Differences between Romanesque art and Gothic art

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The Romanesque art and Gothic art They are artistic styles where the source of inspiration is going to be religion, with the difference that the Romanesque was predominant in Europe during the 11th - 12th - 13th centuries and the Gothic from the middle of the 12th century until practically with the advent of the Renaissance, that is, XV century. Next, in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to focus on seeing what the differences between Romanesque art and Gothic art so that you learn to detect each style.

Index

1. Architecture: differences between Romanesque and Gothic art
2. Sculpture: differences between Romanesque and Gothic art
3. Painting: differences between Romanesque and Gothic art

We begin by talking about differences between Romanesque art and Gothic art focusing on architecture.

The architecture in the Romanesque unfolds around the work of the monasteries

Related to this, we could say that the Romanesque is a eminently rural art since society is made up of peasants, warriors and monks while the Gothic has its development mainly in the cities also marked by the emergence of a new social class such as the bourgeoisie.

The big ones architectural differences occur above all in the construction elements Well, if in the Romanesque the Latin cross or basilical plants are going to be given, in the Gothic they are also going to be the basilical plant, although larger and the hall plants. Among the supports in the Romanesque we will see the simple and compound pillar and in the Gothic the fasciculated pillars, with regard to the arches in the Romanesque, semicircular arches predominate and in the Gothic arches pointed.

In addition, in gothic buildings especially in the great cathedrals we will see the use of flying buttresses to counteract the forces of their high walls, since they are buildings that are characterized by their slendernessQuite the contrary, to what the Romanesque has used to see, since these are buildings of smaller dimensions.

The romanesque is darkness due to the scarcity and lack of openings and windows in their constructions and in the gothic light It is going to be the most outstanding features with the stained glass construction.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we discover a summary of gothic art in Spain.

The romanesque sculpture Its main functions are not only to beautify the architectural complex but also a didactic function which consists of teaching all believers the new dogmas that existed at the time. It is a formal beauty, they do not care much about it because what really interests them is not the image itself but what it symbolizes and transmits.

Regarding the general characteristics of this we see that the Romanesque sculpture is going to be subordinate at all times to the architectural framework, mainly decorating the porticoes (jambs, archivolts ...) in whose tympanum we will see that the most represented will be the pantocrator (almighty Christ surrounded by the tetramorphs), capitals, pillars of cloisters…. Regarding the themes and iconography we will see both religious, related to the Bible and the lives of Saints and profane with geometric animal or floral themes.

Gothic sculpture is an evolution of Romanesque in which he will also give his vision of Christianity, but perfected because they are sculptures humanized, naturalistic, you individualize in which they express attitudes, emotions, gestures.

They also begin to give an independence from the architectural framework, as we will find free-standing sculptures, statues, columns, and new typologies such as tombs. Regarding the iconography, the Gothic sculptor is now inspired by the New Testament (Gospels) such as the life of Christ, the Saints, death, the Virgin, nature and man ...

In this other lesson we will discover the Romanesque art in the Middle Ages.

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We continue talking about the differences between Romanesque art and Gothic art to focus now on painting.

The romanesque painting As we said before with sculpture, it has a character in which the narrative predominates, the symbolic more than the decorative. They are very hieratic paintings (absence of movements), simple and schematic, in which they are used thick and black lines to delimit the contour of the figures and flat colors, since there is hardly any gradation in they.

In addition, they are very disproportionate figures with lack of perspectives since the backgrounds are monochrome instead of introducing architecture or landscapes and there is also a spatial ranking, in which the figures, depending on their importance, will be represented in a larger or smaller size.

On the subject of techniques and supports, we will see how the vast majority of paintings will be frescoed on walls and apses, although we will also see painting on panel, for the altar fronts and very characteristic also of Romanesque painting will be the illumination of the codices or manuscripts. In this other lesson we detail the main characteristics of Romanesque painting.

Gothic painting focuses more on the decorative function than on the narrative Hence, they are more human and expressive figures, with elongated and curvilinear proportions.

Unlike Romanesque painting, spatial frames will include landscape and architectural elements and when not, they will be about golden backgrounds (closely linked to the theme of light) that as time goes by they will disappear. Also, and unlike the Romanesque, you will see a predominance of the drawing on color.

Regarding the subject of techniques and supports, the paintings will be replaced by the stained glass windows that later were painted in various shades giving a light to the interior of the building of the most amazing, although also we will see painting on board Being the altarpiece the Gothic support par excellence for painting.

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