romanesque europe gardner chapter 17-3 pp. 445-453
TRANSCRIPT
ROMANESQUE EUROPE
GARDNER CHAPTER 17-3
PP. 445-453
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE - ARCHITECTURE Salians -> Romanesque
successors to the Ottonians
Ruled an empire covering present day Germany and N. Italy
Salians were great patrons of art and architecture -> and monasteries remained the great centers of artistic production
SPEYER CATHEDRAL
Interior of Speyer Cathedral, Speyer, Germany, nave vaults ca. 1082-1105
The central aim of northern Romanesque architects was to develop a masonry vault system that admitted light and was aesthetically pleasing
The solution was to cover the nave with groin vaults instead of barrel vaults
Speyer shows that groin vaults made possible large clerestory windows above the nave arcade
SANT’AMBROGIO,MILAN Aerial view of Sant’Ambrogio,
Milan, Italy, late 11th to early 12th century
Lombardy = N. Italy -> the central monument of Lombard Romanesque architecture is Sant’Ambrogio
Atrium and low, broad proportions, two bell towers (CAMPANILES) at west end, octagonal tower over east end
SANT’AMBROGIOINTERIOR
Interior of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan, Italy, late eleventh to early twelfth century
The nave reveals the northern character of Lombard architecture -> each groin-vaulted nave bay corresponds to two aisle bays
Alternate-support system complements this modular plan
ROMANESQUE COUNTESSES, QUEENS, AND NUNS
Hildegard receives her visions, detail of a facsimile of a lost folio in the Rupertsberger Scivias by Hildegard of Bingen, ca. 1150-1179
Hildegard of Bingen -> the most prominent nun of her time and one of the greatest religious figures of the Middle Ages -> experienced divine visions -> 5 tongues of fire entering her brain -> she also composed music and wrote scientific treatises
Eleanor of Aquitaine -> wife of Henry II of England after annulment of her marriage to Louis VII of France
PAINTING AND OTHER ARTS – HILDEGARD OF BINGEN
Religious manuscript known as the Scivias by Hildegard of Bingen -> contains a record of her vision of the divine order of the cosmos and man’s place in it
RAINER OF HUY
Rainer of Huy, baptism of Christ, baptismal font from Notre-Dame-des-Fonts, Liege, Belgium
The bronze basin rests on the foreparts of a dozen oxen -> revives the classical style and classical spirit
Features idealized figures and even a nude representation of Christ
RELIQUARY OF SAINT
ALEXANDER Head reliquary of Saint Alexander, from
Stavelot Abbey, Belgium, silver repousse, gilt bronze, gems, pearls, and enamel, 1145
Reliquary = container for holding relics
Almost life-size head in repousse silver w/gilt bronze hair -> wears collar of jewels -> enamels and jewels adorn the box the head sits on -> reliquary rest of four bronze dragons
Example of the stylistic diversity and sources of Romanesque art
ITALY – ARCHITECTURE AND ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE
Italian architects never accepted the verticality found in northern architecture.
The Pisa Cathedral is one of the most majestic and impressive of all Romanesque churches. Its striped incrustation (alternating dark green and cream colored marble) becomes a hallmark of Tuscan Romanesque and Gothic buildings.
Detail view of Baptistery
PISA CATHEDRAL COMPLEX
Italian Romanesque - Cathedral complex, Pisa, Italy; cathedral begun 1063; baptistery begun 1153; campanile begun 1174
Pisa’s Cathedral more structurally resembles Early Christian basilicas than the more experimental northern Romanesque churches
Separate bell tower and baptisteries are characteristically Italian
BAPTISTERY, FLORENCE
Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy, dedicated 1059
This is the gem of Florentine Romanesque architecture
Freestanding and faces the city’s cathedral
Simple and serene classicism -> central-plan building
Tuscan Romanesque marble incrustation patterns the walls
Domed octagon wrapped on the exterior by elegant arcade w/3 arches to a bay
SAN MINIATO AL
MONTE Interior of San Miniato al Monte,
Florence, Italy, ca. 1062-1090
Design of San Miniato is close to that of Early Christian basilicas -> but diaphragm arches divide the nave into 3 equal compartments
Compound piers alternate w/columns in the arcade
MODENA CATHEDRAL Wiligelmo, creation and
temptation of Adam and Eve, detail of the frieze of west façade, Modena Cathedral, Italy, ca. 110
For Modena’s cathedral Wiligelmo shows scenes from Genesis against an architectural backdrop of a type common on Roman and Early Christian sarcophagi
Entering the cathedral you are reminded of original sin and that the only path to salvation is through the church
BENEDETTO
ANTELAMI BENEDETTO ANTELAMI, King
David, statue in a niche on the west facade of Fidenza Cathedral, Fidenza, Italy, ca. 1180–1190. Marble, approx. life-size
Benedetto Antelami’s King David is a rare example of life-size statuary in the Romanesque period -> the style is unmistakably rooted in Greco-Roman art