If we talk about Romanesque art, surely we will all be quite clear to which period we are referring to. Indeed, it is one of the best known artistic styles of the Middle Ages, generally presented in contrast to the Gothic. Surely, in many manuals you will have seen the Romanesque identified with a certain intellectual darkness and with a poor and rural Europe; On the contrary, Gothic is related, without exception, to the awakening of cities, the bourgeoisie and medieval humanism.
This generalization is not without reason, of course; However, and as always, you should not get carried away completely by clichés. Because although, indeed, the Romanesque is the son of feudalism, it is no less true that the full Romanesque coincides with the rise of cities and medieval scholasticism and that, in fact, the first and most important cathedrals in Europe were built in this style. Some examples are the cathedrals of Pisa and Verona, in Italy, those of Santiago de Compostela and Lisbon in the Iberian Peninsula, that of Bamberg in Germany and that of Arles, in France.
What do we know, then, about Romanesque art? And, above all, what do we call Romanesque art? What are the characteristics of this artistic style? Is Romanesque a unique style, or, on the contrary, does it present significant differences depending on the region and the historical moment? We propose a journey to the birth and gestation of the Romanesque; a journey in which, in addition to offering a general overview, we will try to shed light on some of the most frequent and widespread topics of this style of the Middle Ages.
Indeed, the artists of the Middle Ages who built Romanesque churches and monasteries did not call themselves Romanesque artists. In fact, the vast majority of artistic denominations appeared much later than the style or era to which they refer, and not always in an appreciative way.
Medieval art, so reviled for centuries, began to regain the interest of scholars in the 19th century. It was in this century when the word Romanesque was coined to refer to the art of the first centuries of the Middle Ages. The term emphasizes the late Roman and “decadent” solutions that this medieval style was believed to use ; That is, the word Romanesque was used in a derogatory sense.
William Gunn, art historian, was the first to use the term in 1819. He called the buildings of this era Romanesque Architecture; A little later, in 1830, Arcisse de Caumont refers to this style as roman, making a clear parallel between Romanesque, which, according to him, comes from Roman art, and the Romance languages, which derive from Latin.
This Arcisse was right; In fact, although Romanesque is a common artistic expression throughout Europe, Each region has specific peculiarities just as each vernacular language is an interpretation of the mother tongue, Latin.
Let’s see, first, what is the periodization and context of this style. Then, we will comment on the general characteristics of Romanesque art and, finally, we will stop to analyze the geographical particularities of this style.
The stages of the Romanesque
Traditionally, art historians have distinguished three stages in the evolution of the Romanesque style: the first Romanesque (10th-11th centuries), the full Romanesque (11th-12th centuries) and the late Romanesque or late Romanesque (12th-13th centuries) However, and as always when we talk about historical periods, this separation is generic and conventional, with the sole objective of facilitating the study of the Romanesque, since this periodization is not fulfilled in all places in Europe in the same way. For example, in the Holy Roman Empire the periodization of the first Romanesque coincides with the so-called Ottonian art, very characteristic of the time and the region, and which presents important differences.
The so-called full Romanesque style can be considered a common style in Europe (despite the regional particularities that we have discussed in the first section). This style spread throughout Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries, spurred by a series of very specific historical and social circumstances, which we will point out below.
The Gregorian reform and the unity of the rite
The reform of the Church carried out by Pope Gregory VII in the 11th century greatly influenced the expansion of this more or less homogeneous European style. Among other things, because The Gregorian reform represents the unification of the Catholic liturgy in all territories ; That is, from that moment on, all European churches must follow the Roman rite in their liturgies. Temples have to adapt, therefore, to this homogenization, a fact that facilitates the appearance of buildings with very similar and specific characteristics.
The feeling of Christian unity: pilgrimages and the Crusades
During the centuries of the full Romanesque period, an unprecedented feeling of spiritual unity emerged in Europe. The roads are filled with pilgrims who spread the news and updates from city to city. Devotion towards the relics of saints grows without stopping ; In fact, for an altar to be consecrated, it must house a holy relic. As a result of this devotional fever, new temples are erected in all corners of the continent, most built in this new style that is expanding throughout Europe.
The First Crusade reactivates the roads to the East and promotes a religious feeling that unifies all Europeans ; It will be this feeling that, in the end, reinforces a unique artistic expression. Furthermore, the crusaders returned from the Holy Land with sacred relics and Byzantine works of art, which have special relevance in the configuration of Romanesque art.
Thus, as we will see later, Byzantine icons, which show hieratic and flat figures on wood, will have a great influence on Romanesque painting. For their part, the mosaics of the Byzantine East will greatly impact the art of northern Italy; St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice is a typical example of this Italian “orientalizing” Romanesque.
Universities and the exchange of knowledge
Contemporaneous with this world of heightened religiosity, we find the first universities, emerging in the shelter of the increasingly flourishing cities. These centers of knowledge attract students from all over Europe, and this incessant flow of intellectuals exchanging knowledge will also have a lot to do with the transmission of the artistic developments of the moment.
Cluny Abbey and its expansion throughout Europe
Cluny Abbey, in the Burgundy region, was founded in 910, and soon It becomes the epicenter of a huge network of monasteries that extends throughout Europe Until that time, European monasticism was characterized by great dispersion. Cluny will be, in this sense, a great unification of monastic buildings (more than 1,000 throughout Europe) that, in the end, will lead to a stylistic unification that will spread throughout the continent.
But what are these characteristics that spread throughout Europe and that make up the so-called full Romanesque? Let’s see them below.
General characteristics of Romanesque art
As a style present throughout medieval Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries, full Romanesque has specific characteristics. Before stopping at the peculiarities of each region, we are going to do a brief review of what these general characteristics of European Romanesque are.
The building par excellence in Romanesque art is, of course, the church The building usually has a basilica or Latin cross plan, and has, on its eastern side, a semicircular or straight apse and, on the western part, an entrance portico to the church. Attached to the building we find the bell tower; The most common thing is that there are two (framing the main western façade), but we also find examples with a single tower (for example, the churches of the Bohí Valley, in Catalonia). Another typology of bell tower common in the Romanesque is the belfry, a wall that protrudes vertically from the rest of the building and in which openings open where the bells are sheltered.
The most common roof in Romanesque constructions is the barrel vault with transverse arches and exterior buttresses, but we can also find semicircular or pointed vaults. In fact, it is a mistake to relate this type of pointed arch only to the Gothic, since we find many Romanesque buildings that use this solution; among them, the paradigmatic church of the Cluny abbey. Another of the vaults used by the Romanesque is the groin vault, which is formed by the confluence of two barrel vaults.
In monasteries, the most important element is the cloister, open space from where the monastic rooms are articulated. In each of the pandas or sides of the cloister we find capitals where sculpture abounds, with great iconographic diversity: from religious and biblical scenes to elements of plant or animal decoration, through figures from the medieval bestiary and geometric decoration.
During the full Romanesque period, the era of pilgrimages par excellence, pilgrimage churches make an appearance This typology of buildings adds the ambulatory, that is, the ambulatory or corridor that surrounds the rear part of the presbytery. This new Romanesque element not only allows pilgrims to move around the main altar while the liturgy is being celebrated, but also allows several masses to be celebrated at the same time, since the apsidioles, small apses, open to the ambulatory. arranged in battery.
Romanesque sculpture
In Romanesque churches an authentic iconographic program is displayed, which is concentrated on the doorways and cloisters. On the facades of churches, the sculpture is found mainly in the tympanum and archivolts. Romanesque sculpture is subordinate to architecture, so the forms adapt to the space and the shape of the building. The iconographic program usually revolves around the Divinity, surrounded by the mandorla or almond; that is to say, the figure of Christ as judge, the so-called Pantocrator
Around it, it is very common to find the Tetramorfos, that is, the representation of the four evangelists: the eagle for Saint John, the angel for Saint Matthew, the ox for Saint Luke and the lion for Saint Mark. A fairly recurring iconography is the Virgin Theotokos, or the Virgin as mother of God, a figure that comes directly from the Byzantine world.
In both Romanesque sculpture and painting we find a strong conventionalism in the resolution of the figures. The images are stereotyped and offer little freedom for innovation (although, in reality, each artist is different). Let us remember that In the Middle Ages, it was not how it was represented that mattered, but what was represented Medieval plastic art is an eminently conceptual art; it captures transcendent realities, not tangible realities. For this reason, in both sculpture and painting, the concepts of space-time are suppressed; The world represented is beyond the reality that surrounds us.
Romanesque painting
In the Romanesque, we find three main forms of pictorial manifestation: mural painting, panel painting and mosaic
We have already commented that the latter draws directly from the models of late Antiquity, as well as from the Byzantine world, and is present, above all, in the Romanesque of the Italian Peninsula, especially in the Veneto area and Sicily. For its part, in panel painting there are many altar frontals and altarpieces (from the Latin retro-tabulum, literally, behind the altar table).
Regarding mural painting, perhaps the best-known typology of Romanesque art, we can clearly distinguish two techniques: tempera and fresco painting While the first technique offers poor conservation, since the pigment only adheres to the surface, the second guarantees greater durability, since the fresco technique allows the wall to absorb the pigments and, in this way, the painting remains integrated into the wall. But, precisely for this reason, fresco painting is a much more complicated technique, since, to guarantee this absorption, the artist had to work on the still wet wall. This obviously slowed down the process, since during each work day only a specific part of the wall could be painted.
The main Romanesque pictorial iconography was in the apse, which was, of course, the most important part of the church. But this does not mean we should think that the rest of the walls were bare. Quite the contrary; The entire building was polychrome (exposed stone is another of the medieval clichés). The iconographic program dealt, once again, with Christ the judge, represented as the light of the world (Ego sum lux mundi), and with the Virgin in Majesty as the mother of God (two of the best examples are the Pantocrator of San Clemente de Taüll and the Virgin in Majesty of Santa María de Taüll). Likewise, there is no room for realistic representation; Concepts are captured, which are articulated through horizontal bands. The figures show representative conventions and stereotyped models, and the colors are flat and intense, with a clear influence of the Mozarabic codices.
The “Romanesque” of Europe
We have already discussed it in the introduction; Although full Romanesque is a fairly homogeneous style, each region presents its particularities. Let’s see, quickly, what these characteristics are.
Italy
The most recognizable characteristic of the Romanesque in Italy is the inclusion of the campanile or free tower, that is, not attached to the church. In the same way, the baptistery stands apart, as a building with its own personality. The Pisan complex is a magnificent example of this Italian typology.
In the Tuscan Romanesque in particular, the buildings present marked bichromaticity in the materials. Finally, we can highlight the enormous Byzantine influence that the Romanesque of Veneto presents (such as the aforementioned Cathedral of San Marcos in Venice), as well as in Sicily, which also shows Arab and Norman influence.
France
In France, obviously, the example of the Burgundian monastery of Cluny prevails which, as we have already mentioned, exports its monastery model to the rest of Europe. Furthermore, on the French and Burgundian covers we find great monumentality in the figures, as witnessed by the cover of Saint Peter of Moissac.
Holy Roman German Empire
In the Germanic zone of the Empire, Romanesque buildings have a very pronounced verticality Furthermore, its powerful and thick walls give the sacred buildings the appearance of fortresses, which is accentuated by the scarce ornamentation.
The Aragonese and Catalan Pyrenees area
In the Pyrenees area we find an evident Lombard influence, as well as elements from Cluny. Also characteristic of these churches is the unique bell tower attached to the temple
Camino de Santiago, Castilla y Navarra
The marked role that Cluny had on the Camino de Santiago is reflected in the stylistic influence that this monastery exerted on the buildings in the area. It was Alfonso VI of León and Constance of Burgundy (his wife, who came precisely from the duchy where Cluny was located) who spread the Cluniac precepts throughout the kingdom, through the founding of monasteries intended for repopulation.
