Romanesque Sculpture

Revision

Introduction

• It is limited by the frame in which it is contained.

• The main places for sculptural location are

PortalsCapitals

Introduction

• Romanesque sculpture had an educational objective: it should teach the Bible to illiterate people

• The message is simple and clear to be easily understood

• It is not important to be loyal to nature but to express the ideas they aimed at transmitting.

Introduction

• The location of the iconographic programme is always the same:– Tympanum is reserved for the

depiction of the Last Judgement– Jambs are the place for saints

sculptures– Capitals are left for

• Biblical stories• Vegetal motives• Satirical depictions

– Other minor decorations (in the outside) are left for depicting sins and vices.

Parts of a portal

Tympanum

• The tympanum depicts the Last Judgement– In the middle appear Christ as a Judge– He is sitting in the mandorle or almond shape – It is surrounded by the four Evangelist as people of animals– Around them people judged or the twenty-four wise men of the

Apocalypses

Tympanum

• Christ appears blessing, with the hand elevated

• His feet are standing on a symbol of the earth

• The mandorle represents a mystical element

• The evangelist are around • Mark, the lion• Mathew, the man• Luke, the ox• John, the eagle

Composition

• Images must adapt to the frame

• They are distributed following criteria of hierarchy and symmetry

• The unity of the scene is given by the eyes of the images that converge in Christ

• There are several details

Composition• Other important elements appear in the portals:• Images of the Apostles tend to appear in the jambs, being elongated

images• Christ, the Virgin or other important Saints may appear in the

trumeau• The lintel is reserved for less important images of for the wise men

of the Apocalypse

Composition

• In some cases decoration may escape from the classical locations to invade the whole façade

• The images out of the normal places tend to be depictions of vices and sins

Archivolts

• The images are distributed in each archivolt• The subjects can vary from one archivolt to the other• They are limited by the space • Subjects can vary from geometrical to human depictions

Archivolts

• Images in the archivolts are looking at the centre

• Sometimes each voussoir contains a whole story

• We can find non religious elements such as zodiacal symbols

Other decorations

Images that appear below the roof: they represent monsters and vices

Cloisters

• Cloisters were other of the main areas where sculpture could appear

• The sculpture tends to be limited to the capitals over the small column.

Cloisters

• Capitals can be decorated following several patters:– Some of them explain biblical

stories in a simple and understandable way

– Others copy natural elements such as plants and flowers

– Others are symbolical, with monsters or allegories

Cloisters

Biblical

Animals

Vegetables

Satirical

Relieves

• They are not as common as the tympanum or cloister sculptures

• They appear somewhere in the wall of the churches

• Subjects are religious

Relieves

• Technically they have the same characteristics as the rest of the sculptures– Lack of naturalism– Simplicity of the message– Different plans to give

impression of deepness.

Exempt Sculpture

• It is made of wood• The images are not of big

size• They are always religious• They have Byzantine

influences• Types:

– Virgin with her Son– Christ on the Cross– Deposition

Exempt Sculpture

• Virgin:– It is based on the Byzantine

Teotokos– The Virgin is a throne for her Son– Both of them appear looking at

the front– They are blessing– There is not different of ages,

just of size– They are disproportionate– With the time they evolved and

the position of the Son varied to be a bit more naturalistic

– They were polychrome

Exempt Sculpture

• Christ– They are on the cross– They still alive and

lack of any symbol of sufferance

– They were a long dress

– They have four nails– Everything in them is

symmetrical– They are polychrome

Exempt Sculpture

• Depositions• Some times more than one image appear creating a

biblical scene• The most common is the one representing the moment

in which Christ was deposited from the cross

Exempt Sculpture

DepositionPiety