Romanesque Art and Architecture

B

France

The French Romanesque architecture (also known as Norman architecture) is characterized by various types of vaulting. Even in Provence, where the most conservative Romanesque architecture is found, the nave is usually covered with a barrel vault. In proportions and details, however, Provençal churches closely follow Roman examples. Of all Romanesque buildings outside Italy the Church (formerly Cathedral) of St Trophime in Arles most closely follows classical canons. The principal parts date from the 12th century. Adjoining the church is a magnificent cloister, begun in 1183 but not completed until the 14th century, that is notable for its richly detailed columns. In Aquitaine, in south-western France, architects adopted the Byzantine structural principle of vaulting the nave with a series of domes; this is notable in the church of St Front in Périgueux (begun 1120) and in the 12th-century cathedrals of Cahors and Angoulême. Characteristic features include pointed domes and façades decorated with tiers of blind arches filled with sculpture.

The variant that developed in the Auvergne, in central France, represents a provincial development of Burgundian Romanesque and is important for the experimentation—seen in various pilgrimage churches—that was made in order to solve the problem of vaulting. The church of St Sernin (c. 1080-1120) in Toulouse, in the region and former province of Languedoc in southern France, and the church of St Martin (c. 1000-1150) in Tours are early examples of churches with a long choir with side aisles and, around the semicircular sanctuary, a chevet, or arcaded ambulatory (semicircular aisle) with radiating chapels. (This type of plan was later adopted and elaborated in the succeeding Gothic period.) St Sernin, in Toulouse, is also notable for its imposing central tower (finished at a later date), barrel-vaulted nave, symmetrical composition, and rich details.

In Burgundy the barrel-vaulted, three-aisled type of basilican church was highly developed, particularly by the Cistercian and Benedictine monastic orders, the former centred at the abbey of Citeaux (11th century) near Nuits-St-Georges and the latter at Cluny; the expansion of these orders caused Burgundian building methods to spread throughout Europe. An early example of the style is the great church of St Philibert (11th century) at Tournus, remarkable for its two-storey, groin-vaulted narthex, or entrance porch, which contributed to the development of the two-tower façade. Another monastic church of impressive size and simplicity is that at St Benoît-sur-Loire (completed in the 12th century). The most colossal church of medieval Christianity, demolished at the time of the French Revolution, was the third Benedictine abbey church at Cluny, which was built between 1080 and 1130 and strongly influenced subsequent building in Normandy, Lombardy, and the Rhineland.

Norman architects assimilated the methods of vaulting developed in Lombardy and created an original style, exemplified in the abbey churches of Saint-Étienne, or the Abbaye aux Hommes, and La Trinité, or the Abbaye aux Dames, in Caen (both begun in the latter half of the 11th century), in which groined vaults supported by flying buttresses appeared in a closely worked-out and well-integrated relationship. Norman innovations in vaulting, and the Norman façade, characterized by two high flanking towers, were adopted in the Île-de-France region in north-central France, as at the royal abbey church at St-Denis, near Paris, and formed the basis for the development of early Gothic architecture. St-Denis, in particular, is closely associated with the development of Gothic architecture; its rebuilding, from 1136 to 1147, marked the emergence of the style.

C

Germany

The Romanesque style in Germany developed from Ottonian architecture. German westwork traditions are especially noteworthy, because those buildings featuring paired towers, as in the original early Romanesque cathedral (begun 1015) at Strasbourg, prefigure the arrangement of the typical west façade of Gothic cathedrals. German Romanesque churches were often planned on a large scale, but those outside the Rhineland rarely have stone vaulting over the nave. The great Rhenish cathedrals were built with wooden roofs, which were subsequently replaced by stone vaulting. The cathedrals at Speyer (begun 1030, vaulted c. 1125) and Mainz (rebuilt in the late 12th and 13th centuries) were covered with square groined vaults. Many Rhenish churches are of considerable height and often have an apse or sanctuary at each end. Round or octagonal towers are grouped around choirs and transepts, with the larger towers at the façade and over the crossing. Examples of cathedrals in this style include those in Cologne, notably the church of the Holy Apostles (12th century), and the 12th-century cathedrals and churches in Trier, Worms, Laach, Reichenau, Quedlinburg, and Hildesheim.

D

Norman England

Few examples of pre-Romanesque architecture survive in England. Before the 10th century, most buildings were of wood; those built of stone in the 10th and 11th centuries were small and roughly constructed—for example, the tower of All Saints (early 11th century) at Earls Barton in Northampton. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman Romanesque style replaced the Saxon style and, from about 1120 to 1200, numerous monumental Norman structures were erected, including the main portions of the cathedrals of Ely, Durham, Lincoln, Winchester, and Gloucester, and large abbey churches at Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire and Malmesbury in Wiltshire. Naves were covered with flat roofs, which were often later replaced by vaults, as in Durham Cathedral; side aisles were generally covered with groined vaults. Other characteristics of the style include heavy walls and piers, long and narrow buildings, rectangular apses, double transepts, and deeply recessed portals that were decorated with zigzag and beak mouldings.

E

Spain

Pre-Romanesque architecture in Spain is exemplified by churches built in the 9th century, during the reign of King Alfonso II of Asturias. A mixture of Early Christian and Byzantine influences is discernible in the churches of San Tirso and San Julian, in Oviedo, and of Santa María and San Miguel, in Naranco, which date from about 800 -850. These influences, together with a strong influence from Moorish architecture, continue in later buildings. In the 11th century many of the architectural forms evolved in the Romanesque style that developed in the south of France were adopted in Spanish churches built on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, where the bones of the apostle St James the Great had reputedly been discovered in the 9th century. Barrel vaulting was generally used over the nave, and groined vaulting covered the side aisles. Typical examples include the collegiate church of San Isidoro in León (11th century), the Old Cathedral in Salamanca (begun c. 1140), and the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela (c. 1075-1128), one of the most popular pilgrimage churches of the period and the most grandiose of Spanish Romanesque buildings. Subsequent remodellings have obscured its original appearance.

IV

Sculpture

Small-scale sculpture in ivory, bronze, and gold made during the pre-Romanesque epoch was influenced by Byzantine and Early Christian models. Other elements of the various local styles were adopted from the crafts of the Middle Eastern countries, known through imported illuminated manuscripts, ivory carvings, gold work, ceramics, and textiles. Motifs originating in the arts of migratory peoples, such as grotesque figures, figures of beasts, and geometric interlaced patterns, were also important, particularly in regions north of the Alps. Among outstanding sculptural works of the period are ivory carvings executed in the 9th century at the monastery of St Gall, Switzerland, notably those done by the monk Tutilo, and those credited to a workshop in Reims, France.

Monumental sculpture independent of architecture was rarely produced in the pre-Romanesque period. Most Romanesque sculpture was integrated into church architecture and served structural as well as decorative purposes. Thus Romanesque sculpture is an integral part of church architecture. Major sculptural works were produced at Hildesheim, Germany, in the 11th century, including church doors of bronze, baptismal fonts, sepulchral slabs, and other church furniture. Fine cast bronze doors were also made in southern Italy (11th century) and northern Italy (12th century), most notably for San Zeno Maggiore at Verona. In the Meuse Valley of Belgium and northern France during the early 12th century, the Mosan school produced a large number of splendid bronze sculptures, including the large baptismal font (1107-1112, St-Barthélemy, Liège, France) by Renier de Huy.

Large-scale stone sculptural decorations became common throughout Europe in the 12th century. In French Romanesque churches in Provence, Burgundy, and Aquitaine, sculptures were extensively used on façades, and statues mounted on pilasters gave visual emphasis to vertical supporting members. Notable examples of French architectural sculpture surviving virtually in their original state can be seen in the cathedrals in Toulouse, Autun, and Poitiers. In composition and subject matter, they directly anticipate the Gothic masterpieces in Chartres, Amiens, and other French Gothic cathedrals. Interesting sculptural works were also executed in Lombardy and Tuscany, particularly for the façades of the cathedrals in Modena, Ferrara, Verona, and Parma.