Art History Survey- Chapter 16

Battle of Hastings, Bayeux Embroidery

1066-1082 CE

Durham Cathedral England

1087-1133 CE

Reconstruction Drawing Of The Interior Looking East, Third Abbey Church At Cluny

1088-1130. From Kenneth John Conant, Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture, 800 to 1200. The original church at Cluny, a small, barnlike building, was soon replaced by a basilica with two towers and narthex on the west side and a choir with tower and chapels on the east. Hugh de Semur, abbot of Cluny for 60 years (1049-1109), began rebuilding the abbey church for the third time in 1088 (FIG. 16-8), financed by money paid in tribute by Muslims to victorious Christians in Spain. When King Alfonso VI of León and Castile captured Toledo in 1085, he sent 10,000 pieces of gold to Cluny; German rulers were also generous donors. Cluny III (as this third church is often referred to by art historians) was the largest church in Europe when it was completed in 1130: 550 feet long, with five aisles like Old St. Peter's in Rome. Built with superbly cut masonry and richly carved, painted, and furnished, it was a worthy home for the relics of St. Peter and St. Paul, which the monks had acquired from the church of St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome. It was also a fitting headquarters for a monastic order that eventually became so powerful within Europe that popes were chosen from its ranks. the church was a basilica with five aisles, double transepts with chapels, and a high altar within the main choir space surrounded by an ambulatory and radiating chapels. The large number of chapels was necessary so that each monk-priest had an altar at which to perform daily Mass. Octagonal towers over the two crossings and additional towers over the transept arms created a dramatic pyramidal design at the east end. The nave had a three-part elevation. A nave arcade with tall compound piers, faced by pilasters to the inside and engaged columns at the sides, supported pointed arches lined by Classical ornament. At the next level a blind arcade and pilasters created a continuous sculptural strip that could have been modeled on an imperial Roman triumphal monument. Finally, triple clerestory windows in each bay let sunlight directly into the church around its perimeter. The pointed barrel vault with transverse arches rose to a daring height of 98 feet with a span of about 40 feet, made possible by giving the vaults a steep profile, rather than the weaker rounded profile used at Santiago de Compostela.

Apse Mosaic: The Cross as the Tree of Life, Church of San Clemente, Rome

Consecrated 1128

Interior, Church of San Clemente, Rome

Consecrated 1128. San Clemente contains one of the finest surviving collections of early church furniture: choir stalls, pulpit, lectern, candlestick, and also the twelfth-century inlaid pavement. Ninth-century choir-screen panels were reused from the earlier church on the site. The upper wall and ceiling decoration date from the eighteenth century. The Benedictine church of San Clemente in Rome was rebuilt beginning in the eleventh century (it was consecrated in 1128) on top of the previous church, which had itself been built over a Roman sanctuary of Mithras. The architecture and decoration reflect a conscious effort to reclaim the artistic and spiritual legacy of the early church. As with the columns of Santa Sabina, the columns in San Clemente are spolia: that is, they were reused from ancient Roman buildings. The church originally had a timber roof, now disguised by an ornate eighteenth-century ceiling. Even given the Romanesque emphasis on stone vaulting, the construction of timber-roofed buildings continued throughout the Middle Ages.

Saint-Martin-Du-Canigou

French Pyrenees. 1001-1026. nestled into the Pyrenees on a building platform stabilized by strongly buttressed retaining walls, is a typical example. Patronized by the local Count Guifred, who took refuge in the monastery and died here in 1049, the complex is capped by a massive stone tower next to the sanctuary of the two-story church. Art historians call such early stone-vaulted buildings "First Romanesque," employing the term that Catalan architect and theorist Josep Puig I Cadafalch first associated with them in 1928.

Plan of Durham Cathedral

Northern England. 1087-1133. Original east end replaced by a Gothic choir, 1242-c. 1280. begun in 1087 and vaulted starting in 1093, is an impressive example of Norman Romanesque, but like most buildings that have been in continuous use, it has been altered several times (FIG. 16-18). The nave retains its Norman character, but the huge circular window lighting the choir is a later Gothic addition. The cathedral's size and décor are ambitious. Enormous compound piers and robust columnar piers form the nave arcade and establish a rhythmic alternation. The columnar piers are carved with chevrons, spiral fluting, and diamond patterns, and some have scalloped, cushion-shape capitals. The richly carved arches that sit on them have multiple round moldings and chevron ornaments. All this carved ornamentation was originally painted.

St. Foy, Conques, France

Romanesque. 1050-1140 CE

St Foy, Conques, France

Romanesque. 1050-1140 CE. Compound pier; Bay

Church of St. Etienne, Caen, France

1067-1077 CE. Buttress

Nave Interior, Cathedral of St. James, Santiago De Compostela

1078-1122. View toward the choir. At Santiago, pilgrims entered the church through large double doors at the ends of the transepts rather than through the western portal, which served ceremonial processions. Pilgrims from France entered the north transept portal; the approach from the town was through the south portal. All found themselves in a transept in which the design exactly mirrored the nave in height and structure. Both nave and transept have two stories—an arcade and a gallery. Compound piers with attached halfcolumns on all four sides support the immense barrel vault and are projected over it vertically through a rhythmic series of transverse arches. They give sculptural form to the interior walls and also mark off individual vaulted bays in which the sequence is as clear and regular as the ambulatory chapels of the choir. Three different kinds of vaults are used here: barrel vaults with transverse arches cover the nave, groin vaults span the side aisles, and halfbarrel or quadrant vaults cover the galleries and strengthen the building by countering the outward thrust of the high nave vaults and transferring it to the outer walls and buttresses. Without a clerestory, light enters the nave and transept only indirectly, through windows in the outer walls of the aisles and upper-level galleries. Light from the choir clerestory and the large windows of an octagonal lantern tower (a structure built above the height of the main ceiling with windows that illuminate the space below) over the crossing would therefore spotlight the glittering gold and jeweled shrine of the principal relic at the high altar.

St. Matthew The Codex Colbertinus

1100. Tempera on vellum, 7½ x 4". from the Codex Colbertinus is an entirely Romanesque conception, quite different from Hiberno-Saxon and Carolingian author portraits. Like the sculptured pier figures of Silos (SEE Figure 16-1), the evangelist stands within an architectural frame that completely surrounds him. Instead of writing in his book, he blesses and holds it within the compact silhouette of his body. His dangling feet bear no weight, and his body has little sense of three-dimensionality, with solid blocks of color filling its strong outlines. The text of Matthew's Gospel begins with a complementary block of ornament to the left of Matthew's portrait. The "L" of Liber generationis ("The book of the generation") is a framed picture formed of plants and animals—what art historians call a historiated initial. Dogs or catlike creatures and long-necked birds twist, claw, and bite each other and themselves while, in the center, two humans—one dressed and one nude—clamber up the letter. This manuscript was made in the region of Moissac at about the same time that sculptors were working on the abbey church, and the stacking of intertwined animals here recalls the outer face of the Moissac trumeau

Reliefs On The Left (west) Wall Of The South Porch, Priory Church Of Saint-Pierre, Moissac

1115. The parable of Lazarus and Dives that runs across the top of this wall has retained its moral power to our own day. This was the text of Martin Luther King's last Sunday sermon, preached only a few days before his assassination in Memphis, where he was supporting a strike by sanitation workers. Perhaps he saw the parable's image of the table scraps of the rich and greedy as particularly appropriate to his context. Just as in this portal, in Dr. King's sermon the story was juxtaposed with other stories and ideas to craft its interpretive message in a way that was both clear and compelling for the audience addressed. The side walls of this porch are filled with yet more figural sculptures, but the style of presentation changes here with the nature of the subject matter and the response that was sought from the audience. Instead of the stylized and agitated figures on the tympanum and its supports, here sculptors have substituted more lifelike and approachable human beings. Rather than embodying unchanging theological notions or awe-inspiring apocalyptic appearances, these figures convey human frailties and torments in order to persuade viewers to follow the Church's moral teachings. Behind the double arcade framework of the lower part of the wall are hair-raising portrayals of the torments of those who fall prey to the two sins that particularly preoccupied twelfth-century moralists: avarice (greed and the hoarding of money) and lust (sexual misconduct). At bottom left, a greedy man is attacked by demons while the money bags around his neck weigh him down, strangling him. On the other side of the column, his counterpart, the female personification of lust (luxuria), is confronted by a pot-bellied devil while snakes bite at her breasts and another predator attacks her pubic area. In the scene that extends behind the column and across the wall above them, luxuria reappears, kneeling beside the deathbed of the miser, as devils make off with his money. These scenes are made as graphic as possible so that medieval viewers could identify with the situations, perhaps even feel the pain in their own bodies as a warning to avoid behaviors that lead to such gruesome consequences. In the strip of relief running across the top of the wall, the mood is calmer, but the moral message remains clear, at least for those who know the story. The sculpture tells the tale of Lazarus and Dives (Luke 16:19-31), the most popular parable of Jesus in Romanesque art. The broad scene to the right shows the rich and greedy Dives, relishing the feast that is being laid before him by his servants and refusing to give even his table scraps to the leprous beggar Lazarus, spread out at lower left. Under the table, dogs—unsatisfied by leftovers from Dives's feast—turn to lick the pus from Lazarus's sores as he draws his last breath. The angel above Lazarus, however, transfers his soul (once represented as a naked baby, now missing) to the lap of Abraham (a common image of paradise), where he is cuddled by the patriarch, the eternal reward for a pious life. The fate of Dives is not portrayed here, but it is certainly evoked on the lower section of the wall in the torments of the miser, whom we can now identify with Dives himself. Clearly some knowledge is necessary to recognize the story of this sculpture, and a guide may have been present to aid those viewers who did not readily understand. Nonetheless, the moral of sin and its consequences can be read easily from the narrative presentation. This is not scripture for an illiterate population. It is a sermon sculpted in stone.

Trumeau, South Portal, Priory Church of Saint-Pierre, Moissac

1115. is faced by a crisscrossing pair of lions. On the side visible here, a prophet, usually identified as Jeremiah, twists toward the viewer, with legs crossed in a pose that would challenge his ability to stand, much less move. The sculptors placed him in skillful conformity with the constraints of the scalloped trumeau; his head, pelvis, knees, and feet moving into the pointed cusps. This decorative scalloping, as well as the trumeau lions and lintel rosettes, may reveal the influence of Islamic art. Moissac was under construction shortly after the First Crusade, when many Europeans first encountered the Islamic art and architecture of the Holy Land. People from the region around Moissac participated in the crusade; perhaps they brought Islamic objects and ideas home with them.

Cathedral of St. Lazarus, Autun, France

1120-1130 with later additions

Hildegard of Bingen, The Universe

1927-1933 facsimile of Part I, Vision 3 of the Liber Scivias of Hildegard of Bingen. Original, 1150-1175. Hildegard begins her description of this vision with these words: "After this I saw a vast instrument, round and shadowed, in the shape of an egg, small at the top, large in the middle, and narrowed at the bottom; outside it, surrounding its circumference, there was a bright fire with, as it were, a shadowy zone under it. And in that fire there was a globe of sparkling flame so great that the whole instrument was illuminated by it." Following a command she claimed to have received from God in 1141, and with the assistance of her nuns and the monk Volmar, Hildegard began to record the mystical visions she had been experiencing since she was 5 years old. The resulting book, called the Scivias (from the Latin scite vias lucis, "know the ways of the light"), is filled not only with words but with striking images of the strange and wonderful visions themselves

Hildegard And Volmar

1927-1933 facsimile of the frontispiece of the Liber Scivias of Hildegard of Bingen. Original, 1150-1175. This author portrait was once part of a manuscript of Hildegard's Scivias that many believe was made in her own lifetime, but it was lost in World War II. Today we can study its images only from prewar black-and-white photographs or from a full-color facsimile that was lovingly hand-painted by the nuns of the abbey of St. Hildegard in Eibingen under the direction of Joesepha Krips between 1927 and 1933, the source of both pictures reproduced here. shows Hildegard receiving a flash of divine insight, represented by the tongues of flame encircling her head—she said "a fiery light, flashing intensely, came from the open vault of heaven and poured through my whole brain"—while her scribe Volmar writes to her dictation. But was she also responsible for the arresting pictures that accompany the text in this book? Art historian Madeline Caviness thinks so, both because of their unconventional nature and because they conform in several ways to the "visionary" effects experienced by many people during migraines, which plagued Hildegard throughout her life but especially during her forties while she was composing the Scivias. She said of her visions, "My outward eyes are open. So I have never fallen prey to ecstasy in the visions, but I see them wide awake, day and night. And I am constantly fettered by sickness, and often in the grip of pain so intense that it threatens to kill me."

Reliquary Statue of Sainte Foy (St. Faith)

Abbey church, Conques, France. Late 9th or 10th century with later additions. Silver gilt over a wood core, with gems and cameos of various dates. Height 33″. In the ninth century, for example, the monks of Conques stole the relics of the child martyr Sainte Foy (St. Faith) from her shrine at Agen. Such a theft was called "holy robbery," for the new owners insisted that it had been sanctioned by the saint, who had communicated to them her desire to move. In the late ninth or tenth century, the monks of Conques encased their new relic—the skull of Sainte Foy—in a gold and jeweled statue whose unusually large head was made from a reused late Roman work. During the eleventh century, they added the crown and more jeweled banding, and, over subsequent centuries, jewels, cameos, and other gifts added by pilgrims continued to enhance the statue's splendor. This type of reliquary—taking the form of a statue of the saint—was quite popular in the region around Conques, but not everyone was comfortable with the way these works functioned as cult images. Early in the eleventh century, Bernard of Angers prefaces his tendentious account of miracles associated with the cult of Sainte Foy by confessing his initial misgivings about such reliquaries, specifically the way simple folks adored them. Bernard thought it smacked of idolatry: "To learned people this may seem to be full of superstition, if not unlawful, for it seems as if the rites of the gods of ancient cultures, or that the rites of demons, are being observed" (The Book of Sainte Foy, p. 77). But when he witnessed firsthand the interaction of the reliquary statue with the faithful, he altered his position: "For the holy image is consulted not as an idol that requires sacrifices, but because it commemorates a martyr. Since reverence to her honors God on high, it was despicable of me to compare her statue to statues of Venus or Diana. Afterwards I was very sorry that I had acted so foolishly toward God's saint." (ibid., p. 78)

Page With The Tree Of Jesse, Explanatio In Isaiam (St. Jerome's Commentary On Isaiah)

Abbey of Cîteaux, Burgundy, France. c. 1125. Ink and tempera on vellum, 15 x 4¾". The Cistercians were particularly devoted to the Virgin Mary and are also credited with popularizing themes such as the Tree of Jesse as a device for showing her position as the last link in the genealogy connecting Jesus to King David. (Jesse, the father of King David, was an ancestor of Mary and, through her, of Jesus.) A manuscript of St. Jerome's Commentary on Isaiah, made in the scriptorium of the Cistercian mother house of Cîteaux in Burgundy about 1125, contains an image of an abbreviated TREE OF JESSE. A monumental Mary, with the Christ Child sitting on her veiled arm, stands over the forking branches of the tree, dwarfing the sleeping patriarch, Jesse, from whose body a small tree trunk grows. The long, vertical folds of Mary's voluminous drapery—especially the flourish at lower right, where a piece of her garment billows up, as if caught in an updraft—recall the treatment of drapery in the portal at Autun (SEE Figure 16-24), also in Burgundy. The artist has drawn, rather than painted, with soft colors, using subtle tints that seem somehow in keeping with Cistercian restraint. Christ embraces his mother's neck, pressing his cheek against hers in a display of affection that recalls Byzantine icons of the period, like the Virgin of Vladimir (SEE Figure 8-28). The foliate form Mary holds in her hands could be a flowering sprig from the Jesse Tree, or it could be a lily symbolizing her purity. The building held by the angel on the left equates Mary with the Church, and the crown held by the angel on the right is hers as queen of heaven. The dove above her halo represents the Holy Spirit; Jesse Trees often have doves sitting in the uppermost branches. In the early decades of the twelfth century, Church doctrine came increasingly to stress the role of the Virgin Mary and the saints as intercessors who could plead for mercy on behalf of repentant sinners, and devotional images of Mary became increasingly popular during the later Romanesque period. As we will see, this popularity would continue into the Gothic period, not only in books but on the sculpted portals and within the stained-glass windows of cathedrals.

Virgin And Child

Auvergne region, France. Late 12th century. Oak with polychromy, height 31″ (78.7 cm). Any Romanesque image of Mary seated on a throne and holding the Christ Child on her lap is known as "The Throne of Wisdom." In a well-preserved example in painted wood dating from the second half of the twelfth century, Mother and Child are frontal and regal. Mary's thronelike bench symbolized the lion-throne of Solomon, the Hebrew Bible king who represented earthly wisdom in the Middle Ages. Mary, as Mother and "God-bearer" (the Byzantine Theotokos), gave Jesus his human nature. She forms a throne on which he sits in majesty, but she also represents the Church. Although the Child's hands are missing, we can assume that the young Jesus held a book—the Word of God—in his left hand and raised his right hand in blessing. Such statues of the Virgin and Child served as cult objects on the altars of many churches during the twelfth century. They also sometimes took part in the liturgical dramas becoming popular in church services at this time. At the feast of the Epiphany, celebrating the arrival of the Magi to pay homage to the young Jesus, townspeople representing the Magi acted out their journey by searching through the church for the newborn king. The roles of Mary and Jesus were "acted" by such sculptures, which the "Magi" discovered on the altar. The Flight into Egypt capital from Autun in FIGURE 16-25 may record the theatrical use of a wooden statue, strapped to the back of a wooden donkey, that would have been rolled into the church on wheels, possibly referenced by the round forms at the base of the capital.

Reconstruction Drawing of the Abbey of Cluny

Burgundy, France. 1088-1130. View from the east. The monastery of Cluny was a city unto itself. By the second half of the eleventh century, there were some 200 monks in residence, supplemented by many laymen on whom they depended for material support. Just as in the Saint Gall plan of the Carolingian period, the cloister lay at the center of this monastic community, joining the church with domestic buildings and workshops. In wealthy monasteries such as Cluny, the arcaded galleries of the cloister had elaborated carved capitals as well as relief sculpture on piers. The capitals may have served as memory devices or visualized theology to direct and inspire the monks' thoughts and prayers.

Plan of the Abbey of Notre-Dame, Fontenay

Burgundy, France. 1139-1147. The abbey church, begun in 1139, has a regular geometric plan with a long bay-divided nave, rectangular chapels off the square-ended transept arms, and a shallow choir with a straight east wall. One of its characteristic features is the use of pointed barrel vaults over the nave and pointed arches in the nave arcade and side-aisle bays. Although pointed arches are usually associated with Gothic architecture, they are actually common in the Romanesque buildings of some regions, including Burgundy—we have already seen them at Cluny. Pointed arches are structurally more stable than round ones, directing more weight down into the floor instead of outward against the walls. Consequently, they can span greater distances at greater heights without collapsing.

Church Interior of the Abbey of Notre-Dame, Fontenay

Burgundy, France. 1139-1147. View toward the choir. The abbey church, begun in 1139, has a regular geometric plan with a long bay-divided nave, rectangular chapels off the square-ended transept arms, and a shallow choir with a straight east wall. One of its characteristic features is the use of pointed barrel vaults over the nave and pointed arches in the nave arcade and side-aisle bays. Although pointed arches are usually associated with Gothic architecture, they are actually common in the Romanesque buildings of some regions, including Burgundy—we have already seen them at Cluny. Pointed arches are structurally more stable than round ones, directing more weight down into the floor instead of outward against the walls. Consequently, they can span greater distances at greater heights without collapsing.

The Magi Asleep (A) And The Flight Into Egypt (B)

Capitals from the choir pier pilasters, Cathedral of Saint-Lazare, Autun, Burgundy, France. c. 1125. The creation of lively narrative scenes within the geometric confines of capitals (called historiated capitals) was an important Romanesque innovation in architectural sculpture. The same sculptors who worked on the Autun tympanum carved historiated capitals for pier pilasters inside the church. Two capitals (FIG. 16-25) depict scenes from the childhood of Jesus drawn from Matthew 2:1-18. In one capital, the Magi—who have previously adored and offered gifts to the child Jesus—are interrupted in their sleep by an angel who warns them not to inform King Herod of the location of the newborn king of the Jews. In an ingenious compositional device, the sculptor has shown the reclining Magi and the head of their bed as if viewed from above, whereas the angel and the foot of the bed are viewed from the side. This allows us to see clearly the angel—who is appearing to them in a dream—as he touches the hand of the upper Magus, whose eyes have popped open. As on the façade, the sculptor has conceived this scene in ways that emphasize the human qualities of its story, not its deep theological significance. With its charming, doll-like figures, the other capital shows an event that occurred just after the Magi's dream: Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are journeying toward Egypt to escape King Herod's order to murder all young boys so as to eliminate the newborn royal rival the Magi had journeyed to venerate.

Crucifix (Majestat Batllo)

Catalunya, Spain. Mid 12th century. Polychromed wood, height approx. 37¾". presents a clothed, triumphant Christ, rather than the seminude figure we have seen at Byzantine Daphni or on the Ottonian Gero Crucifix. This Christ's royal robes emphasize his kingship, although his bowed head, downturned mouth, and heavy-lidded eyes seem to convey sadness or introspection. The hem of his long, medallion-patterned tunic has pseudo-kufic inscriptions—designs meant to resemble Arabic script—a reminder that silks from Islamic Spain were highly prized in Europe at this time.

Christ And Disciples On The Road To Emmaus

Cloister of the abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, Castilla y Leon, Spain. c. 1100. Pier relief, figures nearly life-size. Three men seem to glide forward on tiptoe as their leader turns back. Their bodies are smooth and elongated, their legs cross in gentle angles, and their shoulders, elbows, and fingers form soft curves. Draperies delicately delineate shallow contours, and the bearded faces stare out with large, wide eyes from under strong brows. The figures interrelate and interlock, pushing against the limits of their architectural frame. Medieval viewers would have quickly identified the leader as Christ, not only by his commanding size, but specifically by his cruciform halo. The sanctity of his companions is signified by their own haloes. The scene reminds faithful Christians of the resurrected Christ and two of his disciples on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Christ has the distinctive attributes of a medieval pilgrim—a hat, a satchel, and a walking stick. The scallop shell on his satchel is the badge worn by pilgrims to a specific site: the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela. Early pilgrims who reached this destination in the far northwestern corner of the Iberian peninsula continued to the coast to pick up a shell as evidence of their journey. Soon shells were gathered (or fabricated from metal as brooches) and sold to the pilgrims—a lucrative business for both the sellers and the church. On the return journey home, the shell became the pilgrims' passport, a badge attesting to their piety and accomplishment. Other distinctive badges were adopted at other pilgrimage sites, too. This relief was carved on a corner pier in the cloister of the monastery of Santo Domingo in Silos, a major eleventh- and twelfth-century center of religious and artistic life south of the pilgrimage road across Spain.

Christ in Majesty

Detail of apse fresco, church of San Climent, Taull, Catalunya, Spain. Consecrated 1123. Artists in Catalunya brilliantly combined the Byzantine style with their own Mozarabic and Classical heritage in the apse paintings of the church of San Climent in the mountain village of Taull (Tahull), consecrated in 1123 just a few years before the church of San Clemente in Rome. The curve of the semidome of the apse contains a magnificently expressive CHRIST IN MAJESTY holding an open book inscribed Ego sum lux mundi ("I am the light of the world," John 8:12)—recalling in his commanding presence the imposing Byzantine depictions of Christ Pantokrator, ruler and judge of the world, in Middle Byzantine churches. The San Climent artist was one of the finest painters of the Romanesque period, but where he came from and where he learned his art is unknown. His use of elongated oval faces, large staring eyes, and long noses, as well as the placement of figures against flat bands of color and his use of heavy outlines, reflect the Mozarabic past (SEE Figure 15-14). At the same time, the influence of Byzantine art is revealed in his painting technique of modeling from light to dark through repeated colored lines of varying width in three shades—dark, medium, and light. Instead of blending the colors, he delights in the striped effect, as well as in the potential for pattern in details of faces, hair, hands, and muscles.

Stags Drinking From Streams Flowing Under The Crucified Christ

Detail of mosaics in the apse of the church of San Clemente, Rome. Consecrated 1128. The apse of San Clemente is richly decorated with marble revetment on the curving walls and mosaic in the semidome, in a system familiar from the Early Christian and Byzantine worlds (SEE Figure 7-20, Figure 8-6). The mosaics recapture this past glory, portraying the trees and rivers of paradise in a lavish vine scroll inhabited by figures, in the midst of which emerges the crucified Christ flanked by Mary and St. John. Twelve doves on the cross and the 12 sheep that march in single file below represent the apostles. Stags drink from streams flowing from the base of the cross, an evocation of the tree of life in paradise (FIG. 16-12). An inscription running along the base of the apse explains, "We liken the Church of Christ to this vine that the law causes to wither and the Cross causes to bloom," a statement that recalls Jesus's reference to himself as the true vine and his followers as the branches (John 15:1-11). The learned monks of San Clemente would have been prepared to derive these and other meanings from the evocative symbols within this elaborate, glowing composition.

Tower of Babel

Detail of painting in nave vault, abbey church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, Poitou, France. c. 1115. The paintings on the high vaults of Saint-Savin survive almost intact, presenting scenes from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. The nave was built c. 1095-1115, and the painters seem to have followed the masons immediately, probably using the same scaffolding. Perhaps their intimate involvement with the building process accounts for the vividness. According to the account in Genesis (11:1-9), God (represented here by a striding figure of Christ on the left) punished the prideful people who had tried to reach heaven by means of their own architectural ingenuity by scattering them and making their languages mutually unintelligible. The tower in the painting is Romanesque in style, reflecting the medieval practice of visualizing all stories in contemporary settings to stress their relevance for the contemporary audience. Workers haul heavy stone blocks toward the tower, presumably intending to lift them to masons on the top with the same hoist that has been used to haul up a bucket of mortar. The giant Nimrod, on the far right, simply hands over the blocks. These paintings embody the energy and narrative vigor that characterizes Romanesque art. A dynamic figure of God confronts the wayward people, stepping away from them even as he turns back, presumably to scold them. The dramatic movement, monumental figures, bold outlines, broad areas of color, and patterned drapery all promote the legibility of these pictures to viewers looking up in the dim light from far below. The team of painters working here did not use the buon fresco technique favored in Italy for its durability, but they did moisten the walls before painting, which allowed some absorption of pigments into the plaster and made them more permanent than paint applied to a dry surface.

Wiligelmo Creation And Fall Of Adam And Eve, West Facade, Modena Cathedral

Emilia, Italy. Building begun 1099; sculpture c. 1099. Height approx. 3′ (92 cm). The spirit of ancient Rome pervades the sculpture of Romanesque Italy, and the sculptor Wiligelmo may have been inspired by Roman sarcophagi still visible in cemeteries when he carved horizontal reliefs across the west façade of Modena Cathedral, c. 1099. Wiligelmo took his subjects here from Genesis, focusing on events from the CREATION AND FALL OF ADAM AND EVE. On the far left, God, in a mandorla (body halo) supported by angels, appears as both Creator and Christ, identified by a cruciform halo. Following this iconic image, the narrative of creation unfolds in three scenes from left to right: God brings Adam to life, then brings forth Eve from Adam's side, and finally Adam and Eve cover their genitals in shame as they eat fruit from the forbidden tree, around which the wily serpent twists. Wiligelmo's deft carving gives these figures a strong three-dimensionality. The framing arcade establishes a stagelike setting, with the rocks on which Adam lies and the tempting tree of paradise serving as stage props. Wiligelmo's figures exude life and personality; they convey an emotional connection with the narrative they enact. Bright paint, now almost all lost, must have increased their lifelike impact still further. An inscription at Modena proclaims, "Among sculptors, your work shines forth, Wiligelmo." This self-confidence turned out to be justified. Wiligelmo's influence can be traced throughout Italy and as far away as Lincoln Cathedral in England.

Plan and Reconstruction Drawing Of The Cathedral of St. James, Santiago De Compostela

Galicia, Spain. 1078-1122; western portions later. View from the east. which held the body of St. James, the apostle to the Iberian peninsula. Builders of this and several other major churches along the roads leading through France to the shrine developed a distinctive plan designed to accommodate the crowds of pilgrims and allow them to move easily from chapel to chapel to venerate relics. This "pilgrimage plan" is a model of functional planning and traffic control. To the aisled nave the builders added aisled transepts with eastern chapels leading to an ambulatory (curving walkway) with additional radiating chapels around the apse. This expansion of the basilican plan allowed worshipers to circulate freely around the church's perimeter, visiting chapels and venerating relics without disrupting services within the main space.

Renier of Huy Baptismal Font, Notre-Dame-Aux-Fonts

Liège, Belgium. 1107-1118. Bronze, height 23⅝". Bronze sculptor Renier of Huy (Huy is near Liège in present-day Belgium) worked in the Mosan region under the profound influence of classicizing early medieval works of art, as well as the humanistic learning of Church scholars. Hellinus of Notre-Dame-aux-Fonts in Liège (abbot 1107-1118) commissioned a bronze BAPTISMAL FONT from Renier that was inspired by the basin carried by 12 oxen in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem (I Kings 7:23-24).

Bishop Odo Blessing The Feast, The Bayeux Embroidery

Norman-Anglo-Saxon, perhaps from Canterbury, Kent, England. c. 1066-1082. Linen with wool embroidery, height 20″. Duke William and his brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, are feasting before the battle. Attendants bring in roasted birds on skewers, placing them on a makeshift table made of the knights' shields set on trestles. The diners, summoned by the blowing of a horn, gather at a curved table laden with food and drink. Bishop Odo—seated at the center, head and shoulders above William to his right—blesses the meal while others eat. The kneeling servant in the middle proffers a basin and towel so that the diners may wash their hands. The man on Odo's left points to the next event, a council of war between William (now the central and tallest figure), Odo, and a third man labeled "Rotbert," probably Robert of Mortain, another of William's halfbrothers. The text reads: "and here the servants (ministra) perform their duty. / Here they prepare the meal (prandium) /and here the bishop blesses the food and drink (cibu et potu). Bishop Odo. William. Robert." It is the story of a good man—Harold—who, like Shakespeare's Macbeth, is overcome by his lust for power and so betrays his lord—Duke William. The images of this Norman invasion also spoke to people during the darkest days of World War II. When the Allies invaded Nazi-occupied Europe in June 1944, they took the same route in reverse from England to beaches on the coast of Normandy. The Bayeux Embroidery still speaks to us of the folly of human greed and ambition and of two battles that changed the course of history.

Messengers Signal The Appearance Of Halley's Comet, The Bayeuk Embroidery

Norman-Anglo-Saxon, perhaps from Canterbury, Kent, England. c. 1066-1082. Linen with wool embroidery, height 20″. a strip of embroidered linen that recounts the history of the Norman Conquest of England. Its designer was a skillful storyteller who used a staggering number of images to tell the tale. In the 50 surviving scenes there are more than 600 human figures; 700 horses, dogs, and other creatures; and 2,000 inch-high letters. This work represents the kind of secular art that must once have been part of most royal courts. It could have been rolled up and transported from residence to residence as the noble Norman owner traveled throughout his domain, and some have speculated that it may have been the backdrop at banquets for stories sung by professional performers who could have received their cues from the identifying inscriptions that accompany most scenes. Eventually the embroidery was given to Bayeux Cathedral, perhaps by Bishop Odo, William's half-brother; we know it was displayed around the walls of the cathedral on the feast of the relics. Flanked by narrower bands of ornament, the broad, central narrative strip of the Bayeux Embroidery chronicles the events that led to Duke William of Normandy's conquest of England on October 14, 1066, when, after a long day of fighting, he became William the Conqueror, king of England. It may have been drawn by a Norman designer since there is a clear Norman bias in the telling of the story; it justifies William's conquest with the intensity of an eyewitness account. The style of the embroidery, however, suggests that Anglo-Saxons did the actual needlework. the Anglo-Saxon nobleman Harold swears his allegiance to William, but later he betrays this vow, accepting the crown of England for himself. Harold begins as a heroic figure, but then events overtake him. After his coronation, cheering crowds celebrate—until Halley's Comet crosses the sky (FIG. 16-31). The Anglo-Saxons, seeing the comet as a portent of disaster, cringe and point at this brilliant ball of fire with a flaming tail, and a man rushes to inform the new king. Harold slumps on his throne in the Palace of Westminster. He foresees what is to come: Below his feet is his vision of a ghostly fleet of Norman ships already riding the waves. Duke William has assembled the last great Viking flotilla on the Normandy coast. Unworthy to be king, Harold dies in the ensuing battle at the hands of William and the Normans.

Highlighting The Embroidery Stitching

Norman-Anglo-Saxon, perhaps from Canterbury, Kent, England. c. 1066-1082. Linen with wool embroidery. Although traditionally referred to as the "Bayeux Tapestry," this work is really an embroidery. In tapestry, the colored threads that create images or patterns are woven together during the process of production, completely covering the canvas ground that serves as their support; in embroidery, stitches are applied on top of a tightly woven fabric that serves as their support, as well as the ground behind the patterns they create. The embroiderers—probably Anglo-Saxon women based on the style—worked in tightly twisted wool that was dyed in eight colors and sewed onto fine linen cloth.

Interior of Durham Cathedral

Northern England. 1087-1133. Original east end replaced by a Gothic choir, 1242-c. 1280. Vault height about 73′. begun in 1087 and vaulted starting in 1093, is an impressive example of Norman Romanesque, but like most buildings that have been in continuous use, it has been altered several times (FIG. 16-18). The nave retains its Norman character, but the huge circular window lighting the choir is a later Gothic addition. The cathedral's size and décor are ambitious. Enormous compound piers and robust columnar piers form the nave arcade and establish a rhythmic alternation. The columnar piers are carved with chevrons, spiral fluting, and diamond patterns, and some have scalloped, cushion-shape capitals. The richly carved arches that sit on them have multiple round moldings and chevron ornaments. All this carved ornamentation was originally painted. Above the cathedral's massive piers and walls rises a new system of ribbed groin vaults. Romanesque masons in Santiago de Compostela, Cluny, Fontenay, Speyer, and Durham were all experimenting with stone vaulting—and adopted different solutions. The Durham builders divided each bay with two pairs of diagonal crisscrossing rounded ribs and so kept the crowns of the vaults close in height to the keystones of the pointed transverse arches. Although this allows the eye to run smoothly down the length of the vault, and from vault to vault down the expanse of the nave, the richly carved zigzagging moldings on the ribs themselves invite us to linger over each bay, acknowledging traditional Romanesque bay division. This new system of ribbed groin vaulting will become a hallmark of Gothic architecture, though there it will create a very different aesthetic effect.

Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-Sur-Gartempe

Poitou, France. Choir c. 1060-1075; nave c. 1095-1115. a tunnel-like barrel vault runs the length of the nave and choir. Without galleries or clerestory windows, the nave at Saint-Savin approaches the form of a "hall church," where the nave and aisles rise to an equal height. And unlike other churches we have seen, at Saint-Savin the barrel vault is unbroken by projecting transverse arches, making it ideally suited for paintings.

Interior, Speyer Cathedral

Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As remodeled c. 1080-1106. The imperial cathedral at Speyer in the Rhine River Valley was a colossal structure. An Ottonian, wooden-roofed church built between 1030 and 1060 was given a masonry vault c. 1080-1106. Massive compound piers mark each nave bay and support the transverse ribs of a groin vault that rises to a height of over 100 feet. The compound piers alternate with smaller piers supporting the vaults of the aisle bays. This rhythmic, alternating pattern of heavy and light elements, first suggested in Ottonian wooden-roofed architecture, became an important design element in Speyer. Since groin vaults concentrate the weight and thrust of the vault on the four corners of the bay, they relieve the stress on the side walls of the building—so large windows can be safely inserted in each bay to flood the building with light.

Tomb Cover With Effigy Of King Rudolf Of Swabia

Saxony, Germany. c. 1080. Bronze with niello, approx. 6'5½" x 2'2½". The oldest-known bronze tomb effigy (recumbent portrait of the deceased) is that of KING RUDOLF OF SWABIA, who died in battle in 1080. The spurs on his oversized feet identify him as a heroic warrior, and he holds a scepter and cross-surmounted orb, emblems of Christian kingship. Although the tomb is in the cathedral of Merseburg, in Saxony, the effigy has been attributed to an artist originally from the Rhine Valley. Nearly life-size, it was cast in one piece and gilded, though few traces of the gilding survive. The inscription around the frame was incised after casting, and glass paste or semiprecious stones may have originally been set into the eyes and crown. We know that during the battle that ultimately led to Rudolph's death he lost a hand—which was mummified separately and kept in a leather case—but the sculptor of his effigy presents him idealized and whole.

Dover Castle

Southern England. Aerial view. Center: Norman Great Tower, surrounding earthworks and wall, twelfth century. Outer walls, thirteenth century. Modern buildings have red tiled roofs. The castle was used in World War II and is now a museum. The need to provide for personal security in a time of periodic local warfare and political upheaval, as well as the desire to glorify the house of Christ and his saints, meant that communities used much of their resources to build castles and churches. Fully garrisoned, castles were sometimes as large as cities. In the twelfth century, DOVER CASTLE was a bold manifestation of military power that safeguarded the southeastern coast of England from invasion (FIG. 16-19). It illustrates the way in which a key defensive position developed over the centuries. The Romans had built a lighthouse on the point where the English Channel separating England and France narrows. The Anglo-Saxons added a church (both lighthouse and church can be seen in FIG. 16-19 behind the tower, surrounded by the remains of earthen walls). In the early Middle Ages, earthworks topped by wooden walls provided a measure of security, and a wooden tower signified an important administrative building and residence. The advantage of fire-resistant walls was obvious, and in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, military engineers replaced the timber tower and palisades with stone walls. They added the massive stone towers we see today.

Interior, Church of Sant Vincenc, Cardona

Spain. 1020s-1030s. Begun in the 1020s, it was consecrated in 1040. Castle residents entered the church through a two-story narthex into a nave with low narrow side aisles that permitted clerestory windows in the nave wall. The sanctuary was raised dramatically over an aisled crypt. The Catalan masons used local materials—small split stones, bricks, river pebbles, and very strong mortar—to raise plain walls and round barrel or groin vaults. Today we can admire their skillful stonework both inside and out, but the builders originally covered their masonry with stucco. To strengthen the exterior walls and enrich their sculptural presence, the masons added vertical bands of projecting masonry (called strip buttresses) joined by arches and additional courses of masonry to counter the weight and outward thrust of the vault.

South Portal, Tympanum showing Christ In Majesty, Prior Church of Saint-Pierre, Mosaic

Tarn-et-Garonne, France. c. 1115. A flattened figure of CHRIST IN MAJESTY dominates the huge tympanum (FIG. 16-21), visualizing a description of the Second Coming in Chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation. This gigantic Christ is an imposing, iconic image of enduring grandeur. He is enclosed by a mandorla; a cruciform halo rings his head. Although Christ is stable, even static, in this apocalyptic appearance, the four winged creatures symbolizing the evangelists—Matthew the man (upper left), Mark the lion (lower left), Luke the ox (lower right), and John the eagle (upper right)—who frame him on either side move with dynamic force, as if activated by his dramatic appearance . Rippling bands extend across the tympanum at Christ's sides and under him—perhaps representing waves in the "sea of glass like crystal" (Revelation 4:6). They delineate three registers in which 24 elders with "gold crowns on their heads" and either a harp or a gold bowl of incense (Revelation 4:4 and 5:8) twist to catch a glimpse of Christ's majestic arrival. Each of them takes an individually conceived pose and gesture, as if the sculptors were demonstrating their ability to represent three-dimensional human figures turning in space in a variety of postures, some quite challengingly contorted. Foliate and geometric ornament covers every surface surrounding this tableau. Monstrous heads in the lower corners of the tympanum spew ribbon scrolls, and other creatures appear at each end of the lintel, their tongues growing into ropes encircling acanthus rosettes. Two side jambs and a trumeau (central portal pier) support the weight of the lintel and tympanum. These elements have scalloped profiles that playfully undermine the ability of the colonettes on the door jambs to perform their architectural function. They give a sense of instability to the lower part of the portal, as if to underline the ability of the stable figure of Christ in Majesty to provide his own means of support. St. Peter and the prophet Isaiah flank the doorway on the jambs. Peter, a tall, thin saint, steps away from the door but twists back to look through it.

Healing Power of Relics

The crippled andsick cured at thetomb of St.Nicholas, Gentileda Fabriano, 1425,tempera on wood,from main altar ofSan NiccolòOltarno, Florence

Exterior, Speyer Cathedral

The exterior of Speyer Cathedral emphasizes its Ottonian and Carolingian background. Soaring towers and wide transepts mark both ends of the building, although a narthex, not an apse, stands to the west. A large apse housing the high altar abuts the flat wall of the choir; transept arms project at each side; a large octagonal tower rises over the crossing; and a pair of tall slender towers flanks the choir (FIG. 16-17). A horizontal arcade forms an exterior gallery at the top of the apse and transept wall, recalling the Italian practice at Pisa.

Cathedral Complex, Pisa

Tuscany, Italy. Cathedral, begun 1063; baptistery, begun 1153; campanile, begun 1174; Campo Santo, 13th century. When finished in 1350, the Leaning Tower of Pisa stood 179 feet high. The campanile had begun to tilt while still under construction, and today it leans about 13 feet off the perpendicular. In the latest effort to keep it from toppling, engineers filled the base with tons of lead. The cathedral was designed as a cruciform basilica by the master builder Busketos. A long nave with double side aisles (usually an homage to Old St. Peter's) is crossed by projecting transepts, designed like basilicas with their own aisles and apses. The builders added galleries above the side aisles, and a dome covers the crossing. Unlike Early Christian basilicas, the exteriors of Tuscan churches were richly decorated with marble—either panels of green and white marble or arcades. At Pisa, pilasters, applied arcades, and narrow galleries in white marble adorn the five-story façade.

Gislebertus(?) The Last Judgment

West portal tympanum, Cathedral of Saint-Lazare, Autun, Burgundy, France. c. 1120-1130 or 1130-1145. A different sculptural style and another subject appear at Autun on the portal of the church of Saint-Lazare (see "Closer Look"), which was built in the first half of the twelfth century as part of a cathedral complex to house the relics of St. Lazarus, becoming the cathedral of Autun itself only in 1195. The tympanum portrays the Last Judgment, in which Christ—enclosed in a mandorla held by two svelte angels—has returned at the end of time to judge the cowering, naked humans whose bodies rise from their sarcophagi along the lintel at his feet. The damned writhe in torment at Christ's left (our right), while on the opposite side the saved savor serene bliss. The inscribed message on the side of the damned reads: "Here let fear strike those whom earthly error binds, for their fate is shown by the horror of these figures," and under the blessed: "Thus shall rise again everyone who does not lead an impious life, and endless light of day shall shine for him" (translations from Grivot and Zarnecki).

The Nun Guda, Book Of Homilies

Westphalia, Germany. Early 12th century. Ink on parchment. she inserted her self-portrait into the letter D and signed it as scribe and painter, "Guda, the sinful woman, wrote and illuminated this book". This is a simple colored drawing with darker blocks of color in the background, but Guda and her monastic sisters played an important role in the production of books in the twelfth century, and not all of them remain anonymous. Guda's image is the earliest signed self-portrait by a woman in western Europe. Throughout the Middle Ages, women were involved in the production of books as authors, scribes, painters, and patrons.

John of Worcester Those Who Work; Those Who Fight; Those who Pray-The Dream of Henry I, Worcester Chronicle

Worcester, England. c. 1140. Ink and tempera on vellum, each page 12¾ x 9⅜". The earliest-known illustrated history book, written in the twelfth century by a monk named John, is the WORCESTER CHRONICLE (FIG. 16-30). The pages shown here concern Henry I (ruled 1100-1135), the second of William the Conqueror's sons to sit on the English throne. The text relates a series of nightmares the king had in 1130, in which his subjects demanded tax relief. The artist depicts the dreams with energetic directness. On the first night, farmers confront the sleeping king; on the second, armed knights surround his bed; and on the third, monks, abbots, and bishops present their case. In the fourth illustration, the king travels in a storm-tossed ship and saves himself by promising God that he will rescind the tax increase for seven years. The author of the Worcester Chronicle assured his readers that this story came from a reliable source, the royal physician Grimbald, who appears in the margins next to three of the scenes. The farmers capture our attention today because we seldom see working men with their equipment and simple clothing depicted in painting from this time.

Reliquary of St. Baudime

mid 12th century. France. Relic= A piece of a saint's body, venerated for its ability to sanctify a place and work miracles. Reliquary= Container for a relic; always ornate and luxurious, but forms vary widely by region and date. Relics obtained from Roman catacombs or other holy sites.