Thinking Questions: Apply what you have learned.
What is the difference between an icon and a reliquary?
Angelos Akotantos
The Virgin Cardiotissa
1400-50
tempera and leaf on panel
Maso di Bartolommeo
Reliquary for the Holy Girdle of the Virgin
c. 1446
embossed copper, engraved and gilded,
wood, panels of horn, ivory, and fabric
Consider these two different
representations of Eve.
Creation of Eve
Master Wiligelmus
a detail from a series of Genesis
reliefs on the west façade of the
Cathedral of San Geminiano,
Modena, Italy
ca. 1106
Eve
Autun Cathedral
Cathedral of Saint-Lazare
Burgundy, France
12th century
Each image presents a different
argument. Please compare each.
Make sure you explicitly explain
how each argument is
communicated visually.
Christ in Judgment detail of tympanum
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques
1125-1135
The Bayeux Tapestry
ca. 1080
Harold is crowned King and Halley’s comet
appears in the sky.
Each image offers a very direct
argument about the power of
the subject. Please compare
each argument. Make sure that
you refer to visual evidence in
your discussion.
What does this plan
represent? How can you
tell?
What is this
section of the
cathedral called?
How do you
know?
Based on visual
evidence, what
period must this
church be from?
A model of Speyer Cathedral in Germany.
How can you tell that
this plan represents
a pilgrimage church?
Plan of the Cathedral
of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
A
B
Which floor plan depicts a church whose
design has been influenced by the
logistical demands of large numbers of
pilgrims? Please explain your answer.
How can you tell that this church
was built for monks—not for
pilgrims? (Provide at least two reasons.)
Fontenay Abbey France
1139
This architectural
rendering represents the
nave of a Romanesque
churches.
What architectural
features reveal this church
as Romanesque?
In other words, why is it
easy to identify this nave
as Romanesque?
To earn full credit you must use
the appropriate technical terms.
nave
La Madeleine at Vezelay
France 1096-1132
What is Romanesque about
this nave? Use your terms.
Church of Saint Cyriakus,
Gernrode begun 961 (Germany)
Why does this image clearly
represent an Early Medieval
nave? Use your terms.
Nave, Abbey Church of
Notre-Dame, Fontenay
1139—1147
What is Romanesque
about this nave?
Why do you know that
this nave is most certainly
the nave of a Cistercian
order?
(Use your terms)
Last Judgment, tympanum Autun Cathedral
What special “technical” terms do you need to know?
What is the intended function of this work?
tympanum, Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques 1125-1135
What is the intended function of this work?
Why are sculptural programs so important in the Romanesque period?
The Doors of Bishop Bernward 1015
made for the Abbey Church of Saint Michael
Hildesheim, Germany
How are these doors similar to
tympanum, Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques 1125-1135
What special “technical” terms do you need to know?
What is the intended function of this work?
How did religion affect the production of this work of art?
Does this series of relief panels demonstrate a typological
interrelationship or a narrative?
Please explain how these bottom two panels from the Doors of Bishop
Bernward, Hildesheim Cathedral Hildesheim, Germany, 1001-33, demonstrate a
typological interrelationship.
Wiligelmo, Creation and Temptation of Adam
and Eve, frieze on the west façade, Modena
Cathedral, Modena Italy ca. 1110
What is the common subject of each piece?
In the first piece, what exactly is being depicted? In
the second piece, what exactly is being depicted?
Where would you find the first piece?
Where would you find the second piece?
What is the most important stylistic difference
between these two pieces?
Creation of Eve, Presentation of Eve
to Adam, doors commissioned by
Bishop Bernward for Saint Michael’s,
Hildesheim, Germany
How does the
argument
represented in this
tympanum support
the Catholic church’s
as the church battles
against heresy?
Do the black and white
dogs in the bottom of
the frame need to go to
obedience school?
Please explain your
answer.
What special “technical” terms
do you need to know?
What is the intended function
of this work?
How did religion affect the
production of this work of art?
What special “technical” terms do you need
to know?
What is the intended function of this work?
How did religion affect the production of this
work of art?
floor plan
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
Conques, France 1125-1135
Emperor Justinian and His Attendants c. 547
mosaic on the north wall of the apse, Church of San Vitale, Ravenna Italy
How does this image authorize the emperor’s power?
Otto I Presenting
Magdeburg Cathedral to
Christ from Magdeburg
Ivories
962-968
How does this image
authorize the emperor’s
power?
The Bayeux Tapestry 1066-1082
Harold swears an oath to Duke William II of Normandy
How does this image authorize William the Conqueror’s power?
Baptism of Christ Baptistery of the Orthodox, Ravenna, Italy early 5th century
How does this mosaic demonstrate syncretism?
Hinton St. Mary
Mosaic
central panel of a
Roman mosaic found
at Hinton St Mary
(Dorset, England)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/o
bjects/VfupdXVjTM6crACGDU-6uA
Why does Jesus
look this way?
Why is this
representation
significant?
How does this
mosaic demonstrate
syncretism?
Good Shepherd
mosaic in the lunette over the west entrance, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Why does Jesus look this way? Why is this representation significant?
Duke William appears in discussion with his half brothers Odo and Robert, Count of Mortain.
Who is the patron who commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry?
Who was the intended audience?
Healing of the Man
Possessed by Demons
from Magdeburg Ivories
962-968
How does this work of art
demonstrate hierarchical
scale?
A relief panel from the Arch of Constantine.
Do these two panels seem primitive? What is being privileged? Does
this relief panel represent a new way of representing figures?
Big Ideas:
•
•
•
•
•
•
typological interrelationships
Benedictine Rule
different representations of Christ
medieval perspective
hierarchical scale
the purpose of sculptural programs
• syncretism: artists assimilate images from other traditions, giving them new
meanings
• iconoclasm: 726 Emperor Leo III launched a campaign of iconoclasm
(image breaking), decreeing that all religious images were idols and should
be destroyed
• icons: often were believed to have been created miraculously and all were
thought to have magical protective and healing powers
• typological exegesis: Old Testament themes illuminate events in the New
Testament; for example, Abraham and Isaac predicts the sacrifice of Christ,
Jonah and the whale predicts the resurrection on the third day
Big Ideas:
Romanesque Architecture and Sculptural Programs
•Latin cross plan
•coherence of design: unity and symmetry
•heavy, thick walls and small windows
•the use of a Roman vault—inherently limited; the barrel vault creates
tremendous thrust at the springing point
•creates a wonderful “stage” for the miracle of the Eucharist—the
presence of God—God made incarnate again
•large, ordered space which contrasted strongly with the chaos and
uncertainty outside the church walls
•use of sculptural programs to educate and engage the viewer
mediums
•rib vaulting/barrel vaults
(roman vaults)
patrons
Who are the primary patrons during these
three periods?
•illuminated manuscripts
Who are the “famous” patrons? What names
do we know?
•embroidery
Who would commission the creation of a
•bronze (bronze doors)
1. reliquary?
2. psalter?
What are specific terms you
must know for each medium?
What are specific technical
details that you must know?
3. book of hours?
4. illuminated book of the gospels?
5. carved ivory panels?
6. bronze doors?
7. sculptural program of a portal to a
church?
Architecture:
Do you know the technical terms to describe the different parts of a church?
Do you understand why certain architectural innovations were introduced?
Do you understand the purpose of different architectural decisions?
For example:
Why is the monk’s dormitory in an abbey monastery immediately
adjacent to the church?
What is the purpose of the cloister?
What is the purpose of a scriptorium?
What is a keystone?
Why is wood so important for constructing vaults?
What are the major periods?
***See page 292 in Stokstad
Carolingian 768-877
Ottonian 919-1002
Romanesque Period 1050-1150
What are key historical events? Why are they so signficant?
Battle of Milvian Bridge 312 C.E.
Battle of Hastings 1066 C.E.
Social Order:
•What are the five most important monastic orders?
What is most significant about each?
•Why does the Black Death matter?
•Why do the living conditions of medieval peasants matter?
Big Ideas
Christian Symbols (see page 294 in Stokstad)
the dove
the fish
the lamb
the symbols for the four evangelists:
Matthew- a man or angel
Mark- a lion
Luke- an ox
John – an eagle
Alpha/Omega (IX)
chi rho
Stokstad writes, “This two-dimensional, hierarchical approach and
abstract style are far removed from the realism of earlier imperial
reliefs. This style, with its emphasis on authority, ritual, and symbolic
meaning rather than outward form, was adopted by the emerging
Christian Church” (283).
What do we mean by two-dimensional?
What do we mean by hierarchical approach?
What do we mean by abstract style?
What do we mean by symbolic meaning?
Virgin and Child
from the Auvergne
region, France
c. 1150-1200
oak with polychromy; height:
31”
What argument
does this
sculpture make?