Romanesque art

Romanesque art

1. The romanesque artistic style developed in feudal Europe between the 11th and th 13th centuries.

2. The most important Romanesque buildings were churches and monasteries, which were filled with paintings and sculptures that represented passages from the Bible.

3. Romanesque Architecture

   • Floor plan
     • Latin cross shape
       • naves and transept
     • Meeting place
       • crossing, with a dome on top
     • Crossing
       • Semi circular apse(altar)
       • Ambulaotry (pilgrims)
       • Entrance (bell tower)
   • Vaults, walls and arches
     • Barrel vaults: divided by arches (2 barrel vaults=1 groint vault)
     • Walls: thick, small windows. Inside had pillars and colums
     • Semi circular arches: attatch pillars to columns, doors and windows (support the capitals)
   • Main entrance
     • Door: heavenly Jerusalen, reliefs and scultures.

4. Romanesque Painting

   • Simple,no depth, volume or perspective.
     • Forward facing and stylised
   • Similar colous scheme (red, brown, etc) and thick outlines.
   • Characters were arranged, so that the most imporant figures were the biggest in the painting.
   • Examples:
     • Chuch walls: frescos, with earth colours.
     • Wooden boards, covered with plaster (panel paintings)
     • Miniatures, for decoration and illustration.
   • Apses (central position of the church)
     • Fresco
       • It was a complex task, with a precise technique.
     • Pantocrator
       • Christ is pictured full length , in a mandorla (almond shape), surrounded by the evangelists and their symbols.
     • Theotokos
       • The Virgin is represented as the mother of God, and is seating in a throne with Jesus (as a kid) on her knees.

5. Romanesque Sculpture

   • Had to adapt to the spaces they had. The figures were rigid, lacked perspectiva, religious themes and featured hieratic figures.
   • Capitals
     • Religious, with biblical characters and scenes.
     • Everyday life, such as clothes, tools and tasks performed by the figures.
     • Real/Fantastical animals, with symbolic value, as well as plant motifs.
   • Entrances
     • Sculptures and reliefs followed an order and a distribution in which they were orginised along the frame.
   • Messages though sculptures
     • Teach the Christian doctrine, and with a religious, symbolic and spiritual theme.