romanesque: the cult of saints
DESCRIPTION
Overview of Romanesque architecture and the cult of saints.TRANSCRIPT
RomanesqueDates and Places: • 1000-1200• Western Europe
People:• Pilgrimage• Fear of judgment• Church building boom• Cult of relics Reliquary head of St. Alexander, from
Stavelot Abbey, Belgium; 1145, silver repoussé with gilt bronze, gems,
pearls, and enamel, approx. 1’5 ½” high.
RomanesqueThemes:• Biblical themes • Saints and martyrs• Relics
Forms:• Expressive
exaggeration• Cruciform pilgrimage
churches• Barrel vaults,
buttressing Initial R, Moralia in Job, ca. 1115–1125.
Romanesque: FranceExample: • Pilgrimage church• Radiating chapels• Ambulatory• Side aisles• Barrel and groin vaults• Nave bays, crossing• Engaged columns,
compound piers• Crossing tower
Plan, Saint-Sernin, ca. 1070–1120.
Saint-Sernin , ca. 1070–1120.
Romanesque: France• Christian child burned
in 303 for refusing to make sacrifice to pagan god
• Cranium relic originally located in different monastery but monk from Conques stole it (relics=important source of income) Reliquary statue of Saint Foy, late
10th-11th century; gold and gemstones, 33.5" high
Romanesque: FranceExample• Short towers at the
entrance (from Westwork of Carolingian buildings) and over crossing=intersection of nave and transept
• Rounded arches• Relatively small
windows with lots of wall surface left intact
The Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques
Romanesque: France• Example:
• Exterior plain sandstone, looks like plain exteriors of Roman basilicas and early Christian churches
• Masonry seems solid, dense, thick, heavy
• Round arhces
The Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques, from the east
Romanesque: FranceExample• Tympana to main
portals favorite subject matter=Last Judgment
• Authority of Christ as king of kings who will return at the end of time to judge all; also great reminder of the power of the church as people approach the church to go inside
Last Judgment, artist unknown, Abbey of St. Foy in Conques, 1124-1135
Romanesque: FranceExample:• Pilgrimage church• Radiating chapels• Ambulatory for viewing relics• Side aisles• Barrel and groin vaults (helps with
acoustics, allows for various shapes)
• Nave bays, crossing• Engaged columns, compound piers• Crossing tower• Regular and compartmentalized
space with basic unit=nave bay
Floor plan, The Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques
Romanesque : FranceExample: • Tympanum sculpture • Fear of judgment• Door to salvation• Expressive exaggeration
(terrifying urgency of moment)• Stylization, stretched out
figures• Christ in mandorla• For illiterate• Master artist’s signature=artist
wanting to make sure he is remembered
• Less compartmentalization of figures
• Influence of metalwork or manuscript illumination found in delicate detail of robes
• Pilgrims figured
GISLEBERTUS, Last Judgment, ca. 1120–1135.
Romanesque: Holy Roman EmpireExample: • Nun with visions• Abbess of convent• Women’s involvement with
manuscript production• Hildegard commissions and writes
book herself• Illustration of own vision• Picturing scribe work• Conceptual treatment of figures
and space• Continuation of manuscript
illumination• Book lost during WWII
Hildegard from Scivias, ca. 1180. Fig. 6-23.
Romanesque: Italy• Example• Italian Romanesque
architecture very different from architecture in the North; there is a greater influence of classical Rome
• Large atrium• 2 towers West entrance• Articulation of wall surface is
simple and austere; strip buttresses (vetically) and corbel tables (horizontally)
St. Ambrogio, Milan arcaded atrium, built between 1088 and 1099
Romanesque: ItalyExample: • Regional diversity of
Romanesque• Italians add campanile
and baptistery• Arcaded galleries• Incrustation with marble• No Western towers, groin
vaulting• Very decorative inside
and outside• Lack large sculpture
programs on exterior that were particular to France
Cathedral complex, Pisa, Italy, 1063-1174.
Romanesque: EnglandExample: • Regional variation of
Romaneque • Seven-part nave rib-vault• Surface patterns • Compound piers support
transverse arches• Quadrant arches • Clearly divisible spaces• Heaviness and solidity of
masonry, nave formed by arcade shaped by alternating columns and compound piers
Lateral section, Durham Cathedral, begun ca. 1093.
Durham Cathedral, begun ca. 1093.
Romanesque: Normandy
Example: • Rare secular object• Embroidered pictorial narrative• Norman defeat of Anglo-Saxons• Battle conventions from Greece
and Rome• Made for display of relics at
Cathedral of Bayeux in Normandy
• Considered best known work of Norman art
• 8 colors of wool used on 8 lengths un-dyed linen
• May have been sewn by ladies at Norman court or needle women in Kent
Bayeux Tapestry, ca. 1070–1080, embroidery 230’ long x 20” high
Romanesque: EnglandExample:
• Divisions of drapery not related to body beneath
• Conceptual treatment of figure and space
• Scribe at work
• Similar to evangelist portraits
• New attention to individual artist
Eadwine the Scribe, Eadwine Psalter, ca. 1160–1170.