Medieval Sculpture

"Medieval" and "Middle Ages" are considerably imprecise terms to describe the period of
European history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in 400 CE to the fall of
Constantinople in 1453.
Medieval sculpture, like the paintings from that era, usually depict topics of religion and war.
Also like the paintings, human bodies are disproportionate, and perspective is not realistic. One
of the most common examples of medieval sculpture is the Pieta, or Jesus on his mother Mary's
lap. Sometimes Jesus is depicted as a baby, with Mary sitting rigidly straight with her arms
around him like a throne. Sometimes he is depicted as a grown man, just after being taken down
off the cross. Another common kind of medieval sculpture technique is the relief, in which
figures seem to have their backs glued to the wall. Only 180 degrees of the figure are visible.

The medieval period refers to the Middle Ages, spanning from 476 to 14th century. Christianity
flourished during the Middle Ages and sculptures depicted biblical subjects and scenes, such as
the book of genesis, the life of Christ, hir crucifixion, and his resurrection.

The characteristics of Medieval Sculpture

The style was bold, with its use of metals, ivories, and enamels that almost always depicted
religious themes and biblical scenes. Medieval art shared some defining characteristics including
iconography, Christian subject matter, elaborate patterns and decoration, bright colors, the use
of precious metals, gems, and other luxurious materials, stylized figures, and social status.

●Early Christian
During the Roman Imperial period, the Christianization of society steadily increased, but we
have to wait until Late Antiquity, in particular the fourth century, to see the public expression of
the early Christian sculpture - at least in Rome. The first Christian images appeared in the Roman
catacombs, those underground cemeteries with evocative names (Calixtus, Priscilla, Peter and
Marcellinus), which, situated outside the city of the living. were the Roman equivalent of the
surface necropolises located close to the entrances of the Empire's towns. We know those early
Christian images, as well as the tastes and culture of the urban elites, from the sculptured
decoration of the sarcophagi which were placed in mausoleums or private enclosures inside
cemeteries.

Early Christian artists usually specialized Relief Sculptures, those who standout from a
background surface like 3D pictures. Most of the Relief Sculptures appeared on elaborately
decorated coffins called Sarcophagi.
The art of this period was scared and hidden. Some graves included martyrium, which was
simple structures built over the graves of martyrs, and some Christians were buried in
sarcophagi that were decorated with Christian themed reliefs.

The sarcophagus relief sculpture comprises several different types: with spiral flutings, with a
continuous frieze, on two registers, with colonnettes, etc. Pictorially, the large bucolic and
pastoral scenes were soon followed by Old Testament scenes (Jonas, Daniel) in typological
opposition to those from the New Testament such as the public life of Christ and the early
events of his Passion. The death of Christ is never represented; on the other hand, emphasis is
laid on his resurrection, his victory over death and the promise of his return at the end of time.

Example:
 Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (359 CE)
Medium: Marble

●Byzantine
Byzantine art is a significant art form created in the Byzantine Art period, which lasted from 330
to 1453 A. D. It has both similarities and differences from early Christian art. For example,
Christian art is mostly religious, whereas Byzantine art blends religion and politics. There are
multiple reasons for the religious-secular combinations in Byzantine art. First, certain Byzantine
emperors, such as Constantine I, tried to unite their empires with the Christian religion.
Secondly, Roman-style imperialism survived in the East much longer than in the West. Third, the
Byzantine Empire was founded as a Christian empire, and its emperor had authority over the
Church. At the same time, it is difficult to speak definitively about Byzantine art because the
Byzantine empire went through several periods of Iconoclasm, during which religious images
were destroyed.

Byzantine art is almost entirely concerned with religious expression and, more specifically with
the impersonal translation of carefully controlled church theology into artistic terms.
Little sculpture was produced in the Byzantine Empire. Byzantine statues were significantly
different from other forms of art in the Byzantine period. One striking difference was the
continuance of the Roman tradition of creating idealized images, which was easier with
sculpture than with paintings and mosaics. Sculpture was the most secular form of Byzantine
art. The most common materials used in Byzantine sculpture were ivory, bronze, and marble.
Though sculptures were more idealized than other forms of Byzantine art, they still retained
some two-dimensional characteristics.
Example:
Barberini Ivory of Justinian (527 CE-565 CE)
Medium: Ivory

●Romanesque
Following early Christian sculpture, the first European-wide architectural style was Romanesque
architecture, which properly emerged during the period 1000-1200.
The slow maturing that culminated in the advent of monumental sculpture had taken place
throughout the 11th century in the Benedictine monasteries of France. The reform of the
Church, that attempt to purify the men of prayer and, by freeing them from the defilement
which kept them at a remove from holiness, to fit them to fulfil their social function better, had
begun with the monastic institution. This enabled the latter to capture the fervor of the faithful,
attract the growing flood of pious donations, and create suitably inspirational Christian art to I
llustrate the message of the Bible.

At the beginning of Romanesque art, the medieval West was divided into two large geographical
zones, a southern and a northern one. The former was characterized, during the second quarter
of the 11th century, by the spread of a sombre vaulted type of religious building. It had no
sculptured decoration, but the small regular stonework used in its construction made its own
contribution to the architectural decoration by means of small blind arcades and mural bands.
This early southern Romanesque art spread rapidly from northern Italy, southern France and
Catalonia. An early northern Romanesque art (also known as proto-Romanesque) was
characterized in the Ottonian and Salian imperial regions by a return to the architectural
 formulas of the first Christian basilicas (timber-roofed. well-lit buildings) expressing the political
desire of the Carolingian and Holy Roman Empires for a renewal of the old Roman Empire.

Sculpture from the Romanesque period saw advances in metalwork, enamels, figurative friezes
and scenes found in architecture. Most Romanesque sculpture is pictorial and biblical in subject.
Romanesque sculpture was bold and large. Figures tended to be rather abstract, angular, out of
proportion, and sometimes even quite grotesque as sculptors’ imaginations ran wild through
interpretations of Biblical scenes.
Example:
Batllo’ Majesty (mid-12th century)
Medium: Carving in walnut, willow, elm, and holm oak with polychrome tempera

●Gothic
'Gothic' is a term of medieval art with a strange history and even stranger connotations.
Naturally the builders of Chartres or Canterbury had never heard the word. They may have
thought of themselves as moderns (as compared with the builders of St Trophime or Durham),
but they would have been surprised to know that four centuries later, men of culture looking for
a word to describe their style of Christian art would choose one with the same connotations that
the word Vandal has for us today.

To most people it implies neither scorn nor praise: it is just a technical term for the kind
of building in which the arches are pointed. Or ask someone to go a little deeper and ignore
pedantic tests of this kind and he will tell you rather hesitatingly that he supposes that Gothic
art is on the whole a vertical style whereas Romanesque art is a horizontal style. And he will be
correct as far as he goes. But if he suggests that vertical and horizontal are two irreconcilable
systems of thought and that the first was the result of a sudden act of rebellion against the
second, he will be wrong. Architecturally the possible shades of transition from Romanesque
to Gothic, and even from Byzantine art to Gothic, are infinite. Venice is full of buildings that are
Gothic by definition, but Byzantine in spirit. The pointed arches of Monreale in Sicily are more
closely related to Byzantium than the round arches of Durham.
The anonymity of Gothic art in general and of Gothic sculpture in particular offers an obstacle to
the art historian of which he himself is hardly conscious. The three great west doorways of
Rheims cathedral alone contain 33 life-size and 200 smaller figures, each of which is the product
of a passionately creative mind and a fully developed tradition of craftsmanship. And when one
remembers that this amazing collection of medieval sculpture is contained within a
comparatively small area of one among a hundred similar buildings, one is amazed at the
extraordinary fecundity of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in north-western Europe.

The Gothic period emerged in Northern France in the 12th century as a response to Romanesque
art during the late Middle Ages. The term Gothic is derived from the name of a German nomadic
clan known as Goths, who fought and destroyed the Romans prior to Middle Ages, resulting in
Rome’s collapse.
Gothic Sculpture was closely tied to architecture, since it was used primarily to decorate the
exteriors of cathedrals and other religious buildings.
Gothic’s sermons of the stone depicted the beauty and wonder of Christianity.
Example:
Miraflores Charterhouse, Spain (1496-1499)
Medium: Polychrome wood
Renaissance Sculpture
Renaissance sculpture is understood as a process of recovery of the sculpture of classical
antiquity. Sculptors found in the artistic remains and in the discoveries of sites of that bygone
era the perfect inspiration for their works. They were also inspired by nature.
The word ‘renaissance’ means ‘rebirth’, and indeed, the era was about rediscovering the
classical art of the Ancient World and giving it a new birth. The Renaissance era brought art into
people’s homes, especially wealthy people who could afford to commission artists to create
decorations for their niches, walls, ceilings, fireplaces, and fountains, and to memorialize their
faces in stone or metal.

Renaissance Sculpture is more realistic than the sculpture of the Middle Ages. Renaissance
Sculpture made use of all kinds of materials, mainly marble, bronze, and wood. Renaissance art
succeeded in interpreting Nature and translating it with freedom and knowledge into a
multitude of masterpieces.

The characteristics of Medieval Sculpture

The Renaissance signaled a return to classical ideals. Naturalism flourished and realism in art
grew. Artists also explored subjects beyond religion. Renaissance sculpture took as its basis and
model the works of classical antiquity and its mythology, with a new vision of humanist thought
and the function of sculpture in art. Advances in perspective and the depiction of human
anatomy resulted in a trend of increasing naturalism in Renaissance sculpture, in which human
and animal figures were depicted with startling lifelikeness.

●Early Renaissance
Early Renaissance artists were highly influenced by the Humanist philosophy that emphasized
that man’s relationship with the world and the universe. This resulted in work that emphasized
the emotionally expressive and individualistic characteristics of its subjects in fresh new ways,
leading to a more intimate way for viewers to experience art.

During the Early Renaissance, artists began to reject the Byzantine style of religious painting and
strove to create realism in their depiction of the human form and space. This aim toward realism
began with Cimabue and Giotto and can be seen in its early Renaissance form in the art of
artists such as Andrea Mantegna and Paolo Uccello. These artists created works that employed
one point perspective and displayed their skill with perspective for their educated, art
knowledgeable viewers.

During the Early Renaissance we also see important developments in subject matter in addition
to style. While religion continued to be an important element in the daily lives of people of the
period and remained a driving factor behind artistic production, we also see a new avenue open
to panting—“mythological” subject matter. Many scholars point to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus as
the very first panel painting of a Classical scene. While the tradition itself likely arose from
cassone (marriage chest) painting, which typically featured scenes from Greek and Roman
stories and romantic texts, the development of panel painting with these subjects would open a
creative new world for artistic patronage, production, and themes.
Example:
David by Donatello (15th century)
Medium: Bronze
●High Renaissance
High Renaissance art is defined as painting, sculpture, architecture, and other decorative arts
created, during Renaissance period, between 1490-1527. The rebirth of classicism, and an
appreciation of the classical learning of ancient Greek and Rome as practiced by earlier
Renaissance artists continued, with Renaissance art reaching its greatest heights.

The High Renaissance art characteristics include a diverse range of new methods that ultimately
created seemingly hyper-naturalistic subject matter. This realism was secondary to the
overarching goal, which was to portray a sense of harmony and beauty in artworks. There was a
strong influence from and turn toward the Greek and Roman values of aesthetics and harmony.

High Renaissance artists also delved deeper into the ideas of Humanism and created the
concept of the “Renaissance Man” or “Universal Man”. It was centered on the idea that man
was the center of the universe. The deep reflection and importance placed on God and religion
as the center of the universe were not as highly regarded as they used to be.

High Renaissance sculpture was normally commissioned by the public and state, this becoming
more popular for sculpture is an expensive art form. Sculpture was often used to decorate or
embellish architecture, normally within courtyards where others were able to study and admire
the commissioned artwork. During this period there was the development of small scales and
patrons, the creation of busts and tombs also developing. The subject matter related to
sculpture was mostly religious but also with significant strand of classical individuals in the form
of tomb sculpture and paintings as well as ceilings of cathedrals.

However, artists still depicted religious subject matter, but it was endowed with the beauty and
seeming divinity inherent in the human form. The human form was near to perfect in both
symmetry and proportion. In a way, we can say that High Renaissance artists found a way to
create a bridge between the divine and the corporeal with the common thread being beauty.
Example:
La Madonna della Pieta’ “Our Lady of Piety”
By Michelangelo Buonarroti (1498-1499)
Medium: Marble

●Late Renaissance or Mannerism

Mannerism in art means the style of painting, sculpture, and architecture that came into
existence in Rome and Florence during the High Renaissance. Mannerism describes a style and
movement of art developed in Europe. It functions as a link between the ideal elegance of
Renaissance art and the histrionic staginess of the Baroque, which adopted the subset's
decorative visual and modified it as an indulgence.

It is derived from the Italian word "maniera," which means style, stylishness, or manner.
Mannerist style is a style of fashion of Italian origin during the late sixteenth century that
focused on the arabesque and grotesque ornament. The style is designed characterized by
artificiality, elegance, and sensual distortion of the human figure. The painting and sculpture
mostly show elongated and distorted symbols in which the artists aim to make art look elegant.
Mannerist style depicts figures in their characteristic serpentine shapes.
 The mannerist style of painting or sculpture often shows figures that are elongated (made
longer and distorted (made into strange shapes). The main aim of the Mannerist artist usually to
make art that look elegant. Mannerism in sculpture followed much the same original path as
that of painting, often by the same artists as in the case of Michaelangelo. Different features
characterize mannerism art. These features include decentralized composition, anti-renaissance
style, contrasting and enriching strange colors, and tense poses, and the artists are consumed
with virtuosity. Mannerist sculpture was more expressive than its Renaissance predecessor
Example:
Perseus with the Head of Medusa (1554)
by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker
Medium: bronze

PREPARED BY: Caraecle, Ariane Joyce B.