Romanesque Europe Overview

1000-1100 1100-1200

● The passing of the year 1000, the growth of towns, and the ● Romanesque sculptors revive the art of large scale stone relief popularity of pilgrimages foster a surge in church construction carving, especially on church facades, usually greeting ● Romanesque architects replace the timber roofs of churches worshippers with a vision of Christ as last judge with barrel vaults in the nave and groin vaults in the aisles ● Saint Bernard of Clairvaux opposes the proliferation of ● Churches along the pilgrimage roads to Santiago de sculpture in churches Compostela feature radiating chapels in ambulatories and ● Manuscript illumination flourishes in the scriptoria of Cluniac transepts monasteries ● Needleworkers commemorate the Norman conquest of ● Pilgrimages give impetus to the manufacture of costly England in the Bayeux Tapestry reliquaries ● Architects in Normandy and England introduce groin vaulting in church naves in conjunction with a three story elevation (arcade-tribune-clerestory) Pilgrimage

Romanesque is a term used by art historians because of the extensive use of stone sculpture and stone vaulting in churches.

● The romanesque era was the first since archaic and classical Greece to take its name from an artistic style rather than from politics or geography ● Carolingian/Ottonian refer to the emperor and hiberno saxon refer to the region ● A push to use roman antiquity to define architectural forms, Roman like. ● Architectural elements were based on the round arch, barrel vaulting and Groin vaulting. Pilgrimage

● Life was focused along the Manor or Estate, with a lord who would grant rights of land use to vassals. (Feudalism).. Peasants were indentured to the land ● Military use in exchange for land use was common ● Robust Trade during the period with increased roadworks led to being the greatest wealth contributor than military conquest. ● Feudal lords granted independence to the new towns in the form of charters, which enumerated community rights, privileges, immunities beyond the feudal obligations that the vassals owed the lords.. More money was made thru productivity than military conquest. ● Often located on navigable rivers, the new urban centers naturally became the nodes of networks of maritime and over land commerce Pilgrimage

● Enormous investment in new and remodeled churches and their furnishings also reflected a increased traffic in these towns. Pilgrimage ● Pilgrimage traffic was important sources of funding monasteries that possessed the relics of revered saints ● The monks of Saint foy at Conques used pilgrims’ donations to pay for a jewel encrusted gold and silver reliquary to house the skull of Saint Faith France/N. Spain

Reliquary statue of Sainte Foy (Late 10th century, Gold, Silver Jewels. https://youtu.be/jyO_r33j0BI? list=PLm38RbKnrb8b5dpmTMMD38RR x5I0Khqqm France/N. Spain

Interior Saint Etienne, Vignory France 1050-1057

● Has strong ties to carolingian ottonian architecture ● 3 story, timber roofed ● The second story is not a true tribune (gallery) rather its is merely a screen with alternating piers. ● France/N. Spain

Aerial view of saint sernin Toulouse France 1070-1120CE

● Dwarfing the Vignory, is Saint Sernin at Toulouse. Honoring the city’s first bishop, a martyr of the middle 3rd century ● Toulouse was an important stop on the pilgrimage road thru south france to santiago de compostela ● Architect is unknown, 50 years to construct. ● HUGE SCALE, note the size of the cars surrounding. ● The church incorporate the cross plan similar to that of Sainte-Foy Conques ● This style of church has come to be known as a pilgrimage church.. Made taller and taller to attract pilgrimage visitors to generate economic growth France/N. Spain

Interior of Saint Sernin, Toulouse France 1070-1120

● Notable interior is the insertion of tribunes opening onto the nave over the inner aisles. (2nd floor) ● Nave-Center Area ● Aisles-hallways ● Choir- space reserved for clergy ● Ambulatory- walkway linking nave, aisles, and radiating chapels ● Radiating Chapel,- spaces reserved for the display or relics ● Tribune-2nd floor open space over Aisles. France/N. Spain

Historiated Capitals, and general view of the cloister of Saint Pierre, Moissac, France 1100-1115

● Historiated Capital- a capital with an ornamental carved capital element ● Cloister, was an enclosed place, it expressed the seclusion of spiritual life. ● The cloister provided the monks/nuns with a taste of paradise, a place to walk, contemplate ● Shielded from the elements with a timber canopy, Romanesque churches were usually stone clad for fire reasons ● France/N. Spain

Abbot Durandus, relief on a pier in the cloister of Saint Pierre, Moissac France 1100-1115

● Romanesque Church Sculptures were usually in the Cloister, consisting of large reliefs on building piers, as well as various historiated capitals ● The pier relifs of Saint Pierre depict the 12 apostles and the monastery’s first Cluniac abbot, Durandus. ● Durandus was buried in the Cloister ● Cluniac monks loved stone sculpture, but Benedictine monks didn’t like all the stone.. Formed the Cistercian Order to the strict rules of Saint Benedict, changing everything from tunic color from black to white, ● Cistercians valued productive manual labor, systematic farming techniques that stimulated the agricultural transformation of Europe France/N. Spain

Typical Romanesque church portal

Tympanum- prominent semicircular lunette above the doorway. Comparable to importance to the triangular pediment of a greco roman temple

Voussoirs- Wedge shaped blocks that together form the archivolts of the arch framing of the tympanum

Lintel- Horizontal beam above the doorway

Trumeau- Center post supporting the lintel in the middle of the doorway

Jambs-side posts of the doorway France/N. Spain

Second coming of Christ, tympanum of the south portal, Saint Pierre, Moissac France https://youtu.be/Dzv_-B-PFzA

● The focus of the sculptural program of the Moissac was to underscore the role of the church as the path to Heaven. ● This church entrance convention became a theme of the path to salvation. ● Differing quite a bit from the complexities and openess of Islamic motiffs France/N. Spain

Old testament prophet Jeremiah or Isaiah, right side of the trumeau, saint pierre, 1115-1130

● A historicized Trumeau with scalloped contours and a prophet. ● Keeping tradition with themes of Old and New testament, using Icons to represent the path to heaven ● He is below christ though in the trumeau, christ is large and in the center of the tympanum, figurative, tall and thin, with folds of drapery.. Reminiscent archaic greek sculpture. ● France/N. Spain

Last Judgement, west tympanum of Saint Lazare, Autun, France 1120-1135

Notable because the artist signed his name on the portal Gislebertus. Possibly the artist successfully fulfilled his patron's wishes of the scene. France/N. Spain

Pentecost and Mission of the Apostles, Tympanum of the center portal of the narthex of La Madeleine 1120-1132

● Church of Mary Magdalene (La Madeleine) ● This church was more associated with the Crusades, more than any other church in europe. This became the church that Pope Urban, Bernard of Clairvaux , and king Louis Vii declared various crusades. ● https://youtu.be/X0zudTQelzI ● France/N. Spain

Initial L and Saint Matthew, folio 10 recto of the Codex Colbertinus, abbey of Saint Pierre, Moissac France 1100

● Cluniac monasteries produced many of the finest and ornate illuminated manuscripts ● The opening page of the gospel according to saint matthew includes both the large initial l of LIber (book), and a generic portrait of the author. ● Matthew is in on the right holding a copy of the book in his hand in a gesture of blessing ● He stands between a pair of columns and a arch. ● Left intertwining forms attest to the afterlife in other similar icons of the period. France/N. Spain

Initial R with knight fighting dragons, folio 4 verso of the Moralia in Job, from Citeaux france ca 1115-1125

● Citeaux was another major site of a monastery and scriptorium ● This manuscript was completed just before Bernard of Clairvaux headed the monastery and detested and opposed monastic figurative art ● 1134 a Cistercian ban on elaborate paintings in manuscripts as well as sculptural ornamentation in monasteries . ● Cistercians prohibited full page illustrations in their books, and even initial letters had to be non figurative and of a single color France/N. Spain

Nave of the abbey church of Saint Savin Ca 1100

● Frescos in ceiling. Of the barrel vault. This type of church plan is a hall church, lacking the 3 tiered order of a benedictine church ● Hall church where the aisles are approximately the same height as the nave. ● The tall windows of a hall church provide more illumination, than other churches that have smaller aisles and windows. ● This lead to the realization that increased light could aid in the addition to ceiling frescos Holy Roman Empire https://youtu.be/MRYzW3BSj0I

East end of Speyer Cathedral, Speyer Germany 1082-1105

● Notable because this church was built far from traditional pilgrimage routes and was the burial place of many holy roman emperors for 200 years ● Funding from the building came from imperial patrons rather than pilgrims or local landowners ● Seat of power of Local bishops, very powerful figures ● Larger clearstory windows windows above the nave illuminated the interior With multiple towers and the westwork rising highter and higher project dominance Holy Roman Empire

Hildegard reveals her visions detail Rupertsberger Scivias, Germany 1150- 1179

● Hildegard was a nun who eventually became the abbess of the convent of Disibodenberg in the Rhineland ● This is a reproduction, with the manuscript being lost during WWII, ● The Scivias contain a record of Hildegard’s vision of the divine order of the cosmos and of humankind’s place in it. The vision came to her as a fiery light pouring into her brain from the open vault of Heaven Holy Roman Empire

Crowning of Henry and Matilda Gospels of Henry the Lion, from the Benedictine abbey at Helmarshausen Germany 1188

● Commemorates Henry the Lion’s Marriage on Feb 1 1168 to Mathilda Plantagenet daughter of King Henry II ● The couple’s spiritual coronation ● Christ presides over the bestowed crowns which are placed on the heads of the married Holy Roman Empire

Rainer of Huy, Baptism of Christ, Baptismal basin, Belgium 1118

● Henry the Lion’s other commissioned works include a life size baptismal basin ● It rests on 12 oxen ● Commemorating a scene of baptism Holy Roman Empire

Head of reliquary of saint alexander 1145

Another reliquary, containing fragments of saint alexander’s body

Reminiscent of emperor augustus and roman traditions of figuration, silver and gold repousse.

Connections to roman and byzantine conventions Italy

Cathedral complex Pisa Italy 1063-1153

● Pisa was a tremendous maritime power, with this complex being paid for by the spoils of a naval victory against the muslims off palermo sicily in 1062. ● https://youtu.be/JDeV6MLjClI ● https://youtu.be/debQ7RSbY4Y ● Italy

Baptistry of San Giovanni, Florence, Italy 1059

● https://youtu.be/TPjh4482K7Y ● Normandy/England

West Facade of Saint Etienne France 1067

● Originating from the tradition of Carolingian and ottonian westworks but reveals a new unified organizational scheme ● Four large buttresses divide the facade into three bays corresponding to the nave and Aisles ● Above buttresses the towers also display a triple division and a progressively greater piercing of their walls from lower to upper stages. Normandy/England

Interior of Saint Etienne Caen France 1115-1120

Originally called for a timber roof, it was decided to add a stone groin vault during construction in 1115, which added to the existing piers and bays. https://youtu.be/aD7mKpybnFU Normandy/England

Interior Durham Cathedral, Durham England, 1093 https://youtu.be/34moa66Xo7U https://youtu.be/mPAgU39b0PI Normandy/England

Lateral section, Durham Cathedral, Durham England 1093

Quadrant Arches- arch one quarter of a circumference, precursor to a flying buttress.

Quadrant arches were a means to hold a building up from the outside, opening the space up inside, allowing for taller structures Normandy/England Normandy/England Normandy/England