Unit V: Romanesque
Period
1.00 The Romanesque period, from
roughly 1000 to 1137 A.D., has been dubbed the "Period of the Church
Triumphant." It was during these years that the Catholic Church was
able to unify Western Europe in a manner unparalleled since Roman
times. This is the Age of Monasticism, when vast monastic settlements
like Cluny (Slide 1) were becoming the focus of both the religious
and scholarly life of the Romanesque populace. This is also the Age
of the Crusades, when Western Christians sought to "liberate" the
Holy Lands. Both of these features (monasticism and the Crusades)
spurred the economy, for the churches required mighty building
campaigns and the Crusaders (as a consquence of their mobility)
opened up new trade routes and spurred commerce. It has been noted
that the cosmopolitan quality of Romanesque culture was reminiscent
of Roman imperial times; it is equally appropriate to compare the
unifying power of the Pope during the 11th century A.D. with that of
the Roman Emperor. There are good cultural reasons, thus, for naming
this period "Romanesque."
2.00 There are also excellent
architectural reasons for the "Romanesque" label: the architects of
this era emulated ancient Roman structural devices, utilizing arches,
barrel vaults, and groin vaults in their massive, solid stone
edifices. Several variants of Romanesque architecture co-existed: the
first, and most fortress-like was the Cluniac-Burgundian variant
which is seen in the nave of St. Sernin (Slide 2). A great barrel
vault runs the length of the nave and round Roman arches and simple
columns articulate the side aisles. The interior appears rather dark
and forbidding. Clerestory windows for illumination were not included
because the thrust of the barrel vault had to be contained by the
counter-thrusts of small vaulted spaces on the upper level of the
elevation. If windows had been opened up on the second story, the
vaulting system would have collapsed. One of the more interesting and
effective aspects of St. Sernin was its introduction of the
"pilgrimmage choir," a unique configuration in which side aisles arc
around the east end of the church, forming a passageway from which
pilgrims could view sacred relics held in the apse's radiating
chapels.
3.00 A second important variant of
Romanesque architecture is known as Norman, after the Normandy area
of France where it originated. The Interior of St. Etienne
demonstrates the reasons why Norman architecture is considered the
most advanced style of the period: it possesses ribbed groin vaulting
in the nave, has a band of clerestory windows along the upper part of
the elevation, and displays a composite column design (small
colonnettes attached to the main column shaft). These are all
features that anticipate the Gothic style of the next century. The
only major feature distinguishing this interior from that of a Gothic
church, in fact, is the continued use at St. Etienne of the round
Roman arch instead of the Gothic pointed type.
4.00 In the Germany-Lombardy area,
Romanesque structures are typified by rather conservative exteriors
(the exterior of San Ambrogio in Mila, Slide 4, looks almost like an
Early Christian Basilica with an atrium courtyard in front), and
groin-vaulted, but dark, interiors. The architects of this region
seem to have been early experimenters with groin-vaulted naves, but
did not realize (or capitalize on) the greater illumination that was
possible with this kind of structural system.
5.00 Slide 5 shows the interior of
San Ambrogio, whose only illumination comes from windows in the
crossing dome. There were no clerestories built into the upper part
of the nave elevation.
6.00 Yet another Romanesque
architectural style is found in the Tuscany region of Italy. Lively
striped patterns in dark green on white marble ornament Tuscan
exteriors (this slide is the entrance facade of San Miniato al Monte
in Florence) and interiors alike.
7.00 The variation of colored
marbles in the Tuscan style and the occasional lacey effect created
by false arcades (as at Pisa Cathedral, seen here) make the style
highly ornate and visually appealing. However, the basic structure of
these churches is very close to Early Christian basilicas and is,
thus, rather backward. You can see in the background of this slide,
the most famous part of the Pisa Cathedral complex, the campanile or
bell tower, better known as the "Leaning Tower of
Pisa."
8.00 The Romanesque period sees the
revival of monumental stone sculpture as well as monumental stone
architecture. The two revivals actually go hand in hand, as the real
forte of Romanesque carvers was the creation of magnificent stone
reliefs and figural works to accompany the great Romanesque churches.
One of the key locations for such embellishments was on the west
facade, the entrance way through which pilgrims passed on their way
to seeing the sacred relics held within. Over the doorway at St.
Pierre can be seen a typanum (semi-circular) relief displaying Christ
with the Four Evangelical Symbols (lion, bull, ox, and angel). Like
most Romanesque sculpture, the figures here are wirely, linear
fabrications with twisted poses. The Romanesque cross step is
demonstrated by the angel of St. Matthew and the figure of Christ is
strangely flattened. Drapery swirls uncontrollably around both
figures' knees. Christianity during the Romanesque tended to
emphasize the distance between the ordinary man and religious
figures; Romanesque art is sometimes positively unhuman in
appearance!
9.00 The trumeau figure (a figure
on the post separating two doorways) of St. Pierre is a beautifully
otherworldly representation of Jeremiah. He is standing in the
Romanesque cross-step, his wrist is bent in an incredible angle, and
his face has a wonderful, dreamy-eyed, contemplative expression.
Whereas Gothic figures seem to emerge from cathedral exteriors as if
warmly welcoming the beholder, Romanesque figures seem intent on
retiring to their own inner worlds. Jeremiah's drapery, by the way,
is "whirlpooling" at his knees, as is common in much of Romanesque
art!
10.00 La Madeleine Church at
Vezelay was one of the great pilgrimage churches of the era. Its
tympanum relief is appropriately dedicated to the "Mission of the
Apostles" theme. Here, Christ directs his disciples to spread His
word throughout space and time. In Romanesque minds, the theme was
related to the Crusaders setting out to the Holy Land; one of the
parting sermons for a Crusade was actually given at this church. As
for the style of the tympanum, it is as strangely supernatural as the
two previous examples and is dominated by long, skinny, flattened
figures standing in incredibly awkward poses.
11.00 The tympanum at St. Lazarre
church in Autun is perhaps the most typical of all Romanesque tympana
reliefs. Here we have not only the agitated figures in impossible
poses, but the favored theme of these reliefs as well: the Last
Judgment. As I've mentioned already, Romanesque Christianity was not
the warm, comforting variety we will see during much of the Gothic
period. Instead, Romanesque Christians were being scared out of their
wits by demons and devils just aching to torment sinners for
eternity! The hairy, insect-like creatures with gaping mouths seen on
the right of this tympanum would be enough to convince all but the
hardened criminal to repent.
12.00 While most Romanesque
sculpture is of the linear, movemented style we have been viewing, in
the south of France at Arles a more calmly classicizing variant is
found. St. Trophime's west facade is based roughly on the design of a
Roman triumphal arch and its jamb figures (the standing figures
flanking the doorway) likewise have a centered, Roman "feel" about
them.
13.00 The wirely calligraphic
qualities we've seen in most Romanesque sculpture is repeated in
manuscript painting as well. This page from the Bury Biblle shows
Moses and Aaron standing in the "dance poses" of Romanesque sculpted
figures and wearing similar forms of wind-swept, agitated drapery.
The drapery, in fact, seems to be so independent of the bodies that
it is forming "compartments" on their surface. An odd detail here is
the pair of horns emerging from Moses' forehead. This iconographic
feature is due to an intentional mistranslation of the Bible from
Hebrew into Latin back in the 5th century A.D. St. Jerome came to a
passage describing Moses as having a "shining brow," and, not wanting
halo-like imagery to antedate Christ's time, chose an alternative
translation of the word for "shining" (which just happened to be
"horned"). Michelangelo included the horned brow when he sculpted his
great Moses in the early 16th century!
