ART 301

ROMANESQUE ART

What You MUST Understand

· What “Romanesque” means (pan-European style, stone architecture, revival of monumental sculpture)

· How pilgrimage culture and monastic orders (Cluny, Santiago de Compostela) shaped art and architecture. The Pilgrimage culture influenced the design of churches and artworks.

· Characteristics of Romanesque churches:

o Thick walls

o Barrel vaults

o Rounded arches

Massive piers

o Radiating chapels

Sculptural tympanums

· Didactic relief sculpture: teaching a largely illiterate society

Key Works

• Saint-Sernin, Toulouse (Romanesque architecture large scale and pilgrimage church design)

• Reliquary of Sainte-Foy (A relic that houses the remains of Saint Foy)

• Last Judgment Tympanum (Gislebertus, Autun) (Romanesque tympanum depicting the Last Judgement)

• Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques (Romanesque church architectural innovations and pilgrimage)

• Bernardus Gelduinus Reliefs

• Bayeux Tapestry (technically Norman, but essential to Romanesque context) (Norman tapestry illustrates events leading up to the Norman Conquest)

Terms to Know

• Tympanum (Triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance featuring relief sculptures)

• Barrel vault (Continuous series of arches that create a tunnel like structure)

Pilgrimage church plan (A layout designed to accommodate pilgrims)

• Relic / Reliquary (An object or body part associated with a saint or religious figure)

Cluniac vs. Cistercian aesthetics (Cluniac emphasize ornate decoration while Cistercian focus on simplicity and functionality)

Be Able to Explain

• How architecture guided pilgrims (Architectural features like wide naves and chapels the flow of pilgrims and enhanced their spiritual experience)

• Why sculpture returned after centuries of decline (Religious devotion and the need for didactic art in churches led to the resurgence of sculpture)

• How the Last Judgment fits Romanesque spirituality (Focus on salvation and moral instruction, emphasizing the consequences of one’s actions in the afterlife)

II. GOTHIC ART

What You MUST Understand

(Gothic art evolved from Romanesque styles, incorporating new architectural techniques and a greater emphasis on verticality and light)

• How Gothic grows out of Romanesque Abbot Suger, St. Denis

• Rise of cities, universities, scholasticism

• Architecture as “theology in stone and light”

Key Gothic Features

• Pointed arch

• Ribbed vault

• Flying buttress

• Stained glass as divine light (lux nova)

• Dramatic height, verticality, skeletal structure

Major Monuments

• Saint-Denis (ambulatory)

• Chartres Cathedral

• Sainte-Chapelle

• Amiens Cathedral

• Reims Cathedral (jamb figures)

• Virgin of Jeanne d’Evreux

• Psalter of Saint Louis

Terms to Know

• Rose window (Stained glass window found in Gothic cathedrals with symbolic imagery)

• Tracery (ornamental stone openwork)

• Jamb sculpture (A sculpted human figure carved onto the jambs of a doorway)

• Scholasticism (Dominated teaching in medieval universities)

Lux nova (New light symbolizing the divine light that enters through stained glass)

Be Able to Explain

• What makes Gothic architecture structurally different from Romanesque

Symbolic meaning of light in Gothic cathedrals

• How sculpture becomes more naturalistic

III. EARLY MIDDLE AGES

A. Vikings / Norse (8th–11th centuries)

B. Viking/Norse art is characterized by interlace patterns, animal style ornamentation, and wood carving traditions.

Characteristics

• Interlace patterns

• Animal style ornament

• Wood carving traditions

Key Works

• Oseberg Ship Burial

• Viking wood carvings

• Animal-head posts

Know Terms

• Interlace (Decorative technique where patterns are woven together)

• Zoomorphic patterns (Designs that incorporate animal forms)

C. Carolingian Art

D. Associated with imperial imagery, standardization of script, book production, and classical revival.

Big Themes

• Charlemagne + revival of Roman imperial imagery

Standardization of script, book production, classical revival

Key Works

• Coronation Gospels

• Ebbo Gospels

• Palace Chapel of Charlemagne (Aachen)

Know Terms

• Renovatio Imperii (Renewal of the Empire, emphasizing the revival of Roman imperial authority)

• Westwork (A monumental, west-facing entrance of a Carolingian or Romanesque church)

C. Ottonian Art Big Themes

• Emotional expressiveness

• Monumental sculpture returns

Imperial Christian authority

Key Works

• Gero Crucifix

• Bronze Doors of Bishop Bernward (Hildesheim)

• Hildesheim Column

Know Terms

• Typology (Method interpreting biblical texts and figures in art)

• Narrative relief (Sculptural technique figures carved in a way that tells a story)

IV. BYZANTINE ART

What You MUST Understand

• Continuation of Roman Empire in the East

• Role of icons and iconoclasm

• Spirituality, abstraction, gold backgrounds

• Importance of imperial patronage

Key Works

• Hagia Sophia

• San Vitale (Justinian & Theodora mosaics)

• Theotokos icons

• Virgin and Child (Hodegetria type)

Terms

• Icon (A religious work of art that represents a holy figure or event)

• Mosaic (Small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials creating images)

• Pendentives (Architectural elements that allow a dome to be placed over a square room)

• Iconoclasm (Destruction of religious images and icons)

Be Able to Explain

• Why Justinian built Hagia Sophia (Demonstrate God’s glory, imperial power)

• Symbolism of gold backgrounds (Divine, eternity, and spiritual presence)

• Why Byzantine icons are not portraits (They aim to reveal spiritual reality)

V. BUDDHIST ART

What You MUST Understand

• Life of the Buddha

• Key symbols of early Buddhist art

• Mandalas & cosmic diagrams

• Differences between Theravada vs. Mahayana visual traditions

Key Works

• Great Stupa at Sanchi

Gandhara vs. Mathura Buddha styles

Bodhisattva Maitreya

• Buddha at Longmen Caves

• Borobudur (Indonesia)

Terms

• Stupa (Is a dome-shaped structure serving as a Buddhist shrine)

• Mandala (A geometric figure representing Hindu and Buddhist symbolism)

Bodhisattva (Path to Buddhahood but delays own to enlighten others)

• Mudra (A symbolic hand gesture to convey meanings or teachings)

• Ushnisha (A topknot or cranial bump on the head of a Buddha statue)

Be Able to Explain

• How Borobudur is both sculpture and spiritual journey (By embodying the Buddhist path to enlightenment through its structure, using relief carvings as a guide narrating Buddha’s life)

Differences between Gandharan and Mathura Buddhas (Gandhara is influenced by Greco-Roman styles resulting in realistic and idealized depictions while Mathura is an indigenous Indian style that use red sandstone to create spiritual images)

VI. KOREAN ART

What You MUST Understand

• Influence from China → distinctive Korean forms

• Buddhist golden crowns and burial mounds

• Unified Silla dynasty achievements

Key Works

• Gold Crown (Silla Kingdom)

• Buddha from Seokguram Grotto

• Celadon ceramics (Goryeo period)

Terms

• Celadon glaze (Type of glaze used in ceramics, jade-green color/ Korean pottery)

• Silla kingdom (A Korean kingdom existing from 57 BC to 935 AD)

Be Able to Explain

• How Korean celadon differs from Chinese traditions (Different glaze hues, Korean is more asymmetrical, organic aesthetic then Chinese, Chinese relied on carving or molding techniques)

VII. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN ART

What You MUST Understand

• Diverse regions, complex societies

• Art connected to leadership, ritual, ancestors

• Absence of written records → archaeology + ethnography

Key Works

• Nok Terracotta Figures (Nigeria)

• Ife Bronze Heads

• Kingdom of Benin (pre-1400 roots)

• Great Zimbabwe

Terms

• Lost-wax casting (A metal casting involves creating a wax model then melted away to leave a mold for casting metal)

• Nok (Terracotta sculptures of human and animal figures)

• Ife (Sculptures with naturalistic features sculptures depicting kings, queens, and attendants)

• Zimbabwe (Great stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe, symbolizing African spiritual connection)

Be Able to Explain

• Why African art relies on form, abstraction, and symbolism (To convey deep spiritual, social, and ideas beyond mere physical likeness, cultural ideals, ancestral connections)

• How metallurgy (bronze/iron) shaped cultural power (Revolutionizing agriculture, warfare, trade, and social structures)