – external
supports hold up the walls, which
makes space for…
•Stained Glass Windows
The Gothic is about
light and height.

37. Flying buttresses at Chartres

38. Notre Dame de la Belle Verrière,
Chartres Cathedral

39. Chartres Cathedral
Rose
window
lancets
“The glass windows in a church are Holy
Scriptures, which expel the wind and the rain,
that is, all things hurtful, but transmit the light of
the True Sun, that is, God, into the hearts of the
faithful.” – William Durandus, Bishop of Mende
in southern France
“To adore images is one thing; to teach with
their help what should be adored is another.
What Scripture is to the educated, images are to
the ignorant … they read in them what they
cannot read in books.” – Pope Gregory the Great

40. Levels from top to
bottom: clerestory (has
windows, lets in light),
triforium, nave
Notre Dame de Paris, or Our Lady
of Paris, 1163-1250

41. Sainte Chapelle, Paris, 1243—48Commissioned
by Louis IX Rayonnant Style

42. La Grande Chasse, Sainte
Chapelle, Paris, 1243—48
“La Grande chasse”
means “the large
chest.” This area once
held Louis IX’s relics,
most notably the
Crown of Thorns.

43. Gothic Gone Wild: the
Perpendicular
(Ornamental) Style in the
Chapel of Henry VII at
Westminster Abbey
1503-1519
The Royal
Wedding, 2011
This cathedral uses the fan vault
which is unique to England.

44. Röttgen Pietà, c. 1300-25, painted wood, 34 1/2 inches high Notre Dame de la Belle Verrière, Chartres, c. 1194