Art History 318: Romanesque & Gothic Art & Architecture (Fall 2005) Prof. T.
Dale
This course presents a selective survey of art and architecture in Western Europe from the
second half of the eleventh century to the middle of the fourteenth century. Focusing
principally on France, Northern Spain and Italy, we will examine how both architecture and
the figural arts functioned in the religious, political and domestic life of the High Middle
Ages, considering such themes as monasticism, pilgrimage, the cult of relics, portraiture and
the commemoration of the dead, the theological aesthetics of light, the relationship between
art and liturgy, dynastic politics, female mysticism, and the invention of the altarpiece. The
essential questions that I seek to answer in my lectures are: why do Romanesque and
Gothic art and architecture look the way they do? What were the religious, political or social
messages and functions of works of art and architecture and how did their pictorial language
contribute to their meaning?
Office Hours
Friday, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, Elvehjem Museum, 222
Other Times by appointment: Telephone: (608)-263-5783; E-mail:
tedale@facstaff.wisc.edu
Requirements
The final grade will be determined on the basis one term paper (25%), two quizzes (10%),
a midterm (25%) and a final examination (40%).
You will be asked to write a term paper of 1250-1500 words, related to one of the
Romanesque or Gothic works of art exhibited in the Elvehjem Museum in Galleries 1 and 2.
I will post the specific assignments on the website by the end of September.
For the midterm and final you will be expected to identify works of art and architecture
covered in class or related examples according to the following criteria: name and
or/subject, artist or architect (if known), patron/s (if known), location, medium and date.
Beyond that you will be asked to comment in point form on the significance of the example
and how it relates to broader ideas presented in the lectures. You will also be required to
write essay questions drawing upon both lecture material and required readings. In order to
perform well in these exercises, it is essential to attend class regularly and take good notes.
You are advised to keep up with the readings each week and start memorizing the works
covered in class as soon as possible. NB: Make-ups will NOT be granted to students
who miss a regularly scheduled quiz, midterm or final except in the case of a
serious medical emergency, certified by a letter from a medical doctor or the Office
of Student Academic Affairs.
Readings
Required and recommended texts and sources of additional illustrations are available on
reserve at the Kohler Art History Library. In addition a course READER containing
required readings from other sources should be purchased from Bob’s Copy in the University
Square Mall. Selected texts are available for purchase at the UW Book Store or the
Underground Textbook Exchange. The three required text books for the course are: 1.
Michael Camille, Gothic Art. Glorious Visions (New York: Abrams, 1996); 2. Andreas
Petzold, Romanesque Art (New York: Abrams, 1995); and 3. Otto von Simson, The Gothic
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Cathedral (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989). The following recommended texts
are also available for purchase: James Snyder, Medieval Art: Painting, Sculpture,
Architecture, 4th-14th Century (New York: Abrams, 1988); Roger Stalley, Early Medieval
Architecture (Oxford, 1999); Cecilia Davis-Weyer, Early Medieval Art, 300-1150 (Toronto,
1986); Teresa Frisch, Gothic Art, 1140-c1450 (Toronto, 1987)
Images, Lecture Lists and Website
A website is currently under construction for the course. It will include a printable syllabus
for the entire course and most of the essential images discussed in lectures. It can be
accessed from the Department Homepage at http://www.wisc.edu/arth/materials.html . In
addition, I will e-mail to you prior to each lecture a complete lecture list identifying the
specific monuments or works of art, terms and historical facts presented in class.
Fourth-Credit students will be required to meet with me for discussion of readings and
short presentations focusing on an independent research topic to be developed in the course
of the semester. We will meet on selected Wednesday afternoons, 5-6:30 pm in LVM120. I
also plan to take an obligatory field trip to look at medieval art in the Art Institute of
Chicago on Saturday Nov. 16. Please note that the fourth-credit meetings are not review
sessions and are intended primarily for highly motivated art history majors.
Sept. 3
I. Introduction: DEFINITIONS
Readings:
Petzold, Romanesque Art, 7-23; Camille, Gothic Art, 9-25.
What are the origins of the terms “Romanesque” and “Gothic”? What are the standard
formal definitions of Romanesque and Gothic? Why are these definitions unsatisfactory?
How do both Petzold and Camille seek to redefine these two periods?
Sept. 5
II. Romanesque Architecture of the Pilgrimage Roads
Readings:
“Pilgrims’ Guide to Santiago de Compostela” in Davis-Weyer, Early Medieval Art, 147-56;
Petzold, 115-21; Stalley, Early Medieval Architecture, 147-155
What motivated the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela? What religious and political
factors were involved in the orchestration of the cult of Saint James? What does the
pilgrims’ guide emphasize in its description of Santiago? How does the architecture of
Santiago relate to that of other major pilgrimage churches in France? How does the
architectural planning facillitate pilgrimage and other functions of each church? What
alternative schemes are deployed for pilgrimage churches elsewhere in Italy and France?
Sept. 10
III. Cistercians and Cluniacs: Romanesque Art & Architecture of the Monastic
Orders
Petzold, 100-114; Stalley, 167-189. Benedictine Rule, excerpts in Medieval Source Book
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on-line at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/rul-benedict.html .
What are the essential tenets of the monastic life as outlined in the Benedictine Rule? How
is monastic architecture designed to enhance symbolic and functional distinctions between
individual parts of the monastic complex? What are the differences bewteen Cistercian
from Cluniac monasticism and how are these differences manifested in the art and
architecture of the two orders?
Sept. 12, 17
IV. Revelation, Judgement and Spiritual Passage in the French Romanesque Portal
(Moissac and Vézelay; Autun and Conques)
M. F. Hearn, Romanesque Sculpture, 102-17; 169-91. Linda Seidel, “The Moissac Portal and
the Rhetoric of Appropriation?” in READER.
What are the essential features of the canonical French Romaneque portals according to
Hearn? What is the significance of the iconography (subject matter) for its location at the
threshold of the church? What role do pictorial structure (composition and narrative
disposition) and inscriptions play in the “reading” of the visual imagery? How does Seidel
depart from conventional characterizations of the portal of Moissac? How does the
framework of the porch condition the viewer’s response to the sculptural program as a
whole? How does it ultimately reinforce the assimilation of the viewer’s entry into the
church building with both the biblical journeys and the viewer’s own reception into the
Heavenly Jerusalem at the end of time?
Sept. 19
V. Monstrosity, Corporeal Deformity and Fantasy in Romanesque Art
Bernard of Clairvaux, Apologia to William of St. Thierry in Davis-Weyer, Early Medieval Art,
168-170; Schapiro, "On the Aesthetic Attitude in Romanesque Art," (1947) in Romanesque
Art (New York, 1977/1993), 1-27 and READER; T. Dale, “Monsters, Corporeal Deformities,
and Phantasms in the Cloister of St-Michel-de-Cuxa,” Art Bulletin 83, no. 3 (2001):402-436
(available both in photocopy on Reserve and in full-text version at
http://wilsontxt.hwwilson.com/pdffull/04407/1Z7G6/3SX.pdf )
What are the origins of the term “fantasy” (phantasy) and how does its medieval meaning
differ from most current definitions? What is the etymology of the term “monster” and how
was it understood by medieval writers? What is Bernard of Clairvaux’s attitude towards art
in general and the representation of monsters and other human and animal subjects in
cloister capitals, in particular? How does Schapiro reinterpret Bernard’s complaint in terms
of artistic creation? How does my own interpretation differ from Schapiro’s? What issues
concerning these images are still left unresolved?
Sept. 24
VI. Eve, Salome and Mary: Defining the Role of Women in Romanesque Art
Petzold, 123-129; Linda Seidel, “Salome and the Canons,” Women’s Studies 11 (1984):2966 in READER.
What are the prescribed positive and negative roles for women in medieval Christian
theology and how are they manifested in Romanesque art? What is the significance of
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nudity and corporeal posture in the figure of Eve at Autun? What is the significance of
Salome in the context of the Toulouse capital depicting the Feast of Herod? According to
Seidel, how would this figure have been understood by the intended audience of canons at
the cathedral and how was the narrative represented in a different fashion for the monks of
La Daurade?
Sept. 26
VII. Glorified Bodies: Romanesque Cult Images, Saints and Tomb Portraits
H. Belting, “Statues, Vessels, and Signs: Medieval Images and Relics in the West,” in
Likeness and Presence, 297-310 and in READER; T. Dale, “Rudolf von Schwaben, the
Individual, and the Resurrected Body in Romanesque Portraiture,” Speculum 77, no. 3
(2002):707-743 in READER.
How did the Western church come to accept sculptural images of the Virgin Mary and the
saints, in spite of traditional fears of idolatry? What explains the different approach to Holy
Images in Byzantium and the West? What is the siginificance of the form, material of these
images? To what extent can they be considered to be “portraits”? How do the cult images
of the saints in metalwork suggest an analogy for funerary effigies like that of Rudolf von
Schwaben? How are the theology of resurrection and the special dual status of the royal
body reflected in the form and medium of the effigy?
Oct. 1
VIII. The Warrior Class: Knighthood, Holy Warfare and Crusade
Petzold, 71-85; Staley, 83-101.
What was the political and religious function of the knight in medieval society? How did the
knight gain a special, sanctified status during the Crusades? What allegorical roles did
images of the knight fulfill in Romanesque art? How do the chansons de geste and
narratives such as that on the Bayeux tapestry represent feudal, political and religious
values? What were the basic design features of castles in the eleventh to thirteenth
centuries and what symbolic values were embodied in their exterior appearance?
Oct. 3, 8 (QUIZ I on Oct. 3: covers lectures I-VII)
IX. Reform, Renovatio, Ritual and Antiquarianism: Rome and South Italy in the
Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
Leo of Ostia, Chronicle of Montecassino in Davis-Weyer, Early Medieval Art, 135-40, 156-62;
R. Krautheimer, Rome: Profile of a City (Princeton, 2000), 161-202; E. Kitzinger, “A Virgin’s
Face: Antiquarianism in Twelfth-Century Art,” Art Bulletin 62.1 (1980):6-19 in READER.
Additional Illustrations: Snyder, 313-33; Demus, Romanesque Mural Painting, plates 18-37.
What were the impetus and sources for the artistic revival that took place at Montecassino
during the second half of the half of the eleventh century? What role did Montecassino play
in the artistic revival in Rome after 1100? What were the ecclesiastical and political motives
for the Gregorian reform and the subsequent artistic programs in Rome and what role did
individual patrons play? Why does Rome constitute a special case of antiquarianism? How
is ancient art re-interpreted by medieval viewers? How is the urban space of Rome
Christianised by the ritual of Assumption Day? How does the apse mosaic of Santa Maria in
Trastevere re-present the ritual in concrete form and what is the meaning of the
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antiquarianism of its iconography? What was particiularly innovative about the theme of
this apse?
Oct. 10
X. Romanesque Art and Architecture and Civic Pride in Tuscany and North Italy
Snyder, 320-33; Petzold, 50-51; Hearn, Romanesque Sculpture, 155-63.
How does Romanesque architecture in Tuscany and North Italy differ from that of France
studied thus far? How does the disposition of monumental stone sculpture depart from the
French model? How are the roles of civic patron and artist highlighted?
Oct. 15
XI. "Multiculturalism" in Twelfth-century Norman Sicily
Petzold, 85-92, 146-155; W. Tronzo, "The Medieval Object Enigma and the problem of the
Cappella Palatina,” READER
What specific historical circumstances led the Normans to appropriate the artistic forms and
iconography of other Islamic and Byzantine cultures in their royal art and architecture? How
are Islamic forms used differently in other contexts described by Petzold? How does Tronzo
use ritual to explain the unusual combination of distinctive traditions in the Cappella
Palatina in Palermo? How is the “Byzantine” decoration of the sanctuary adapted for the
Norman ruler’s view point? What was the apparent function of the western “nave” space of
the chapel?
Oct. 17
XII. San Marco in Venice
Dale, “Stolen Property: St. Mark’s First Venetian Tomb and the Politics of Communal
Memory,” READER. For additional illustrations: Otto Demus, The Mosaics of San Marco in
Venice , 4 volumes (Chicago, 1984).
What motivated the Venetian theft of the relics of Saint Mark from Alexandria? How do the
architectural form and mosaic decoration of San Marco adapt Byzantine prototypes and
why? How and why did the Venetians update their sacred narrative history around the focal
point of Mark’s first Venetian tomb? How was San Marco transformed in the wake of the
Fourth Crusade?
Oct. 22: MIDTERM (covers lectures and readings I-XI)
Oct. 24
XIII. Ornamenta Ecclesiae: Romanesque and Gothic Metalwork in service of the
Liturgy
Theophilus, Treatise on Divers Arts in Davis-Weyer, Early Medieval Art,176-178; Petzold,
61-66; R. Calkins, “Metalwork of the Church Treasuries,” in Monuments of Medieval Art
(New York, 1979),115-132 in READER.
What is the role of the craftsman/artist according the Theophilus’s treatise on Divers Arts?
Why did medieval metalworkers acquire a particularly elevated status as artists? What is the
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meaning of material radiance and how would Theophilus justify such expense in the wake of
criticisms from ascetic minded clerics such as Bernard of Clairvaux? What were the different
techniques were developed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries? How does the
iconography of individual objects reinforce or explain their functions? What is the meaning
of “typological” interpretation and what does it suggest about the medieval Christian
perception of Judaism?
Oct. 29
XIV. Innovation and Antiquarianism: Abbot Suger and the Origins of the Gothic
Suger, On the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis & its Treasures in T. G. Frisch, Gothic Art, 1140ca 1450 (Toronto, 1987), 4-13; Von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral, 3-20; 21-58; Fernie,
“Suger’s Completion of Saint-Denis” in READER. Rec. and additional illustrations: Bony,
French Gothic Architecture, 79-98.
What were Abbot Suger’s motivations for the rebuilding of the west facade and choir of the
abbey of Saint-Denis? What are the roles as patron that Suger projects in his narrative
account of the new building campaign? What was innovative about the structure and form
of his additions to the abbey church and its treasury? What theological, political and
personal factors explain Suger’s new architecture? To what extent does Suger respond to
the complaints voiced by Bernard of Clairvaux, his contemporary? How, according to Fernie,
did the new choir also build upon and deliberately integrate elements of earlier architectural
practice in general and the pre-existing fabric of St. Denis itself? How is his reverence and
aesthetic appreciation for the past reflected in the objects of his refurbished treasury?
Oct. 31
XV. The Gothic Architectural Revolution in the Ile de France, ca. 1150-1260:
Mysticism & Technology, Epsicopal and Royal Pride
Camille, 27-40; Stephen Murray, Notre-Dame, Cathedral of Amiens (New York, 1996), 1-16;
Beat Brenk, “The Sainte Chapelle as Capetian Political Program” in READER. For images and
video of Amiens see http://www.learn.columbia.edu/Mcahweb/index-frame.html.
How were the components of the elevation and the formal vocabulary of French Gothic
architecture transformed in the course of the late twelfth and early thirtheenth centuries?
What different factors (politics, theology, technology, visuality) explain the revolutionary
change and rapid diffusion of the Gothic style in architecture? How does Camille transcend
the notion of formal development or evolution of form with his theory of visuality? What
new model does Murray propose for understanding the design process at Amiens Cathedral?
How did the cathedral chapters pay for their vast new cathedrals and what social tensions
surrounded their construction? What was the function of the Sainte Chapelle and how did it
serve to reinforce royal authority?
Nov. 5-7
XVI. Chartres Cathedral, High Gothic Architecture, Stained Glass and Sculpture
Von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral, 91-141. Williamson, Gothic Sculpture, 1140-1300. (New
Haven, 1995), 11-21, 37-48; J. Welch Williams, Bread, Wine, and Money. The Windows of
the Trades at Chartres Cathedral (Chicago, 1993), 3-18 in READER.
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Where does the architecture of Chartres Cathedral fit in the formal development of Gothic?
How is the cult of the Virgin Mary as principal titular saint of the cathedral constantly
reinforced in the overall programme of decoration–both in sculpture and stained glass?
What formal and iconographic changes are witnessed in the sculpture and stained glass of
the cathedral from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (contrast Chartres West and the
transept portals)? To what extent do the form and iconography of sculpture and stained
glass suggest fundamental theological and political ideas? How was the rebuilding of the
cathedral financed, what role did different social groups play and how are they represented
in the stained glass program? How does Williams counter traditional interpretations of the
trades windows at Chartres as images of pious donation? What underlying social and
economic tensions existed in thirteenth-century Chartres? How do images of tradesmen help
consolidate clerical authority?
Nov. 12
XVII. English Gothic Architecture and Visuality.
Gervase of Canterbury, Treatise on the Fire and Repairs to the Cathedral of Canterbury,
excerpt in Frisch, Gothic Art, 15-23; Snyder, Medieval Art, 402-414.
What were the circumstances that led to the introduction of Gothic architecture at
Canterbury? What does Gervase suggest about the relationship between the cathedral and
the citizens of the town? What valuable information does he provide both about the building
process and the medieval perception of stylistic difference? How does English Gothic
architecture depart from the French paradigm (in terms of elevation, ground-plan, facade
design, vaulting etc) as represented by Amiens and Chartres? How can these differences be
explained? What pictorial values are incorporated into English Gothic architecture?
Nov. 14
XVIII. Naturalism and Expressionism in Thirteenth Century Gothic Sculpture of
Northern Europe.
Camille, 133-161.
What formal changes can be witnessed in later medieval art from the thirteenth to fifteenth
centuries? What historical, theological and social factors explain late medieval “naturalism”
and expressionism?
Nov. 19
XIX. Mysticial Visions and Devotional Images in Northern Gothic Art, ca. 12901450
Camille, Gothic Art, 103-131; J. Hamburger, "The Visual and the Visionary: The Image in
Late Medieval Monastic Devotions," Viator 20 (1989):161-82 in READER.
What is a devotional image? How do later Gothic mystical visions and devotional images
depart from biblically based images? What roles did nuns and their male supervisors play in
the creation of a distinctive tradition of devotional art? What gender biases led visionary
images to be associated primarily with women?
Nov. 21 (QUIZ II: covers lectures XII-XVIII)
XX. Courtly Love and Profane Pleasures in Fourteenth-Century France
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Camille, Gothic Art, 167-73; R. Randall, "Popular Romances Carved in Ivory," in P. Barnet,
ed. Images in Ivory (Detroit, 1997), 63-79, illustrations, 218-248. Rec. Camille, The
Medieval Art of Love, 51-71
What are the principal literary sources of images of courtly love in French Gothic art? What
different metaphors are used to describe courtship and how do they reflect mysoginistic
tendencies in medieval society? What iconographic signs gestures constitute the pictorial
language of courtly love? How does this kind of imagery relate to the function of the
objects it adorns? To what extent do these themes of profane love make reference to sacred
art (in style or iconography)?
Nov. 26
XXI. Gothic Art and Architecture and the Rise of the Mendicant Orders in Italy
Pseudo-Bonaventure, Meditations on the Life of Christ, excerpt in READER; J. White, Art and
Architecture in Italy, 1250-1400 (Harmondsworth, 1988), 21-44; 74-92. M. Trachtenberg,
"Gothic/Italian Gothic: toward a redefinition" Journal of the Society of Architectural
Historians 50 (1991):22-37 in READER.
Who was Saint Francis and what was revolutionary about the new order that he founded?
How does Italian Gothic architecture depart from the French paradigm and what local factors
explain its apparent conservatisim? How does Trachtenburg redefine Italian Gothic in more
positive terms vis-à-vis French models? How does Trachtenburg suggest that Italian Gothic
can be considered a departure from both earlier “historicist” Romanesque architecture in
Italy and contemporary “modern” Gothic in France. What role did the rise of the mendicant
orders play in the dissemination of Gothic architecture in Italy and how was the architectural
planning adapted to the needs of these new orders? What different sources of insipiration
are synthesized in Italian Gothic sculpture? How is mendicant spirituality reflected in the
sculpture of the Pisani? How did devotional texts such as the Pseudo-Bonaventure’s
Meditations foster new attitudes in the pictorial representation of the life of Christ?
Nov. 28: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Dec. 3
XXII. Icon to Altarpiece: The Maniera Greca and Italian Painting around 1300.
Frisch, Gothic Art, 85-88; W. Tronzo, “Between Icon and Monumental Decoration of a
Church: Notes on Duccio’s Maestà and the Definition of the Altarpiece,” in READER. Rec:
Belting, Likeness and Presence, 377-408.
What role did the “maniera greca” (Byzantine art) play in the orgins of the altarpiece? How
did Italian masters adapt Byzantine style and iconography for the altarpiece? What specific
new functions did the altarpiece perform? What was particularly remarkable about Duccio’s
Maiestà? What does the contract for the Maiestà tell us about the relationship bewteen
artist and patron? What was the civic role of the new altarpiece?
Dec. 5
XXIII. Secular Architecture and City Planning in the later Middle Ages
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Camille, Gothic Art, 57-68; Rec. Calkins, Monuments of Medieval Art, 254-64
How was the space of medieval city or town organized? What were the principal focuses of
public space in the city? How were political and ecclesiastical power highlighted within the
city? To what extent did the city and its walls encorporate symbolic values? What are the
principle features of domestic architecture and to what extent did noble families draw on
earlier castle architecture?
Dec. 10
XXIV. The “Waning of the Middle Ages”: Personalised visions of the afterlife, the
Grotesque and the Macabre
Camille, 151-161; Paul Binski, Medieval Death (Ithaca, 1996), 123-63 in READER
Why has it often been assumed that medieval art in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth
centuries was in a state of decline? What new explanations are offered by Camille and
Binski? Why was medieval art in its last phase so preoccupied with death and the macabre?
What new functions did art fulfill in the preparation of the individual for death and
resurrection?
Dec. 12
Conclusions and Review
E. Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (New York, 1960), ch. 3: 114161.
What distinguishes the Renaissance of the fifteenth century from the earlier revivals of
ancient art and culture in the Middle Ages? What are the problems with establishing strict
chronological boundaries between Renaissance and Medieval? To what extent do medieval
functions of religious art continue into the Renaissance?
Dec. 17 (Tuesday)
FINAL EXAM, Elvehjem L150, 2:45-4:45 pm.
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