2 types of SCULPTURE of Romanesque art

The romanesque sculpture was defined by Saint Gregory the Great as the poor man's bible, that is, in addition to their decorative function, they also had an important doctrinal component. An artistic manifestation that was strongly linked to architecture when used to decorate capitals, portals, eaves, cornices, cloisters and all those places that the faithful could contemplate and admire.

In this lesson of unPROFESOR.com we tell you the types of sculpture of romanesque art so that you know in more detail this important movement in the history of art.

Index

1. What are the types of sculpture of Romanesque art
2. What themes are represented in Romanesque sculptures?
3. How was the sculpture in Romanesque art?

He iconographic program of the Romanesque art It presents a series of types that can be summarized in two:

• Free-standing or round sculpture. In a round shape, Christ on the cross is often represented, with a hieratic face and no expression of pain. or suffering and the Byzantine-style virgins with the child in her arms and without any type of interrelation between both.
  instagram story viewer
• Relief sculpture. Regarding the relief, we also find a series of typical characteristics such as its subordination to the frame architecture, its indoctrinating function, if hieraticism and the so-called "horror vacui" or fear of leaving space empty compositional.

The Romanesque relief sculpture They are subdivided into two types:

• profane Romanesque relief sculpture
• religious Romanesque relief sculpture

The first of them, the profane, was inspired by bestiaries, introducing as animal motifs, geometric shapes and the signs of the Zodiac.

The nun has as recurring motifs:

• he tetramorphs or symbol of the four evangelists, usually located next to the figure of Christ and located in the area of ​​the apse and the eardrums. The tetramorph would be made up of an angel representing Saint Matthew, an ox representing Saint Luke, a lion representing Saint Mark and an eagle representing Saint John.
• He Pantokrator or Almighty God and majestic that instills fear and respect in the faithful. A figure carrying the Gospels in her left hand and blessing with her right hand. It is usually placed inside the so-called mandorlas or almond-shaped shapes that surround and highlight the figures.
• Representations of the Last Judgment in the eardrums of the churches. A scene in which a risen Christ appears flanked by angels and a group of people who are being divided into the damned and the blessed.
• The Virgin surrounded by the apostles.

In unProfesor we discover the main characteristics of Romanesque art.

The themes are religious and are marked many times by the traumatic experience of the terror of the year 1000. A moment in which fear of the end of the world is very present and the representation of the Apocalypse becomes one of the recurring themes in the Romanesque.

The Christs in Majesty or Pantokrator, the Tetramorphs or the representation of the apostles are other common themes, like the apocalyptic Lamb, the Crismones or God with Christ in his arms.

To this reason are added the themes of animals, vegetables or scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

Here is a sample of the best works of art of the Romanesque in Spain.

The Romanesque sculptor was inspired by him and his guide in the theologians. They were the ones who pointed out to the artist which images he had to represent and in which places he had to do it so that the message reached the largest possible number of faithful. Thus, the artist had to bend his work and creativity to a predetermined iconographic program.

Thus, the Romanesque sculptor had as sources of inspiration the religious manuscripts, especially the bestiaries full of fantastic figures; the mural painting that decorated the interiors and that were later sculpted on the covers and, finally, the fabrics from the East and in which all kinds of fantastic figures were represented.

Characteristics of Romanesque sculpture

To convey this message, Romanesque sculpture had as main characteristics:

• The Romanesque was a anti-naturalist and symbolic style, without trying to be realistic and proportions are not followed, giving priority to the spiritual.
• So the figures are disproportionate, with large heads, faces that protrude and have large eyes, large hands, hiding the rest of the body under clothing.
• All figures are geometric.
• there is barely nudes, except Adam and Eve and the representations of the soul.
• The covers usually polychrome, assuming that the color had great symbolism in the Romanesque.
• Over time the sculpture will gain naturalism and independence from the architectural space, giving way to the more humanized and naturalistic sculptures of the Gothic.

If you want to read more articles similar to Types of Romanesque art sculpture, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

• ARIAS, Inés Monteira. The imagined enemy: Hispanic Romanesque sculpture and the fight against Islam. CNRS-Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, 2012.
• FOCILLON, Henri. Romanesque sculpture: research on the history of forms. Akal Editions, 1987.
• MONEO, Maria Luisa Melero. Eva-Ave. The Virgin as rehabilitation of women in the Middle Ages and her reflection in the iconography of Romanesque sculpture. Lambard: Estudis d'art medieval, 2002, no 15, p. 111-134.
• ROMO, Francisco Gracia. French Romanesque sculpture up to 1090. Spanish Art Archive, 1959, vol. 32, no. 126, p. 121.

✕︎