Chapter 12: Romanesque Europe
Preview: The Romanesque era, ca. 1050 to 1200, takes its name from an artistic style. Historians
described much of the architecture produced in this period as “Romanesque,” or Roman-like, for
its use of rounded arches and vaults similar to those found in Roman structures. This chapter
surveys the art and artwork of the period and considers the traditions that developed in four
different regions of Europe in this period. France and Spain saw the construction of numerous
pilgrimage churches with monumental stone relief sculpture. In the Holy Roman Empire, which
spanned the territory of present-day Germany and northern Italy, architects built innovative
churches and employed groin vaults in naves, while artists made exquisite metalwork such as
reliquaries. Romanesque architecture in Italy is distinct in style and structure, characterized by
colored marble paneling, timber roofs, and freestanding campaniles and baptisteries. In
Normandy and England, architects employed rib groin vaults over a three-story nave; and artists
embroidered the Bayeaux Tapestry, an example of historical narrative art that chronicles the
conquest of England in 1066 by Duke William of Normandy.
Key Figures: Gislebertus, Bernardus Gelduinus, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen,
Rufillus, Rainer of Huy, Wiligelmo, Benedetto Antelami, Master Hugo, Eadwine the Scribe
Key Cultural & Religious Terms: manor, liege lord, vassals, feudalism, relics, pilgrimage,
pilgrimage road, martyr, furta sacra, Song of Roland, Cistercian Order, Cluniac Order, vita
contemplative, Crusades, double monastery, canonize
Key Art Terms: reliquary, Scivias, repoussé, embroidery, tapestry, stem stitching, laid-andcouched work
Key Architectural Terms: tribune, radiating chapels, barrel vault, groin vault, engaged column,
compound pier, springing, transverse arches, crypt, cloister, historiated, bestiary, voussoir,
archivolt, tympanum, lintel, trumeau, jamb, hall church, cathedral, campanile, ribs, rib vaulting,
incrustation, buttress, tower, sexpartite vault, quadrant arch
Lecture Notes:
Introductory Notes:
France and Northern Spain:
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Reliquary statue of Sainte-Foy (Saint Faith), late 10th to early 11th century with later
additions
o Medium/materials:
o Stylistic features:
o Subject:
o Function & significance:
Architecture and Architectural Sculpture:
 Interior of Saint-Étienne (looking east), Vignory, France, 1050-1057
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o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Significance:
Plan of Saint-Étienne, Vignory, France
o Description:
o Architectural features & location on plan:
Sant Vicenç, Cardona, ca. 1029-1040
o Description & architectural features:
Saint-Philibert, Tournus, ca. 1060
o Description & architectural features:
Aerial view of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca. 1070-1120
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Significance:
Plan of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France
o Description:
o Architectural features & location on plan:
Interior of Saint-Sernin (looking east), Toulouse, France
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Significance:
Sainte-Foy, Conques, mid-11th to early 12th century
o Description & significance:
Saint James, Santiago de Compostela, ca. 1075-1120
o Description & significance:
Christ in Majesty, relief in the ambulatory of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France, ca. 1096
o Artist:
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Stonecarving: Saint-Genis-des-Fontaines, 1019-1020
o Description & significance:
Stonecarving: Santo Domingo, Silos, ca. 1090-1100
o Description & significance:
Restored view of the third abbey church (Cluny III), Cluny, France, 1088-1130
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Significance:
General view of the cloister, Saint-Pierre, Moissac, France, ca. 1100-1115
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Significance:
Pier with the relief of Abbot Durandus, Saint-Pierre, Moissac, France
o Medium/materials:
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o Subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
South portal (general view) of Saint-Pierre, Moissac, France, ca. 1115-1135
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Sculptural features:
o Function & significance:
Detail of tympanum with Second Coming of Christ, south portal of Saint-Pierre, Moissac
o Subjects:
o Stylistic features:
o Function and significance:
Notre-Dame, Fontenay, 1139-1147
o Description & significance:
The Romanesque church portal
o Description:
o Architectural features & location:
Notre-Dame-la-Grande, Poitiers, ca. 1130-1150
o Description & significance:
Old Testament prophet (Jeremiah or Isaiah?), right side of the trumeau of the south portal
of Saint-Pierre, Moissac, France, ca. 1115-1130
o Description:
o Medium:
o Subjects:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Gislebertus, Last Judgment, west tympanum of Saint-Lazare, Autun, France, ca. 1120-1135
o Subjects:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Gislebertus, Suicide of Judas, Autun, ca. 1120-1135
o Description:
Gislebertus, Eve, Autun, ca. 1120-1135
o Description:
Pentecost and Mission of the Apostles, tympanum of the center portal of the narthex of La
Madeleine, Vézelay, France, 1120-1132
o Description:
o Subjects:
o Sculptural features:
o Architectural features:
o Function & significance:
Saint-Trophime, Arles, mid-12th century
o Description & significance:
Painting and Other Arts:
 Corbie Gospels, ca. 1120
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o Description & significance:
Initial L and Saint Matthew, folio 10 recto of the Codex Colbertinus, probably from Moissac,
France, ca. 1100
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Subjects:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Initial R with knight fighting dragons, folio 4 verso of the Moralia in Job, from Citeaux,
France, ca. 1115-1125
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Subjects:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Nave of the abbey church (looking east) of Saint-Savin, Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, France,
ca. 1100
o Description:
o Subject of paintings in vault:
o Architectural features:
o Function & significance:
Christ in Majesty, apse, Santa Maria de Mur, near Lérida, Spain, mid-12th century
o Medium/materials:
o Subjects:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Virgin and Child (Morgan Madonna), from Auvergne, France, second half of the 12th century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Holy Roman Empire:
Dates______________
Architecture:
 Interior of Speyer Cathedral (looking east), Speyer, Germany, begun 1030; nave vaults, ca.
1082-1105
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Function & significance:
 Aerial view of Sant-Ambrogio (looking southeast), Milan, Italy, late 11th to early 12th
century
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Function & significance:
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Interior of Sant-Ambrogio (looking east), Milan, Italy, late 11th to early 12th century
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Function & significance:
Painting and Other Arts:
 Hildegard reveals her visions, detail of a facsimile of a lost folio in the Rupertsberger Scivias
by Hildegard of Bingen, from Trier or Bingen, Germany, ca. 1050-1079
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
 Rufillus, initial R, ca. 1170-1200
o Description & significance:
 Baptism of Christ, baptismal font from Notre-Dame-des-Fonts, Liége, Belgium, 1118
o Artist:
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Subjects:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
 Head reliquary of Saint Alexander, from the abbey church, Stavelot, Belgium, 1145
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Italy:
Architecture and Architectural Sculpture:
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Cathedral complex (looking northeast), Pisa, Italy; cathedral begun 1063; baptistery begun
1153; campanile begun 1174
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Function & significance:
Baptistery of San Giovanni (looking northwest), Florence, Italy, begun 1059
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Function & significance:
San Miniato al Monte, Florence, ca. 1062-1090
o Description & significance:
Sant’Angelo in Formis, near Capua, ca. 1085
o Description & significance:
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Wiligelmo, Creation and Temptation of Adam and Eve, detail of the frieze on the west façade,
Modena Cathedral, Modena, Italy, ca. 1110
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Subjects:
o Stylistic features:
Benedetto Antelami, King David, statue in a niche on the west façade of Fidenza Cathedral,
Fidenza, Italy, ca. 1180-1190
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Subject:
o Stylistic features:
Normandy and England:
Architecture:
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West façade of Saint-Étienne, Caen, France, begun 1067
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Significance:
Interior of Saint-Étienne, Caen, France, vaulted ca. 1115-1120
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Significance:
Plan of Saint-Étienne, Caen, France
o Description:
o Architectural features & location on plan:
Interior and lateral section of Durham Cathedral, Durham, England, begun ca. 1093
o Description:
o Architectural features & location:
o Significance:
Plan of Durham Cathedral, Durham, England
o Description:
o Architectural features & location on plan:
Painting and Other Arts:
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Winchester Psalter, ca. 1145-1155
o Description & significance:
Moses Expounding the Law, folio 94 recto of the Bury Bible, from Bury Saint Edmunds,
England, ca. 1135
o Artist:
o Medium/materials:
o Subject:
o Stylistic features:
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o Function & significance:
Eadwine the Scribe at work, folio 283 verso of the Eadwine Psalter, ca. 1160-1170
o Probable artist:
o Medium/materials:
o Subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Bayeux Tapestry, from Bayeux Cathedral, Bayeux, France, ca. 1070-1080 (scenes: funeral
procession to Westminster Abbey; Battle of Hastings)
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Subjects (general and specific):
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Concluding notes:
Exercises for Study:
1. Describe the key architectural features introduced in the basilican church design in
Romanesque Europe.
2. Describe the features that distinguish Italian church architecture from that of France, Spain, and
the Holy Roman Empire in the Romanesque era.
3. The term “Romanesque” means Romanlike. What are the similarities and differences between
Romanesque and Roman architecture?
4. Compare and contrast the following pairs of artworks, using the points of comparison as a
guide.
A. Last Judgment tympanum, Saint-Lazare, Autun, France (Fig. 12-1); Second Coming of Christ
tympanum, Saint-Pierre, Moissac, France (Fig. 12-11)
 Subjects:
 Composition:
 Stylistic features:
B. Hildegard reveals her visions, from Rupertsberger Scivias (Fig. 12-23); Eadwine the Scribe at
work, from the Eadwine Psalter (Fig. 12-36)
 Artists:
 Subjects:
 Composition:
 Stylistic features:
C. Interior of Saint-Étienne, Vignory, France (Fig. 12-3); Interior of Saint-Étienne, Caen, France
(Fig. 12-31)
 Dates:
 Nave elevation:
 Ceilings:
 Other architectural features: