romanesque sculpture
DESCRIPTION
Revision on Romanesque SculptureTRANSCRIPT
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