Art Periods/Movements

Romanesque

Module 4 Part 2 Early Medieval

Early Medieval Arts

● The art of the Middle Ages—a span of 1,200 years, roughly the period
between the late Roman era and the fifteenth century—set new
standards of technical achievement, particularly in architecture,
enamelwork, mosaic, painting, sculpture, stained glass, and tapestry.
● The dynamism of the age is embodied in its architecture, which
provides the context for many of the works of art featured in this
resource.
● Many of these cultural artifacts can still be experienced today. Have
you heard the stories of Emperor Charlemagne, Sir Lancelot, or Maid
Marian? Do you know what medieval people sang about?
Emperor Charlamagne

● On Christmas Day in the year 800 A.D. Charlemagne, king of the Franks and part of the
Carolingian line, 1 was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III (795-816).

● The coronation took place during mass at the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome; immediately
following the coronation, the acclamation of the people of Rome was heard: “To Charles,
the most pious Augustus, crowned by God, the great and peace-giving Emperor, life and
victory.”

● he encouraged the Carolingian Renaissance, a cultural and intellectual revival in Europe.

When he died in 814, Charlemagne's empire encompassed much of Western Europe.
Today, Charlemagne is referred to by some as the father of Europe.
Emperor Charlamagne & the Carolingian
Dynasy
Charlemagne, king of the Franks
 Sir Lancelot - THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE
King Arthur’s Legendary Knight

• In the French-inspired Arthurian chivalric romance tradition, Lancelot is the orphaned son of King Ban of
the lost Kingdom of Benwick, raised in the fairy realm by the Lady of the Lake. A hero of many battles,
quests and tournaments, and famed as a nearly unrivalled swordsman and jouster, Lancelot becomes the
lord of the castle Joyous Gard and personal champion of Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere. But when
his adulterous affair with Guinevere is discovered, it causes a civil war that is exploited by Mordred to end
Arthur's kingdom.
 Maid Marian
● Lady of the Greenwood

● There's an old
saying that
behind every
great man is a
great woman.
Meet Maid Marian.
She is Robin
Hood's true love
and truly a great
woman.

● Local legend says

Robin and Marian
were married in
St. Mary's church
in the village of
Edwinstowe.
Early Medieval Arts

● Between 1000 and 1300, in France alone, more stone was quarried for construction than
had been quarried in ancient Egypt during the 3,000 years of building pyramids and
temples.

● In early medieval Europe, stone went into the solid, powerful structures of Romanesque
churches, in which round arches, thick walls and pillars, small windows, and—in many
cases—rounded stone ceilings gave their interiors a mysterious darkness. Then, in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, ever higher
Romanesque

● 11th and 12th centuries were a period of economic growth and prosperity in Europe. •
Crusades taking place led to opening up trade between East and West

● Worries about the apocalypse at the turn of the new millennium lead to wide spread
church building.

● Last Judgment relief sculptures became popular over church portals in a semi circular
niche called the tympanum.

● Sculptures were more symbolic than realistic

● Communicated religious beliefs to illiterate population

Romanesque

● Pilgrimages became popular , large churches were built and designed to accommodate
pilgrim adopted Roman basilica plan with radiating chapels behind the apse.

● Recipe for cement was lost, so buildings were heavy and low • Reliquaries were also
important to draw crowds to a church

● Virgin Mary became a significant figure inspired by the Byzantine Theotokos figure

● Romanesque means in the Roman manner, and the term specifically applies to an 11th
and 12th century European style.
Romanesque
● Early in the 11th century, Europe was still divided into many small political and economic units
ruled by powerful families. – The nations we know today like, Italy, France and Germany did
not exist. – The king of France only ruled a small area around Paris, the Duke of Normandy
controlled the northwest coast and the Duke of Burgundy ruled the lands south of Paris.

● The lands around Paris were beginning to emerge as a national state, and after the Norman
conquest of Britain in 1066, the Duke of Normandy became the King of England.

● William the Conqueror - At the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066, William, duke of
Normandy, defeated the forces of Harold II, king of England, and then was himself crowned
king as William I, leading to profound political, administrative, and social changes in the British
Isles as result of the Norman Conquest.

● – The lands of the Holy Roman Empire, Italy and Germany remained fragmented, controlled by
local leaders.
William the Conqueror
SUTTON HOO PURSE
● This seventh century Anglo-Saxon purse cover was one of many treasures found at a
Pagan ship burial from Sutton Hoo in East Anglia on the Southeast coast of England.

● The cover is made of gold, cloisonné enamel, and dark red garnets. The cloisonné
technique is one where different colored liquid enamel is poured on top of cloisonné
which are formed with thin metal strips on top of ivory or bone. The decorations are
symmetrical with two fighting animals at the center.

Pagan ship burials were used because there

was a belief that the ships carried the souls of
the dead to the afterlife.
Chi Rho Iota page of Book of Kells
Lindisfarne Gospels

• known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated

manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four
Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory
texts and tables.

• It was created in a Columban monastery in

either Ireland, Scotland or England
Ebbo Gospels, Crucifixion Cover from the
Lindau Gospels, Palatine Chapel
● The Lindau Gospels is held
within a beautiful jewel encrusted
and gold covering called
'Crucifixion and Mourning
Figures’.

● Many colored gemstones as well

as pearls of different sizes create
a border around the cover as well
as create a cruciform shape
surrounding Jesus Christ on the
cross.
 Gero Crucifix, St. Michael’s, Bronze door of
Bishop Bernward, Durham Cathedral
● The Gero Crucifix (Cologne Cathedral)
represents a return to the monumental scale
of sculpture that had fallen out of favor since
the beginning of the Middle Ages.

● Approximately six feet two inches, the Gero

Crucifix is a life size figure of the dead
Christ that confronts its viewers with silent,
palpable emotion.

● This figure of Christ is definitively dead, as

the closed eyes and sagging body attest.

● The pain of his ordeal still registers on his

face, yet the moment of agony has clearly
past into a state of lifelessness
Ottonian Renaissance
● The Ottonian Renaissance was a renaissance of Byzantine and Late Antique art in Central
and Southern Europe that accompanied the reigns of the first three Holy Roman Emperors
of the Ottonian (or Saxon) dynasty: Otto I (936–973), Otto II (973–983), and Otto III
(983–1002)
● Ottonian art is a style in pre-romanesque German art, covering also some works from the
Low Countries, northern Italy and eastern France.
● Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands and historically called the Netherlands,
Flanders, or Belgica, refers to a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the
lower basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting of three countries: Belgium,
the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The Essen cross with large enamels with
gems and large senkschmelz enamels, c.
1000
One of three medieval renaissances, the Ottonian Renaissance
began after King Otto's marriage to Adelaide of Italy (951) united
the Italian and German kingdoms, and thus brought the West
closer to Byzantium.

He furthered the cause of Christian (political) unity with his

Imperial coronation in 962 by the Pope at St. Peter's Basilica in
Rome.
The Holy Roman Empire 25 December AD 800 – 28 January AD 814

● The Roman Catholic Church to be the only successor of the Roman Empire during the
Middle Ages and the early modern period.
● king of Italy (Rex Italiae)
● king of Germany (Rex Teutonicorum, lit. “King of the Teutons”) throughout the 12th
to 18th centuries

Obverse of a Charlemagne denier (a silver coin) coined

in Mainz from 812 to 814, today at the Cabinet des
Médailles in Paris
 Ottonian art
● Ottonian art reflected the dynasty's desire to establish visually a link to the Christian
rulers of Late Antiquity, such as Constantine, Theoderic, and Justinian as well as to their
Carolingian predecessors, particularly Charlemagne.

"Roma", "Gallia", "Germania" and "Sclavinia" pay homage to Otto III, from the Munich Gospels of Otto III,
one of the "Liuthar group"
Characteristics of the Romanesque
● Romanesque architecture is characterized by towering round arches, massive stone and
brickwork, small windows, thick walls, and a propensity for housing art and sculpture
depicting biblical scenes
 Archivolt (or voussure)

● Archivolts on the South Portal of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, Chartres, France
 Spandrel

Spandrel figures of winged victories, Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Paris

Voussoir

Voussoir - a wedge-shaped or tapered stone used to construct

an arc
Tympanum
● A tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance,
door or window, which is bounded by a lintel and an arch.
Jamb Shaft -
● a free or engaged column decorating the jamb of a door opening or window opening

Clonfert Cathedral, Ireland

Jamb statue
● A jamb statue is a figure carved on the jambs of a doorway or window. These statues are
often human figures-typically religious figures or secular or ecclesiastical leaders.[1]
Jambs are usually a part of a portal, accompanied by lintel and trumeau.

Reims Cathedral, jamb figures of the Annunciation and

Visitation, south side of the central portal, 13th century
Jamb statues at Chartres Cathedral
Transept
● A transept is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the
edifice. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a
cruciform building within the Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architectural
traditions.
Transept
Nave
● in Romanesque and Gothic church architecture, the central approach to the altar. The
name comes from Latin navis, meaning "ship"

The nave of the Saint-Sulpice Church in

Paris
Colonette
● A narrow decorative column
supporting a beam or lintel.

● Norman architecture
colonettes at St. Leonard's
Priory, Stamford from the
12th century
Lintel
● A lintel or lintol is a type of beam that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows
and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented
structural item.
 Trumeau
● A trumeau is the central pillar or mullion supporting the tympanum of a large doorway,
commonly found in medieval buildings. An architectural feature, it is often sculpted.

Romanesque trumeau at the Tarragona Cathedral

Romanesque Buttresses
● Vertical structural element of a building, going outward perpendicularly from the wall
of a high building in the form of a pillar. The buttress is to reinforce the wall and move
the weight of the building vault to the ground.
 Romanesque architecture
● is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches

● massive quality, thick walls, round arches, sturdy pillars, barrel vaults, large towers and
decorative arcading. Each building has clearly defined forms, frequently of very regular,
symmetrical plan

The Pont du Gard (c.19 BC), Nîmes; 3 rows of piers

with arches springing from them to support the bridge
Nave of Lisbon Cathedral with a barrel vaulted soffit
Barrel vault Tunnel vault, Wagon Vault or Wagonhead vault

● A vault is a structural form composed of a series of arches, typically found in the

construction of ceilings or roofs.
Arcades
● An arcade is a row of arches, supported on piers or columns. They occur in the interior of large
churches, separating the nave from the aisles, and in large secular interiors spaces, such as
the great hall of a castle, supporting the timbers of a roof or upper floor.

Church of San Martin, Segovia, Spain

The atrium and arcaded narthex of Sant'Ambrogio,

Milan, Italy
 Arcades

Worms Cathedral, Germany

Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude, Nivelles, Belgium

The facade of Notre Dame du Puy, le Puy en

Velay, France
 Romanesque (950 -1100)

Saint Nicholas Rotunda in Cieszyn, Poland Abbey Church of St James, Lébény, Hungary (1208)
Romanesque (950 -1100)
● The Romanesque is the first international style in Western Europe since
antiquity—extending across the Mediterranean and as far north as Scandinavia.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Romanesque (950 -1100)

● The Florence Baptistery is one of the oldest buildings in Florence, the magnificent capital
city of Italy’s Tuscany Region. It was constructed between 1059 and 1128 which means
that the first stone was laid nearly 1,000 years ago.
Romanesque (950 -1100)
● Durham Cathedral is one of the most prominent examples of Norman architecture in England.
It’s officially known as “The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St
Cuthbert of Durham”
Romanesque (950 -1100)
● The Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio is one of the most fascinating buildings in Milan. It’s located just
west of the city’s historical center (which is Milan Cathedral and the Piazza del Duomo) and has a
history that dates back to Roman times in the 4th century. The first church here was constructed
between 379 and 386 by St. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan at the time.
 Romanesque (950 -1100)
● Speyer Cathedral is the common name of a church called the “Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the
Assumption and St Stephen.” It’s located in the German city of Speyer and near the west bank of the
Rhine River. The construction of the cathedral was started in 1030 and completed in 1103.
 Romanesque (950 -1100)
● Maria Laach Abbey can easily be described as one of the most distinctive examples of Romanesque
architecture in Europe. This Benedictine abbey is located near the southwestern tip of the Laacher See or
“Lake Laach” near the town of Andernach in the western part of Germany.
● The building features the sturdy towers commonly found in Romanesque buildings and was constructed
during the 11th and 12th centuries.
 History of Romanesque
● Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since the Roman
Empire. With the decline of Rome, Roman building methods survived to an extent in Western Europe,
where successive Merovingian, Carolingian and Ottonian architects continued to build large stone
buildings such as monastery churches and palaces.

● Merovingian art is the art of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks, which lasted from the 5th century
to the 8th century in present-day France, Benelux and a part of Germany. The advent of the
Merovingian dynasty in Gaul in the 5th century led to important changes in the field of arts.

Baptistery of the cathedral Saint-Léonce in Fréjus. Baptistery Saint-Sauveur of Aix-en-Provence

 Roman Building Methods
The Colosseum from Rome (c. 70-80)

● Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the
purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural
style.
Roman Building Methods

● Panorama of the interior of the Pantheon from Rome (114-123 AD)

Roman Building Methods

● The Maison Carrée from Nîmes (France), one of the best-preserved Roman temples (circa
2 AD)
 Ancient Greek Architecture

The Parthenon (460-406 BC) &The Erechtheion (421-406 BC)

● Ancient Greek architecture came from the Greek-speaking people (Hellenic people) whose culture
flourished on the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Anatolia and
Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural
works dating from around 600 BC.
Ancient Greek Architecture
The Ancient Greek Colonial Settlement
The Ancient Roman Empire
 Carolingian
● The pope wanted to reorganise and standardise the Catholic Church with the help of Charlemagne.
Bishop Chrodegang introduced the Roman liturgical services which resulted in important changes in
the architecture.

● The orientation of the churches was defined so that the altar would be located at the eastern end
while the entrance would be at the western end.

● The St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the early
Christian art and architecture became the main references for the Carolingian designers.
Atrium
● In an ancient Roman house, an atrium was an open central court that contained the
impluvium, a basin where rainwater collected.
 Ottonian Architecture - Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973)
● The style was found in Germany and lasted from the mid 10th century until the mid 11th century
● Ottonian architecture draws its inspiration from Carolingian and Byzantine architecture.[1][2] Ottonian
architecture also draws from Christian art.

● The Byzantine period dates from the year 324 CE, when the Emperor Constantine I founded
Constantinople (Istanbul) as the capital of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire. Constantine
converted to the growing religion of Christianity in 333 CE

● In 476, the Germanic leader Odoacer staged a revolt and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustulus.
From then on, no Roman emperor would ever again rule from a post in Italy, leading many to cite 476
as the year the Western Empire suffered its death blow.
 Odoacer - 4 September 476 –; 15 March 493
• Odoacer was a Germanic soldier in the Roman army who in 476 became the first King of Italy.
• At the time, Rome used many mercenary armies from other nations, called foederati, who with the rise of
Emperor Augustulus became frustrated by their treatment and status. These armies, led by Odoacer,
revolted against Emperor Augustulus and deposed him in 476, and granted Odoacer kingship.
• Odoacer cooperated with the existing Roman Senate and elevated them to prestige, thereby stabilizing
his power in Italy.

Coin of Odoacer minted in Ravenna, 477, with Odoacer

in profile, depicted with a "barbarian" moustache
Barbarian Tribes
Ottonian architecture

● Ottonian architecture, especially in the creation of churches,

are influenced by the Roman basilica.

● The churches from this era feature long naves and apses.

● The architectural engineering of their buildings relied heavily

on mathematics, which can be seen in how Ottonian
structures measurements are calculated by square unit and in
how symmetrical the interior and exterior layouts are.
 Symmetrical
Symmetry occurs when there is congruence in dimensions, due proportions and arrangement. It
provides a sense of harmony and balance.
Ottonian architecture

● Romanesque Nave with mosaic of Pisa cathedral, Tuscany, Italy

 Romanesque Apse
● An apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also
known as an exedra

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe Nave of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, France

 Byzantine architecture

Hagia Sophia
● The Byzantine era is usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great moved the
Roman capital to Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until the fall of the
Byzantine Empire in 1453.
Minaret
● In Islamic religious architecture, the tower from which the faithful are called to prayer five
times each day by a muezzin, or crier. Such a tower is always connected with a mosque
and has one or more balconies or open galleries.
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture
 Byzantine architecture

Kirche San Vitale in Ravenna

● Basilica of San Vitale in Italy, Church of St John the Baptist in Crimea
● Basilica of San Vitale
 Politics

● Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III in Old St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Day of 800, with
an aim to re-establishing the old Roman Empire. Charlemagne's political successors continued to
rule much of Europe, with a gradual emergence of the separate political states that were eventually
to become welded into nations, either by allegiance or defeat, into the Kingdom of Germany giving
rise to the Holy Roman Empire.

● The invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy, in 1066, saw the building of both castles
and churches that reinforced the Norman presence.
Politics - Feudalism
 Feudalism

● Europe remained an agricultural society, with

land the primary source of wealth and power.
•

● The feudal system remained in place in many

parts of Europe, governing social and political
relations.

● • The manor, an agricultural estate in which

peasants worked in exchange for a place to
live and food, was the economic foundation of
the society.
 Crusades

● Much of Europe was affected by feudalism in which peasants held tenure from local rulers over the
land that they farmed in exchange for military service. The result of this was that they could be
called upon, not only for local and regional spats, but to follow their lord to travel across Europe to
the Crusades (1095–1270)

● The Crusades, 1095–1270, brought about a very large movement of people and, with them, ideas
and trade skills, particularly those involved in the building of fortifications and the metal working
needed for the provision of arms, which was also applied to the fitting and decoration of buildings.

● The continual movement of people, rulers, nobles, bishops, abbots, craftsmen and peasants, was
an important factor in creating a homogeneity in building methods and a recognizable Romanesque
style, despite regional differences
Levant
 Crusades

In 1095, Pope Urban II called for the first crusade to

retake Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
Jerusalem,
Israel
 Fortifications - Carcassonne

● is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of
the department.
 Religion and Monasticism

● The system of monasticism in which the religious become members of an order, with common ties
and a common rule, living in a mutually dependent community, rather than as a group of hermits
living in proximity but essentially separate, was established by the monk Benedict in the 6th century.

● The Benedictine monasteries spread from Italy throughout Europe, being always by far the most
numerous in England.

● They were followed by the Cluniac order, the Cistercians, Carthusians and Augustinian Canons.

● During the Crusades, the military orders of the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar were
founded.
 Papacy

● Successive Popes would sometimes side with

powerful ruling elites of Europe, sometimes pit
themselves against them and in some cases, force
powerful monarchs to bow before them

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eeBxz0drxY
 Romanesque Monasteries

● Vestre Slidre, Norway, Sénanque Abbey church and surrounding monastic buildings,
Gordes, Provence, France &
 Romanesque Monasteries

● Saint Hadelin, Celles, Belgium, were administered by lay canons

● Trier Cathedral, Germany
 Romanesque Politics

● The Romanesque period was a time of frequent conflict. Much of Europe was affected by feudalism
in which peasants held tenure from local rulers over the land that they farmed in exchange for
military service and employment on building projects.

● This resulted in the building of castles at strategic points, many of them being constructed as
strongholds of the Normans, descendants of the Vikings who invaded northern France in 911.

● The invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy, in 1066, saw the building of both castles
and abbeys which reinforced the Norman presence.

● Political struggles also resulted in the fortification of many towns, or the rebuilding and
strengthening of walls that remained from the Roman period.
 Romanesque Politics

● The monasteries, which sometimes also functioned as cathedrals, and the cathedrals that had
bodies of secular clergy often living in community, were a major source of power in Europe.
Bishops and the abbots of important monasteries lived and functioned like princes.

● The monasteries were the major seats of learning of all sorts. Benedict had ordered that all the
arts were to be taught and practiced in the monasteries.

● Within the monasteries books were transcribed by hand, and few people outside the monasteries
could read or write.
Romanesque Politics
 Pilgrimage and Crusade

● One of the effects of the Crusades, which were intended to wrest the Holy Places of the Levant from
Islamic control, was to excite a great deal of religious fervour, which in turn inspired great building
programs.

● The Nobility of Europe, upon safe return, thanked God by the building of a new church or the
enhancement of an old one. Likewise, those who did not return from the Crusades could be suitably
commemorated by their family in a work of stone and mortar.

● The Crusades resulted in the transfer of, among other things, a great number of Holy Relics of saints
and apostles.

● Many churches, like Saint-Front, Périgueux, had their own home grown saint while others, most notably
Santiago de Compostela, claimed the remains and the patronage of a powerful saint, in this case one of
the Twelve Apostles. Santiago de Compostela, located in the Kingdom of Galicia
Levant
Camino de Santiago - Way of St James

● Basilica of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain

Camino de Santiago - Way of St James
De Haar Castle, Netherland (1391)
Hohenwerfen Fortress (1077 AD)
Rochester Castle