ROMANESQUE EUROPE

GARDNER CHAPTER 17-1

PP. 431-437

ROMANESQUE EUROPE - BACKGROUND

Romanesque is a title art historians invented to describe medieval art that appeared “Roman-like”

Romanesque designates the history and culture of western Europe between 1050 and 1200

MANOR

LIEGE LORD

VASSALS

FEUDALISM

Rise of cities and trade -> prosperity

Boom in church building

ROMANESQUE EUROPE

Romanesque” broadly designated the history and culture of western Europe between about 1050 and 1200

Feudalism saw the warrior lords of the early Middle Ages eventually settle down and establish themselves as landholding barons

Two great Monastic orders the Cluniac and Cistercian grew in importance. The Cluniacs especially fostered the arts.

The pilgrimage was the principal feature of Medieval Christian life. Shrines housed relics that attracted pilgrims with the most famous being Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Many Romaesque cathedrals were developed as travel way stations enroute to Santiago de Compostela, as well as important spiritual destinations in their own right.

Romanesque architecture varied but has basic style characteristics: overall blocky appearance, a grouping of large, simple, easily definable geometrical masses (rectangles, cubes, cylinders, etc.).

PILGRIMAGES AND THE CULT OF RELICS

RELICS = bones, clothing, body parts, or other objects associated with the holy family or saints

Veneration of relics

PILGRIMAGE -> greatest display of public devotion

Could take more than a year to complete -> hardship and danger -> often undertaken as repentance or last resort

Rome and Jerusalem -> holiest

The tomb of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in N.W. Spain

Led to changes in church design

Established the routes that later became major avenues of commerce and communication

ARCHITECTURE AND ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE

Pronounced regional differences in exist in Romanesque art and architecture

Italy retained wooden roofs of the Early Christian style -> stone vaulting was common elsewhere

France and N. Spain -> innovative uses of stone vaulting and some timber-roofed churches

SAINT-ETIENNE, VIGNORY

Interior of Saint-Etienne, Vignory, France, 1050-1057

The timber-roofed abbey church of Saint Stephen at Vignory reveals a kinship w/the three story naves of Ottonian churches -> features and alternate-support system of piers and columns

SAINT-ETIENNE, VIGNORY Innovative plan of the east end

of the Vignory abbey church features an ambulatory around the choir and three semi-circular radiating chapels opening on to it for the display of relics

1 = nave

2 = aisles

3 = choir

4 = ambulatory

5 = radiating chapels

SAINT-SERNIN, TOULOUSE

Aerial view of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, 1070-1120

Pilgrimages were a major catalyst for the art and architecture of the Romanesque period -> clergy vied w/one another to provide magnificent settings for the display of holy relics

“pilgrimage church” -> increased length of nave, doubled the side aisles, added a transept, ambulatory and radiating chapels for viewing relics

Increased pilgrim traffic led to changes in church design

St. Sernin, Toulouse (France) offers good examples of Romanesque architectural qualities. fireproof ceiling of stone supported by semicircular barrel vaults.

Radiating chapels as separate units projecting from the mass of the building.

Inadequate lighting: the central problem of Romanesque architecture was the development of a masonry vault system that admitted light.

Tribunes, or upper galleries to accommodate large crowds

Ambulatories (extension of aisles around the eastern end) to aide in the circulation of all the people.

SAINT-SERNIN Groin vaulted tribune galleries

housed overflow crowds and buttressed the stone barrel vault over the nave

Groin vaults (X) absorbed pressure from the barrel vault along the nave

Extremely regular and geometric plan

Nave walls w/engaged columns on the piers = compound piers

Transverse arches

TIMBER ROOFS AND STONE VAULTS

Canterbury Cathedral in England

In 1174 it was accidentally set ablaze and destroyed -> big problem -> led to the use of stone vaulting in many churches

Desire to provide majestic setting for display of relics and better acoustics

CHRIST IN MAJESTY Bernardus Gelduinus, Christ in Majesty, relief

in the ambulatory of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca. 1096, marble

One of the earliest series of large Romanesque reliefs decorated the pilgrimage church of Saint Sernin

The models were probably Carolingian or Ottonian book covers in metal of ivory

Revival of stonecarving is a hallmark of the Romanesque age

Beautify the house of God -> churches now served the lay public and provided inspiration and educ.

CLUNY III

Restored cutaway view of the third abbey church (Cluny III), Cluny, France, 1088-1130

Primary patrons of Romanesque sculpture were the monks of the CLUNIAC ORDER -> famous for their scholarship, music, and art

Cluny III was the largest church in Europe for 500 years -> largely destroyed today -> had a 500 foot long, three story nave, four aisles, radiating chapels, and slightly pointed stone barrel vaults

CLUNY III