ROMANESQUE

AND GOTHIC ART

By Group 4
Distinct Characteristics
 Romanesque art is the art of Europe from
approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic
style in the 12th century, or later, depending on region.
The preceding period is known as the Pre-
Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-
century art historians, especially for Romanesque
architecture, which retained many basic features
of Roman architectural style – most notably round-
headed arches, but also barrel vaults, apses,
and acanthus-leaf decoration – but had also developed
many very different characteristics.
 In Southern France, Spain and Italy there
was an architectural continuity with the Late
Antique, but the Romanesque style was the
first style to spread across the whole of
Catholic Europe, from Sicily to Scandinavia.
Romanesque art was also greatly influenced
by Byzantine art, especially in painting, and by
the anti-classical energy of the decoration of
the Insular art of the British Isles. From these
elements was forged a highly innovative and
coherent style.
The painted crypt of San
Isidoro at León, Spain
 Outside Romanesque architecture, the art
of the period was characterised by a vigorous
style in both sculpture and painting. The
latter continued to follow
essentially Byzantine iconographic models for
the most common subjects in churches, which
remained Christ in Majesty, the Last
Judgement and scenes from the Life of Christ.
In illuminated manuscripts more originality is
seen, as new scenes needed to be depicted. The
most lavishly decorated manuscripts of this
period were bibles and psalters.
 The same originality applied to
the capitals of columns: often
carved with complete scenes with
several figures. The large
wooden crucifix was a German
innovation at the very start of the
period, as were free-standing
statues of the enthroned
Madonna. High relief was the
dominant sculptural mode of the
period.
 Master of Pedret, The Virgin and
Child in Majesty and the Adoration of
the Magi, apse fresco from Tredòs, Val
d'Aran, Catalonia, Spain, c. 1100, now
at The Cloisters in New York City
 Precious objects in these media had a very
high status in the period, probably much more
so than paintings – the names of more makers
of these objects are known than those of
contemporary painters, illuminators or
architect-masons. Metalwork, including
decoration in enamel, became very
sophisticated. Many spectacular shrines made
to hold relics have survived, of which the best
known is the Shrine of the Three Kings at
Cologne Cathedral by Nicholas of Verdun and
others (c. 1180–1225).
 The Stavelot Triptych and Reliquary
of St. Maurus are other examples
of Mosan enamelwork. Large reliquaries
and altar frontals were built around a
wooden frame, but smaller caskets were
all metal and enamel. A few secular
pieces, such as mirror cases, jewellery
and clasps have survived, but these no
doubt under-represent the amount of
fine metalwork owned by the nobility
 Stavelot Triptych, Mosan,
Belgium, c. 1156–1158. 48 × 66
cm with wings open, Morgan
Library, New York
 The bronze Gloucester candlestick and
the brass font of 1108–1117 now in Liège are
superb examples, very different in style, of
metal casting. The former is highly intricate
and energetic, drawing on manuscript
painting, while the font shows the Mosan style
at its most classical and majestic. The bronze
doors, a triumphal column and other fittings
at Hildesheim Cathedral, the Gniezno Doors,
and the doors of the Basilica di San
Zeno in Verona are other substantial
survivals.
 The Gloucester
candlestick, early 12th
century
Paintings
 The typical focii of Romanesque
illumination were the Bible, where each book
could be prefaced by a large historiated
initial, and the Psalter, where major initials
were similarly illuminated. In both cases
more lavish examples might have cycles of
scenes in fully illuminated pages, sometimes
with several scenes per page, in
compartments. The Bibles in particular often
had a, and might be bound into more than one
volume.
ROMANESQUE PAINTING
Gothic Art
 Gothic art was a style of medieval art that
developed in Northern France out
of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led
by the concurrent development of Gothic
architecture. It spread to all of Western
Europe, and much of Southern and Central
Europe, never quite effacing more classical
styles in Italy. In the late 14th century, the
sophisticated court style of International
Gothic developed, which continued to evolve
until the late 15th century.
 In many areas, especially Germany, Late
Gothic art continued well into the 16th century,
before being subsumed into Renaissance art.
Primary media in the Gothic period
included sculpture, panel painting, stained
glass, fresco and illuminated manuscripts. The
easily recognizable shifts in architecture from
Romanesque to Gothic, and Gothic to
Renaissance styles, are typically used to define
the periods in art in all media, although in
many ways figurative art developed at a
different pace.
 Painting
Style that can be called Gothic did
not appear until about 1200, nearly 50
years after the origins of Gothic
architecture and sculpture. The
transition from Romanesque to Gothic is
very imprecise and not at all a clear
break, and Gothic ornamental detailing
is often introduced before much change is
seen in the style of figures or
compositions themselves
Simone Martini (1285–1344)
Frescoes
continued to be used as the main
pictorial narrative craft on church walls
in southern Europe as a continuation of
early Christian and Romanesque
traditions. An accident of survival has
given Denmark and Sweden the largest
groups of surviving church wall paintings
in the Biblia pauperum style, usually
extending up to recently
constructed cross vaults.
French late Gothic frescos.
 Manuscripts and printmaking
Illuminated manuscripts represent the most
complete record of Gothic painting, providing a record
of styles in places where no monumental works have
otherwise survived. The earliest full manuscripts with
French Gothic illustrations date to the middle of the
13th century.[12] Many such illuminated manuscripts
were royal bibles, although psalters also included
illustrations; the Parisian Psalter of Saint Louis,
dating from 1253 to 1270, features 78 full-page
illuminations in tempera paint and gold leaf.
Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux,
by Jean Pucelle, Paris,
1320s
That’s all thank you
From Group 4