SOCIAL SCIENCE 2º ESO

UNIT 4 MEDIEVAL ART

ROMANESQUE ART

1. ARQUITECTURE

Elements:

Supported elements:

Arches: round arch

Round arches (Cathedral of Santiago)

Vaults:

• Barrel vault: made up of transverse arches covering the central nave. 
• Groin vault: when  two sections of a barrel vault cross. Normally covers  the side aisles.
• Quarter of a sphere vault: covering the apses. 

Barrel vault for the central nave with transverse arches ( Cathedral of Santiago)

Groin vaults for the side naves. ( Cathedral of Santiago)

Barrel vault in the central nave and quarter of a sphere for the main apse ( San Martín de Frómista, Palencia)

Cupules or domes: 

• Spherical dome over pendentives
• Octagonal dome over squinches

Spherical dome over pendentives ( Cathedral of Zamora)

Octagonal dome over squinches ( Cathedral of Jaca)

External octagonal tower over the crossing ( Cimborrio de San Martín de Frómista)

Supporting Elements: 

• Walls: thick walls to support the heavy  weight of the vaults. Regular stone masonry. 
• Buttresses: external vertical elements to reinforce the walls .

Regular stone masonry for the thick walls. Buttresses reinforcing walls. ( Head of San Martín de Frómista) .

• Columns and pillars: compound piers to receive the weight of transverse arches in the central vault, the arches in the arcades and the arches from the side naves. 

On the left: Cruciform pillar with half-columns attached to the square core. ( Side nave in Santiago)

STRUCTURE OF A PEREGRINATION CHURCH

Abbey of Saint Foy in Conques (France)

Basilic of Saint Sernin in Toulouse (France)

Aerial view of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

ROMANESQUE PORTAL 

Portico of Saint Peter of Moissac ( France) 

 2. SCULPTURE

• Most of the sculptures are reliefs. 
• The tympanum is the place in which  the main theme  is located. The most common representation is  Christ in Majesty, surrounded by the mystic almond and  the Tetramorph,( the symbolic depiction of  the four evangelists)

Christ in Majesty ( Pantocrator) surrounded by the mystic almond and the tetramorph.
Tympanum of the Church of San Trofimo de Arles.(France)

•  Religious themes are dominant in Romanesque art. Scenes about the Apocalypse and the Last Judgement were the favorite ones. 
•  Images were used to teach the illiterated the principles of the Christian doctrine.
• Non-naturalistic figures. Artists didn´t seek to represent  the beauty of forms, but to transmit  the message of salvation. 
• Reliefs showed a Hierarquical perspective in order to highlight the importance of the characters. The higher dignity, the larger size of the figure. Ex. Christ, the evangelist, angels and saints. 

Tympanum of Saint Foy de Conques (France). Detail of the heaven´s and hell´s doors. 

•  At the end of the period sculpture evolved to a greater naturalism.

Pórtico de la Gloria by the Maestro Mateo. 12th Century. Romanesque facade of Santiago de Compostela cathedral .

•  Types:

1. Reliefs: In churches, cathedrals and  monasteries  we can find reliefs decorating the most notable architectural elements of the buildings   such as  capitals, archivolts, the tympanum, lintel, etc.
2. Free-standing sculpture: 
1. The crucified Christ: this model consists in a  bloodless Christ, with four nails and showing no sufferance.The figure of  Christ use to appear wearing a tunic or a skirt.  

Crucifix of Don Fernando and Doña Sancha. 11th Century. MAN

Majestá Batlló. 12th Century. MNAC

1. The Holy Virgin with the Child: Mary is depicted as  the Jesus´ throne.There is no communication between the Virgin and her son since both are looking at the front. 

Holy Virgin with the child. 12th Century.  MNAC

3. PAINTING 

• Wall paintings or frescoes were the most common type of manifestations. 
• Painting shared with sculpture many charcteristics: presence of religious themes, didactic function, hierarquical perspective...
• About style, paintings normally showed flat colours, lack of perspective, and the use of  thick, black lines to outline the figures. 

Main apse of San Clemente de Tahull ( Lérida) Wall painting with Byzantine influence.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

1. General characteristics:

• Gothic art covers from the second half of the 12th century to the 15th century.
•  It first appeared  in the Ille-de-France (also known as the Parisian Region) in 1144, when the new choir of the  Basilic of Saint Denis was completed.

Choir of Saint Denis 1144

• Gothic still remains basically a religious art. However, civil buildings will also follow the new style. Constructions such as Town Halls, Palaces, Covered Markets and Hospitals were built  Gothic. 

Palazzo Pubblico in Siena (Italy. 13th century)

• Gothic art is the reflection of Urban Renaissance together with  a renovated spirituality: 
• The most outstanding work of the period, the Gothic cathedral, shows at the same time the desire of being  close  to God, reaching as  high as possible in heaven, as well as  the rivalry between the flourishing European cities, which compete to host the tallest and most beautiful cathedral.

Elements

Supported elements: 

• Pointed arch: is the first  architectural  innovation. This arch  results when two sections of circle cross. 

• Ribbed Vault: the second important innovation. This vault results when two pointed arches, ribbs or  nerves, cross at a diagonal angle. There are different type of vaults depending on the number of nerves.

1. Simple ribbed vault or Quadripartite

Simple or quadripartite vault. Central nave of  Cathedral of León. 

2. Sexpartite: when a third transverse arch is added to the vault bay

Sexpartite vault in Notre Dame of Paris

3. Lierne or Stellar vault: this is the most complex vault. Results  by adding secondary bosses to every section in a normal vault and connecting them with tiercerons.

Stellar vault in Amiens Cathedral.

4. Fan Vault: The nerves in the vault look like the rods of a fan.

King´s College. Cambridge University. Detail of the fan vaults. 

Supporting elements: 

• Flying Buttress: the third important innovation. This is a segment of an arch, sticking out from the wall and transmitting the pressure to the solid buttres outside. 

Flying buttress in Notre Dame Paris

• Clustered columns: In the interior of cathedrals, former Romanesque compound piers turn into this supporting element;  the number of half-columns attached to the core of the pillar, increases as the number of nerves in the vault does. Thus, the shaft of the columns becomes increasingly thin. 

Clustered columns in Westminster Abbey. 

Cathedral of Chartres. Interior. The clustered columns are supporting the four sides at the crossing 

STRUCTURE OF A GOTHIC CATHEDRAL

• Gothic cathedrals retain the Latin-Cross plan and have commonly three naves. 
• The Romanesque apsidioles around the ambulatory are replaced by polygonal chapels.
• The transept doubles its size.

Cathedral of Leon plan

• The walls in the interior are divided into  three storeys or levels: 

               1. First level:  Arcade 

               2. Second level:  Triforium ( replaces the former tribune)

               3. Third level: Clerestory with large stained glass windows. 

•  The main facade shows three levels too, corresponding to those in the interior:

             1. First level: three portals, one per nave. The central portal stands  larger than the side                       ones.  

             2. Second level:  gallery of statues

             3. Third level:  rose window. 

Notre Dame of Paris. 

• We can distinguish the same elements as in Romanesque  within the  Gothic  portals ( the tympanum, archivolts, lintel, trumeau...) but, there are certain differences: 
•           The tympanum is divided into three parallel bands. The main scene is located in                       the central  one. 
•           The depiction of Christ in Majesty , evolves to a Jesus Christ displaying the wounds of              his  Passion on his hands, the so-called The Man of Sorrows.
•           The figures decorating the archivolts show a longitudual position, following the                          direction of the  arch.
•           Jambs turn into column-statues, which hold human figures representing  saints,                          apostles, prophets...who are starting conversations between them. These figures use to                be covered by a canopy over their heads. 

Main portal of Amiens Cathedral

Column-statues and their canopies