ROMANESQUE
ART
1050-1150
(but some stuff is as early
as 1000 and as late as 1200)

• Romanesque architecture looked like an
offshoot of ancient Roman art (to 19th
century historians), so they called the period
“Romanesque” (“in the Roman manner”)
• Not sure what they were thinking- There are
SOME similarities, but far more differences.
?

Some main ideas:
• Rebirth of large-scale architecture and
sculpture
• People and ideas flow around Europe as
pilgrimages to sacred European shrines
increase
• Apses of churches enlarged to accommodate
all these pilgrims!
• Church portal sculptures – themes of the Last
Judgment and the need for salvation.
• Manuscript painting and weaving flourish

A little history…
• By 1000, migration seen in Medieval period settles
down
• Vikings Christianized (they need to repent for all their
destruction, haha) – settled in Normandy, France, and
southern Italy and Sicily
• Europeans invade Muslim lands (the Crusades)
• Triumph of Christianity in Europe – Pope acts as ruler
(spiritual empire similar to Roman empire)
• There was fighting among Europeans, but enough
peace to allow trade and the arts to flourish, cities
expand
• People cross Europe on pilgrimages to Rome,
Jerusalem, and Spain (Santiago de Compostela is
probably the most famous)

• Journey took about a year or longer to make
• Shrines at key points along the way (still exist today)
• Pilgrimage movement influenced building boom- one
of the great revitalizations in history

Being an artist or patron…
• Artists were “middle class”. Lords owned land,
peasants worked for the Lords, Lords provide security
(symbiosis). Artists were somewhere between those
two classes.
• Painting is a “higher art” than sculpture or architecture
because painters worked less with their hands.
• Women stuck doing “feminine arts” like ceramics,
weaving, or manuscript decoration.
• Powerful, wealthy women commission the
construction of architecture (such as nunneries) or
illuminated manuscripts.
• Hildegard von Bingen = famous author, composer, and
patroness of the arts.

• Christian-themed AND secular works
survive
• Constructed castles, manor houses,
monasteries, and churches – master
builders oversaw the whole process
(designing to contracting).
• Master artists, such as Giselbertus,
supervised the artist design of the
buildings

Architecture was a BIG deal, so hang
in there through this part……

• Cathedrals = civic pride, artistic expression, and
spiritual devotion
• Took hundreds of years to build, big $$$, lots of
care put into construction and maintenance – used
stone roofs (not wood) to prevent all their hard
work from catching on fire! Using stone for the
whole thing is a
reason it’s “Roman-like”
But there are some issues
with using strictly stone…

Using JUST stone has some drawbacks…
• It’s freaking heavy! – walls have to be extra thick to
hold up heavy stone roof
• Small windows- can’t have too many holes in walls
• Small windows = dark interior – made even darker
with introduction of stained glass
• Rib vault introduced to help support roof

• Rib vault introduced in Durham Cathedral (below)
• At first they were decorative moldings placed on top of
groin vaults – eventually added to roof support
• Help channel stress of roof down to walls and onto
piers
• Rib vaults open up the ceiling space more dramatically
– allows for larger windows (yay, light!) in the
clerestory.

Using JUST stone has some perks!
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•
•
It’s fireproof!
It’s easy to maintain!
It’s durable!
It’s weatherproof!
It conducts sound very well – good news for
Gregorian chanting (everyone can hear!)

Romanesque introduced the BAY
• BAY = a vertical section of
a church often containing
arches, a triforium, and a
cleristory
• Arch on first floor
• Trifornium with smaller
arches on second floor
• Windows in cleristory on
third floor
• This bay structure is
repeated all over the
church to create unity in
the design

• Added
AMBULATORY on
east end of
buildings to
accommodate
large pilgrimage
crowds (we also
see this in early
Christian
churches like
Santa Costanza)

Plan of St.
Sernin (more
about this place
later…)
• The AMBULATORY (walkway) directed crowds
around the church without disturbing the
ceremonies taking place in the apse
• Chapels placed at intervals around the ambulatory
so pilgrims could admire relics/sacred items
displayed there

• You walk along this part and then visit these
little chapels along the way while the
ceremonies are going on in there

Let’s look at some
major works of
Romanesque
Architecture!

Pisa Cathedral, begun 1063 (11th century), Pisa, Italy
ARCADE: a series of arches supported by columns. When the
arches face a wall and are not self-supporting, they are called
a blind arcade (integrated into wall)

Exterior covered in marble – typical of
Romanesque architecture in Tuscany, Italy

Separate CAMPANILE
(bell tower) famous
for leaning

Football (soccer field)
Campanile
Graveyard
Cathedral
Baptistery

•Wood roof over
nave continues
early Christian
tradition of wood
roof
•Groin vaults over
side aisles
•Inspired by
classical
architecture –
arches, columns,
capitals
•Granite columns
taken from a
Roman temple in
Elba

This is a view from the campanile. On the exterior of the
cathedral we see…
• Multiple arcades and marble veneer
• Use of blind arcades
• Continuous horizontal molding
• Articulated bandings and geometric veneers
• Prominent baptistery in front of cathedral
•Broadly
projecting
transepts
•Apses intersect
the nave at the
crossing

Saint-Etienne, 1067 (11th century), Caen, France

Exterior of St. Etienne
• Hints of the upcoming
Gothic style (vertical
emphasis) – spires are a
Gothic feature added
later
(spire)
• Commissioned by
William the Conqueror

• Originally had timber
roof, replaced by sixpart rib vaults, and
engaged columns
were added
• Piers are uniform
• Three parts to nave
wall: arcade, gallery,
and cleristory
• Very wide arches
• Engaged columns run
the full height of the
nave- emphasize
height
St. Etienne interior

Saint-Sernin, 1070-1120 (11th-12th century),
Tolouse, France

• Sernin was the first bishop
of Tolouse
• Charlemagne donated
many relics to the church –
it became an important
stop for pilgrims on their
way to Santiago de
Compostela
• Constructed mostly of
brick
• Bell tower is directly over
transept- in five tiers (spire
added in 15th century)
St. Sernin exterior

• Ambulatory around apse
with radiating chapels for
relics
• Barrel-vaulted interior with
ribs – corresponding
buttresses on exterior
• Buttress strips on exterior
mark the internal structure
of the bays
• Double side aisles
• Very dark inside- lacks a
clerestory

Square schematism: a church plan in which the
crossing square is used as a unit of measurement
for the rest of the design. Each nave bay is ½ a
square. Each side aisle is ½ a square.

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela,
Spain, 1090-1120 (11th- 12th century)
“Saint James Cathedral” - held
the body of Saint James

• Nave organized into
bays
• Compound piers
with attached half
columns on all four
sides support huge
ribbed barrel vault
on ceiling
• Nave and transept
have two storiesarcade and gallery
• See more details in
chapter 15

• Ambulatory allows worshipers to move around church,
visit chapels, say prayers (and not disrupt service at the
high altar). Designed for large groups of pilgrims.

• Design of transept mirrors nave in size and structure
• Building made of local granite
• Pilgrims arrive here, tired after weeks of difficult
travel through mountains and woods – grateful to
St. James for his protection along the way
• Cathedral had no doors- open 24 hours

Durham Cathedral, begun 1093 (11th century),
Durham, England
• Houses relics and
remains of notable
saints and leaders

• First use of rib vaults
• Very long nave- English tradition
• Abstract patterns on piers- inspired by Early
Medieval metalwork
Durham
Cathedral
interior

• Alternating piers
with different
patterns
• Arches have a
SLIGHT pointforeshadow
Gothic style

Recognize this room in Durham Cathedral?

Professor Mcgonagall's Classroom!

How about the cloister?

Hogwarts!
Bam! Blew your mind!

Let’s talk about Romanesque Sculpture, shall we?
• Rebirth of large-scale sculpture is SO Romanesque
• Sculptors were inspired by goldsmiths and metal
workers, but expanded to about life-size works
• Sculpture usually placed around the portals of
churches – helps visitors understand the theme of
the building before they walk in
• Small-scale works didn’t get the boot, though.
Works in wood, ivory (don’t buy ivory!), and metal
continued to flourish.

Sculptors competed for the honor of carving Portals
– prominent location!

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•
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•
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Figures tend to look flattened
Zigzagging drapery hides body, rather than defines
Hierarchy of scale
Legs crossed in graceful, dance-like poses
Figures placed within borders – frames for each scene
Rarely push against frames – are defined by them

Creation and Temptation of Adam
and Eve, Artist: Wiligelmo
1110 (12th century), Modena Cathedral, Italy

•Inscription: “Among sculptors, your work shines forth,
Wiligelmo” – shows pride donors felt in having such a
noteworthy artist work for them
-Composition inspired by Early Christian sarcophagi
-High relief

-Figures dominate architectural setting
-Narrative breaks the frame
-A visual reminder to those entering the church of “Original
Sin”, which is the fall of Adam and Eve. Christ’s sacrifice
redeemed humankind.

Last Judgment, artist: Gislebertus
1120-1135 (12th century), marble, on St. Lazare, Atun, France

•Scene of the Last Judgment: Jesus at the
Second Coming (saved people on his right
and dammed on his left)

Christ in center as serene figure – symmetrical with
balanced composition of elongated figures. To enter
the church, you walk through the door on the right
below the scene of the condemned, and exit the left
door under the saved people. Figures are linear,
twisted, writhing, emaciated

•Right side of relief: The
damned!
•Demons in hell with an angel
and a devil weighing the souls
on a balance
•Left side of relief: The saved!
•The rise to heaven

•Souls weighed to
determine the fate of the
deceased
•Heavy souls fall to hell,
light souls rise to heaven
(no pressure!)
•Weighing souls is a
tradition that goes back to
ancient Egypt
•Horror of the evils of hell
are vividly contrasted with
the sanctity of the angels

•Modern view of heaven and
hell
•Visually educational device for
illiterate people
•Pilgrims: This is what happens
to you if you end up in hell!
•Two men near center carry
bags w/ cross and seashell –
symbols of pilgrims that
travelled from Jerusalem to
Santiago de Compostela

Porte Miegeville from church of St.
Sernin, Toulouse

-Figures have great expression and movement
-Depicts Ascension in a literal way – angels hoisting Christ up to
heaven by the waist. Apostles look up in wonder
-Angels explain that he will return from heaven in the same way

Virgin and Child
in Majesty
(The Morgan Madonna)
1150-1200
(12th century), wood
•Mary appears AS the
Throne of Wisdom with
Jesus in her lap
•Jesus has adult-sized
head on small body
= great wisdom

•Jesus would have held a
Bible – a symbol of his
spiritual authority
•Chambers in the back of
the two figures – would
have held relics –
functioned as a RELIQUARY
•Sit emotionless and erect,
was brightly painted
•Christ possesses wisdom
and justice, just like his
ancestors King David and
King Solomon

•RELIQUARY: a vessel for
holding a sacred relic –
often took the shape of
the objects they held
•Often made of precious
stones and metals, but
this one is wood
•This was used as a
devotional object –
carried in church
processions

Let’s look at some Romanesque
paintings and tapestries
•Most of what we know about Romanesque painting
comes from illuminated manuscripts and an
occasional surviving ceiling or wall mural
•Figures tend to be outlined in black and vibrantly
colored
•Big gestures, exaggerated emotion – heads and
hands are largest
•Figures on top of flat surface – not in a 3D space –
floating
•People are most important – dominate buildings
that look like stage sets

Hildegard von
Bingen’s Vision
1050-1079 (11th century),
manuscript
-now destroyed  exists
only as a copy

•Bingen’s divine visions come
down from heaven and pour
down on her like flames
•She sits as she records her
vision
•Her scribe Volmar waits by
her side with a book
•Heavy black outlines define
forms
•Figures dominate tiny
architecture
•Expressive drapery folds show
legs but not much else
•Hildegard is patroness of this
book – she was a convent
leader
•More info -chapter 15, p. 499

Eadwine the Scribe
from the
Eadwine Psalter
1160-1170
Illuminated manuscript

•Self-portrait of one of
many monks who
worked as a scribe on
this psalter
•A generic portrait – not
an exact likeness
•Dressed as monk with
characteristic hair and
swirling cape
•Enthroned on
architecture-like throne
•Right hand holds
paintbrush, left holds
scraper (eraser)

How does this compare to the portrait of St.
Matthew from Early Medieval?

Bayeux Tapestry, 1070-1080 (11th century),
embroidery, wool on linen

•“Tapestry” is the wrong name- it’s actually an
embroidery
•Probably designed by a man, but made by women
•Commissioned by Bishop Odo, half-brother of
William the Conqueror

•Tells the story (in
Latin) of William the
Conqueror’s
conquest of England
at the Battle of
Hastings in 1066
•We’re not sure how
it was MEANT to be
displayed.
See this line? Yeah…. THIS is the Bayeux Tapestry shown in
its true scale of length to width. It’s 230 feet long! Talk
about a narrative!
THIS is why I can’t show you the whole thing at once.

•Fanciful beasts in upper and lower registers
•Borders sometimes comment on the main
scenes, or show scenes of everyday life

•non-natural colors: different parts of horses are
different colors
•Neutral background – no sense of deep perspective
•Figures are flat, no shadows

•Ooooo, this would be a GREAT comparison to the
Column of Trajan in terms of the tradition of the
tradition of using NARRATIVE in art
•75 scenes, over 600 people

VOCABULARY TIME!
•Ambulatory: a passageway around the apse of a church
•Apse: the end point of a church where the altar is
•Arcade: a series of arches supported by columns. When the
arches face a wall and are not self-supporting, they are called
a blind arcade
•Archivolt: a series of concentric moldings around an arch
•Axial Plan (aka: Basilican plan, Longitudinal plan): a church
with a long nave whose focus is the apse, so-called because it
is designed along an axis
•Baptistery: a separate chapel or building in front of a church
used for baptisms
•Bay: a vertical section of a church that is embraced by a set
of columns and is usually composed of arches and aligned
windows

•Campanile: a bell tower of an Italian building
•Cathedral: the principal church of a diocese, where a bishop
sits
•Clerestory: the third, or window, story of a church
•Embroidery: a woven product in which the design is stitched
into a premade fabric
•Jamb: the side posts of a medieval portal
•Narthex: the vestibule, or lobby, of a church
•Portal: a doorway (usually significantly decorated in
Romanesque times)
•Psalter: a book containing the Psalms, or sacred sung poems,
of the Bible
•Reliquary: a vessel for holding a sacred relic. Often
reliquaries took the shape of the objects they held. Precious
metals and stones were the common material.

• Rib Vault: a vault in which diagonal arches form rib-like
patterns. These arches partially support a roof, in some
cases forming a web-like design.
• Tapestry: a woven product in which the design and the
backing are produced at the same time on a device called a
loom.
• Transept: an aisle in a church perpendicular to the nave.
• Trifornium: a narrow passageway with arches opening onto
a nave, usually directly below a clerestory.
• Trumeau: the central pillar of a portal that stabilizes the
structure. It is often elaborately decorated.
• Tympanum: a rounded sculpture placed over the portal of a
church
• Voussior (“view-swar”): a wedge-shaped stone that forms
the curved part of an arch. The central voussoir is called a
keystone.

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Student Slides:
Christ and His Disciples on the Road to Emmaus (15-1)
Church of SantVincenc, Cardona (15-3)
The Abbey at Cluny (15-9)
Reliquary Statue of Sainte Foy (page 484)
Abbey Church of Notre-Dame (15-12)
Church of San Clemente (15-14)
Church of Saint-Savin-Sur-Gartempe, Poitu (15-15)
Church of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan (15-16)
Speyer Cathedral (15-17)
Dover Castle (15-24)
South Portal and Porch, Priory Church of St. Pierre Moissac (15-26)
Capital: Suicide of Judas (15-29)
Christ in Majesty (15-30)
Tower of Babel (15-31)
Crucifix (15-32)
Tomb Cover with Effigy of Rudolf of Swabia (15-34)
The Mouth of Hell, Winchester Psalter (15-38)