Romanesque
Art
Expansion & Economic Revival
“Build it (block by block) and they
will come”
1. The Bayeux Tapestry is a major
________and ________document, not just
a decorative embroidery.
A. ecological and environmental
B. educational and agricultural
C. economical and religious
D. political and historical
2. The Battle of Hastings showing the
Norman conquest of England was portrayed
in which of the following?
A. the Bayeux Tapestry
B. Wiligelmo, Adam and Eve
C. The Deposition
D. Portable Altar
3. Wiligelmo, Creation and Temptation of
Adam and Eve is located in which building?
A. Bayeux Cathedral, France
B. St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Italy
C. Modena Cathedral, Italy
D. Church of Sainte-Foy, France
4. In the Reliquary statue of Sainte- Foy the
saint’s oversized head is a reworked
A. ancient Egyptian
tomb mask
B. bronze head from
ancient Greece
C. ancient Roman
parade helmet
D. clay head of
Constantine
5. Discuss the techniques used
to create detail on the Bayeux
Tapestry.
Introduction Handout
Please annotate the handout.
- summarize each paragraph (anything is
acceptable from a couple of sentences to
one word)
- highlight key facts/ vocabulary
Different from syllabus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Unit #5 Test Thursday December 18
• Party FRIDAY
• Semester Final (Units #1- #6)
Finals week
Timeline
• 1000 – Pilgrimages begin to Santiago d’
Compostela in Spain or St. Peters in
Rome
• 1054 – Christian Church splits between
western and eastern (Roman vs.
Orthodox)
• 1066 Battles of Hastings (union of England
with much of France)
• 1095 – 1st Crusade
• 1149 – 2nd Crusade
Key Ideas
• Revitalization of large-scale architecture and
sculpture
• Pilgrimages to sacred European shrines
increase the flow of people and ideas around the
continent
• Churches develop their apse end to
accommodate large crowds of pilgrims –
ambulatory
• Church portal sculptures show themes of Last
Judgment and salvation
• Manuscript painting and weaving flourish
Religious Power
• Emperors acted divinely
• Rulers had authority within
the church
• Popes and Christian leaders
backed rulers
Feudalism
• Relationship between lords and peasants
• Peasants worked the land, keeping their
food
• Lords owned the land and guaranteed
peasants security
Architecture
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•
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Castles
Manor houses
Monasteries
Cathedrals
Contractors oversaw entire production
Artists hired to oversee artistic design
Cathedrals
• Moved from wood roofs to stone
• Stone = heavy walls to support heavy
roofs
• Small windows = dark interior spaces
SOLUTION
• Rib vault
– Help support the roofs
– Channel the stress of its load
down to the walls
– Allowed more space for windows
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medi
eval-world/latin-westerneurope/romanesque1/v/the-animated-bayeuxtapestry
Bayeux Tapestry video 5 min.
Details the Norman invasion of England
Normandy’s King William (William the Conqueror)
vs.
England’s King Harold
the year 1066: Battle of Hastings
Bishop Odo Blessing the Feast
from the Bayeux Tapestry. height 20” France.
C. 1077
• The romanesque paintings of Sant
Climent de Taüll church is one of the
most important jewels of Catalan
Romanesque art and are now presented
through an innovative video mapping that
recreates the original frescoes in the main
apse . The original painting are now
preserved in the National Art Museum of
Catalonia in Barcelona, ​MNAC .
(‘Master of Tahull’), Christ
Pantocrator
• Description:
Its genius lies in the way it
combines elements from
different Biblical visions
(Revelation, Isaiah and
Ezekiel) to present the
Christ of the Day of
Judgment.
Christ appears from the background causing a
movement outwards from the center of the
composition, which is presided by the
ornamental sense of the outlines and the skillful
use of color to create volume.
•
•
•
•
Painting Circa 1123
Purchased by the Junta de Museus
From the church of Saint Climent de Taüll
Fresco transferred to canvas
• The Master of Taüll is the name given to
this Romanesque mural painter. His
manner of articulating space is considered
almost perfect. He drew the faces of the
figures with great realism and style.
Notable is his Christ Pantokrator, painted
in a colorful palette of carmine, blue and
white. It has been thought that he brought
the tools and materials he needed for his
work from Italy.
• Since 55 years ago the church had a copy
of the originals painted on plaster surface
that was degrading . After removing the
old copy a meticulous restoration process
was realized which uncovered remains of
the original paint that had been preserved
in the deep layers of the walls of the apse .
1955-2013
Present State 2013
Original Fragments
1123 Reconstruction
• http://pantocrator.cat/en/projectes/
• 10 min.
• Want more information? Look online, there
is a ton more info out there 
• St. Stephen's
Cathedral is the
symbol of Vienna.
Construction
commenced in the
12th century. Today,
it is one of the most
important Gothic
structures in Austria.
• St. Stephen's Cathedral has four towers.
The tallest of these is the south tower. The
tower room, from which there is a gigantic
view across Vienna, is reached via 343
steps. A total of 13 bells hang here.
• However, the best-known bell
of St. Stephen's Cathedral,
the Pummerin, is located in
the north tower. It is the
second-biggest free-swinging
chimed church bell in
Europe.
• On the roof of St. Stephen's Cathedral,
colorful roof tiles were laid to create the
Royal and Imperial double-headed eagle
and the coat of arms of the city of Vienna.
• The interior of St. Stephen's Cathedral
was changed again and again over the
centuries, right through to the Baroque
period.
Church of Sainte-Foy
Please annotate the handout.
- summarize each paragraph (anything is
acceptable from a couple of sentences to
one word)
- highlight/circle/underline key facts and
vocabulary
Reliquary Statue
of Saint Foy
(Saint Faith)
for the Abbey
Church of
Conques, France
th
9
Late
century,
height 33”
Roger of Helmarshausen,
Portable Altar
At Helmarshausen, Roger
was the creator of a
portable altar dedicated to
Saints Kilian and Liborius.
The altar, commissioned
by Heinrich of Werl,
Bishop of Paderborn, was
produced about 1120. It
consists of an oak box
with a lid and claw feet.
The outer surfaces are partly covered with
silver-gilt plates decorated predominantly
with niello but also with engraving and
repoussé work. Gold filigree and mounted
cut stones are also used. At the top, on one
side, is a depiction of the Donor with an
inscription and the symbols of two
Evangelists and, on the other, a portrait of
the patron of Paderborn Cathedral, Bishop
Meinwerk (reg 1009-36), also beside
Evangelists' symbols.
• The background of each between the lines
of script is densely filled with fine
arabesques and flat, rhomboid patterns.
Also depicted in niello are the Twelve
Apostles on the long sides and the Virgin
with Sts John and James the Less on the
back panel. The front panel is the only
surface of the altar with a silver embossed
relief, showing Christ in Majesty in a
circular filigree aureole embellished with
jewels, as well as Sts Kilian and Liborius.
The latter appear again on the bottom of the
casket in a splendid drawing on a gilt
copperplate. The Apostles on the long sides
are masterfully portrayed, individually
characterized by a sparse but apt use of
line, seen especially in their postures and
hair, with all the details executed with care.
Benedetto, Antelami, The
Deposition
1178
Marble
Duomo, Parma
• The first known work by Antelami is this
Deposition on the pulpit of the Cathedral of
Parma. Antelami's rigorous and severe
style has roots in Provencal sculpture and
particularly in the conception of statuary
inherited from antiquity. The Virgin, St
John, and the Holy Women, standing one
behind the other, are clearly set off from
the background, and the drapery folds are
chiseled into the marble with a precision
suggesting the art of the bronze worker or
goldsmith.
• Antelami disregards picturesque,
anecdotal, or formal devices; his compact,
firm forms have affinities with classical
antiquity. Only the bowed heads and a
restrained gesture of the hands evoke the
pathos of the scene.
• Scenes from the Life of
David
• Leaf from the Winchester
Bible
Illuminated by the Master of
the Morgan Leaf
• England, Winchester,
Cathedral ca. 1160–80
• Purchased by Pierpont
Morgan, 1912
• This was the last leaf
acquired by Pierpont
Morgan before his
death in 1913.
• Described as the finest English painting of
the twelfth century, this is the Morgan's
most important single leaf. The Winchester
Bible, the largest and finest English
Romanesque Bible, was begun about
1160 but never finished.
• Four full-page drawings by the Apocrypha
Master were executed; two remain in the
refectory Bible. The only painted leaf
(1170s) is this one, the masterpiece of the
Master of the Morgan Leaf. It depicts in
each tier: Saul Watching David Slay
Goliath, Saul Hurling a Spear at David and
Samuel Anointing David, and Joab Killing
Absalom and David Mourning the Death of
His Young Son. The Morgan Master
simplified the drawing by reducing the
number of feet (of both horses and men).
Read New York Times article.
(no need to annotate)
You Decide…
• Do you agree that tearing up an
illuminated manuscript to sell it by the
page is vandalism?
• Or does it liberate the art on those
pages?
• Please write a response. Why do
agree or disagree?
Class Discussion
Raise your hand if you agree that tearing up
an illuminated manuscript to sell it by the
page is vandalism.
Why do you agree?
• Raise your hand if you believe it liberates
the art on those pages?
• Why?
• Can you think of any other instances
where objects are destroyed or tampered
with on purpose?
• Will it blend?
Quick Partner Discussion
• Turn to a partner and discuss how
architecture has changed overtime.
Prehistory to Romanesque
(We will have a group activity on this later)
SUMMARY
• Romanesque artists were
influenced by Classical Rome
• Churches were the main focus:
the larger, the better. Replaced
flat roofs with arched vaulting
• Divine power to rulers
SUMMARY
• Fill the space! Monumental Architectural
Sculpture: Human forms were squeezed
together in elongated forms and awkward
poses (facades)
• Fear of God. Telling a story through sculpture
vs. mosaic