Romanesque and Gothic Art

Chapter 11 – Romanesque Art

·      Romanesque – In the Roman Manner.

·      A stylistic term used to identify the art of the eleventh and 12^th century.

o   The roman model survived and was more apparent during this period.

·      Carolingian and Ottonian art developed mostly due to the patronage of the Royal Courts.

·      Romanesque developed from several sources and all across western Europe.

o   Christianity had become the dominant culture.

o   A growing spirit of religions enthusiasm.

§  1K had come and gone without the apocalypse.

§  1K had the impact of heightening spirituality.

o   A general growth in prosperity.

§  A reopening of the trade routes with the Mediterranean.

§  Technological improvements in farming allowed farmers to grow more than they could consume.

o   Monasticism, feudalism, urbanism, commerce, pilgrimage, crusade, papacy and the royal court all played their roles in internationalizing forces that affected the transmission of artistic forms.

·      Architecture

o   Increase in building activity.

§  There seemed to be a competition to surpass all the splendor of other churches ***** 351 (or so)

§  They were more richly ornamented and more “Roman Looking.”

§  Stone vaults instead of wooden roofs.

o   Increase and return of sculpture.

·      Mature Romanesque

o   The increased ability to people of all classes to travel.

o   Pilgrimage and a sense of community among the travelers (351).

§  Churches reflected the journey.

§  Elaborate sculpures.

§  355…Secular establishments were erected to provide needs for the pilgrims.

·      Roads and bridges were built to support pilgrims and encourages closer relationships abroad.

§  Increases in building technology with regard to church competition.

§  Dramatic reliefs, again competition.

Chapter  12 – Gothic Art

·       Started around 1140 in Paris, and vicinity.

o   Was adopted throughout most of western Europe within one hundred years. 

o   It pretty much disappeared by 1550.

o   400 Years.

·      Gothic: Is a 16^th century term to describe a style of buildings thought to have descended form the Goths.

o   Tribes in northern Europe during the Early Middle Ages.

o   Referred to as Opus Modernum (Modern Work).

·      Architecture played the dominate role in the Gothic style.

·      Applied to

o   Relgious, secular, castles, palaces and civic buildings.

o   During a time of flourishing building.

·      Can be applied politically as well as artistically.

·      No real sureties as to why it developed.

·      **** Collaborations **** 392 – Ambulatory of abby church of Saint-Denis.  Suger – brought together artisans from many different regions.

o   Quest for luminosity.

o   A combination of luminosity, divine light, and mathematical proportions or rations.

§  Exemplifies the laws by which divine reason made the universe.

o   *** Quest for spiritual enlightenment. ****

·      Heavy use of vaulted ceilings that allowed light.

·      Heavy use of stained glass.

·      *** intensifying the use of space in relationship to spiritual enlightenment.

·      Derived from Romanesque buildings.

·      418 Shift of manuscript production from the clergy to urban workshops organized by laypeople.

Greek Art

Chapter 5 – Greek Art

·      Ancestors of Western Civilization.

·      Western civilization is based on the images of the Greek and Roman worlds.

·      Greek thinkers looked at many dualities of life.

o   Order from disorder, Cosmos from Chaos.

o   Civilization vs. Barbarianism

§  Light v. the Dark

·      It is a mistake to think that we perceive the works in the same manner the ancient Greeks did.

·      There are generally three sources on Greek art, that are sometimes conflicting.

o   The works themselves.

o   Roman and Greek copies.

§  Sometimes multiple copies contradict each other.  We don’t know what the original looked like.

§  Roman copies tend to reflect Roman culture.

o   Literature.

·      Emergence of Greek Art: The Geometric Style.

o   First speaking Greek groups emerge about 2,000 B.C.E.

§  Dorians

§  The Ionians

§  Aeolians

o   Known as geometric style because of the predominance of linear designs.

·      Stone Sculpture – 103

o   Show affinities with techniques and proportional systems used by the Egyptian sculptures.

o   Four distinct sides reflecting the sides of the block.

o   Frontal – Standing.

o   They were free standing.

o   They were more stylized than Egyptian works.

o   Nudity:

§  Egyptians forced slaves to be nude.

o   Not a lot of identifying details.

§  More along the lines of ideals of the body.

§  Shared by mortals and immortals alike.

§  Only wealthy patrons could afford them.

·      Archaic Period:

o   700-450 B.C.E.

o   Dating periods are made on the naturalism of the sculptures.

§  They are difficult to date. 

·      Synoptic Narrative – Two different points in a story fused into one.

·      The Classic Age

o   From the end of Persian wars 490 B.C.E to the Death of Alexander the Great.

o   Sought visual harmony in proportioned systems and artists achieved heightened naturalism in depicting the human form.

o   More detail emphasized the sculptures three-dimensionality and encouraged a viewer to move around it and brought out the naturalism of the pose.

o   The natural lines incurred by poses also brought the feeling of movement.

o   125 – Artists contrasting vigorous action and firm stability.  Shows the artists understanding of bodies and the craft and knowledge of their art.

o   Some were studies in anatomy against compositional styles. 126

§  Individual body elements speaking to a whole pose.

o   The Greeks admired great men and their deeds.

o   Their ideals were personified by the gods and expressed.  Their art was a blend of art, deeds and myth 129.

o   Art was a reflection of their ideals and perfection and nuances to emotion, composition, and craft all elevated the impact of the works.

§  Implied movement

§  Facial expressions

§  Posing

§  All in line to compare and contrast morality

o   133 – Aristotle notes only a slight resemblance to morality through sculptures and painting.  If one likes the copy, then one likes the original.

o   People should learn to draw in order to help them become judges of the beauty of the human form.

·      Hellenistic Sculpture: Expression and Movement.

o   Explored emotion, three-dimensional movement.

o   Heightened drama in viewer involvement.

o   Portraiture was a chief development.

o   Individual likeness was used.

o   Alexander the Great is attributed to the movement as portraiture as his image was used all over.

o   A distant gaze was given to Alexander and would be used for other great generals.

o   Dramatic subjects infused with emotion were the preferred.

o   155; “Gone is the Classical tradition of referring to the enemy through mythological analogy.”

o   157: Greek Classicism: Winckelmann was to capture an ideal beauty that transcended nature.

o   Hellenistic Realism.

o   Baroque – extreme emotions, extravagant gestures and theatrical locations.

Early Christian, Jewish and Byzantine Art

History of Art – Chapter 8 – Earlly Jewish, Christian and Byzantine Art.

·      Byzantine – The Eastern Roman empire.

·      Jews were a Semetic people descended from the ancient Hebrews.

·      Christians were persecuted by the Romans until 300 C.E.

o   Until Constantine.

o   Constantine:

§  Promoted Christianity.

§  Placed himself as head of the church and the state.

o   This was the fusion of the Christians and Romans that would affect all of European history.

o   Led to the division of the

§  Western or Catholic Church and

§  Eastern Orthodox Church.

·      Distinctions in Art

o   Early Christian – Any art produced within five centuries of Jesus’s birth.

o   Byzantine – Art form the Eastern Empire, and a specific culture and style linked to the imperial court of Constantinople.

o   Constantinople being Rome’s counterpart in the east.

·      Early Christian Art

o   Concentrated on symbolic representation, using physical means to express a spiritual essence.

o   Stylized and abstracted art forms of the late Roman empire into a visual language that could express spirituality and secular power.

·      Constantine marks the beginning of the middle ages while the renaissance marks it end.

·      Early Jewish Art:

o   Jewish and Christian art affected each other.

o   Each seem to be interested and stimulated by the other.

o   Both Jewish and Christian art developed within the Roman environment and culture.

o    237.

·      Wall paintings/murals

o   Illustrate scenes from the Hebrew Bible (237).

o   Floor mosaics – reminiscent of Roman mosaic work.

·      Early Christian Art

o   Christian art before Constantine.

o   Roman Catacombs – the only sizable body of material to study earliest Christian art.

o   Can reflect roman style of painting and murals.

§  Use of linear devices to separate scenes

§  Differed in that the Christian works were from less natural observation.

§  Portrayed scenes of Jesus.

§  Used Jewish and Pagan culture to dominate and supplant it.

o   Played a secondary role.

§  Moved away from spatial depth and naturalism in an effort to stay away from creating false idols.

o   Lots of references to the good shepherd and Adam and Eve.

§  Indicate a general concern with issues of death and retribution, resurrection and salvation.  245.

o   The rise of Christian churches occurred after Constantine’s official recognition of the church.

o   A clear shift to the glorify god.

o   The basilica became the basic model for the church.

§  They design the romans used worked, but had to be redesigned. 

§  A fusion of Roman and Christianity.

§  The alter became the focal point.

o   Constantine continued to follow Roman imperial traditions, even thought he practiced Christianity.

§  He selected spots important to Jesus’s life and buildings were constructed with heavy Roman influence.

o   Christian Mosaic pieces were made of glass that had more brilliance as they reflected light and many more colors, including gold, were possible.

o   ** 248 The challenge of inventing a body of Christian imagery produced and extraordinary creative outpouring.

§  Large Pictorial styles were selected from the Hebrew and Christian Bibles.

o   *** 249 Books were held in esteem as early Christians considered themselves people of the books.

§  Books would become critical in Christianity.

§  Valuing books would were traits shared by Hebrew and Muslim faith.

o   *** 250 – Images of Christ were removed from naturalism as he was represented as being human and of spirit, living beyond this world.

o   *** Note

§  The Greeks celebrated virtue.

§  The Romans celebrated action and achievement.

§  The Christians represented salvation.

o   Large wall depictions could have come from illustrated bibles and books. 

§  This may account for some similarity.

o   Judaism and Christianity were based on the Word of God as revealed in the Bible. 252

o   Vellum Codex replaced Papyrus.

§  Allowed for rich colors and pigments.

·      Byzantine Art

o   Not a lot of difference between Western and Eastern early Christian art.

o   However, between 527-565, the Western Empire declined and Constantinople became the cultural and political center.

§  Western art were dominated by Celtic and Germanic peoples.

§  Eastern did not have that break.

o   Sculptures consist mainly of reliefs in ivory and silver.

§  Reminiscent of classical ivories.

§  Hellenistic aspects of Winged Victories from detail in the robes.

o   Icons

§  Jesus, Madonna, and saints were objects of personal and public veneration.

§  They were considered portraits.

·      There was concern about hem being considered idols, again the second commandment, and attributing power to them.

·      Again, the portrayal of Christ as both God and Man.

·      These became the originals in which many, many copies were made.

·      Icons functioned as living images to instruct and inspire the worshiper.  *** 263

o   Iconoclastic Controversy

§  726 ce and lasted over 100 years.

§  Huge feud over the representation of icons as a form idolatry.

§  Lots of destruction of works.

§  Wanted only to use symbols, plants and animals to project Christianity.

·      Middle Byzantine art

o   There was a rapid recovery from the iconoclastic Controversy.

§  Also a return to secular art.