·         Suffolk, England – ANGLO SAXON

·         Discovered in ship burial site

·         Placed on shoulder to secure leather body armor

·         Decorated with stylized animal forms – interlacing snakes, boars with floppy ears (strength, bravery)

• located in Ahenny
• mimic metalwork 

·         wood

·         Prow with serpent’s head, interlaced animals in low-relief along edges

o   Grotesque beasts – bulging eyes snarling mouths, large teeth/claws; traces of color

·         792–805 – CAROLINGIAN

Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), Germany

·         Central, octagonal plan (San Vitale) BUT with monumental western entrance block à westwerk

o   Ground-floor narthex and upper-story throne room which opens onto chapel interior – emperor has unobstructed view of liturgy at high altar, also private/safe; opens to outside as well for public appearances 

·         - CAROLINGIAN

·         Gold, pearls, sapphires, garnets, emeralds 13 3/4 × 10 3/8” –book cover, but originally made for another book

·         Cross and Crucifixion common book cover themes

OTTONIAN

o   Alternating rectangular piers and round columns – playing with rhythms of heavy and light, rectangular and round – balance

§  Prefigures Romanesque exploration of wall design

OTTONIAN 1015

·         Each door cast as single piece in lost-wax process, later detailed and reworked with animated figures

o   Figures rounded out, landscape/architectural settings in low relief so figures stand out – lively and spontaneous

• most complicated lost-wax since antique

st.James Cathedral Plan

·         1078–1122; western portions later.

·         Galicia, Spain

·         Major pilgrimage goal – church planned for “traffic control” à expansion of basilica plan

o   Aisled nave and transepts, radiating chapels

·         Exhibits basic characteristics of Romanesque architecture:

o   Rounded arches and vaults

o   Use of heavy stone masonry, stone vaults

o   Nave/transept is divided into clear and regular bays

o   Plain windows, and few of them (NOT stained glass)

·         Sculptural form to interior

·         Conques, France

·         Silver gilt over wooden core, added gems and cameos, height 33”

·         Houses relic of child martyr Ste. Foy

·         Her skull stolen by monks of Conques from shrine at Agen – “holy robbery”

o   Monks said Ste. Foy told them she wanted to move

o   They put her in this case – unusually large head – repurposed Roman work

§  More jewels, crown added over time (some were gifts from pilgrims)

·         Tuscany, Italy

·         Regional adaptation of Romanesque architecture

o   HERE – ongoing influence of Rome and Early Christianity

·         Cathedral

o   Designed by master builder Busketos

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·         Norman Romanesque

·         Nave arcade – alternation between compound and columnar piers creates rhythm

o   Columnar piers carved with chevrons, fluting, diamond patterns with scalloped/cushion shaped capitals

·         Ribbed groin vaults – eye can run smoothly down length of vault

o   Becomes hallmark of Gothic architecture

·         Priory Church of Saint-Pierre, Moissac, France

o   Cluniac priory – major pilgrimage site; dates to Carolingian period, but during 12^th c., monks launch ambitious building campaign

·         Flattened Christ dominates tympanum – representation of second coming

§  Framed by four winged creatures (symbols of Evangelists) à activate composition

·         Rippling bands around Christ delinieate 3 registers of Elders watching Christ’s arrival

o   Each has individual features, pose – demonstrates sculptors’ ability to represent detailed 3D figures in confined space

·         Also foliage, scrolls, heads, rosettes used for decoration

·         St. Peter and prophet Isaiah flank doorway

Gislebertus (?) (signed beneath Christ – sculptor OR donor?)

o   More expressive, angular, and stylized

§  Human interest – evoke empathy: viewers can project themselves into what’s going on

o   Figures not arranged in compartmentalized tiers but by role they play in narrative

·         C. 1066-1082

·         Harold = Anglo-Saxon nobleman who betrayed William

o   Took throne of England for himself and betrays his feudal vows – unworthy of title; dies in battle at hands of William; provides justification for his actions against Harold

·         Here is scene from Harold’s coronation: celebration cut short when Halley’s comet crosses sky

o   Anglo-Saxons see this as bad omen – point at it, one man rushes to tell Harold who slumps over: he too foresees what’s to come

§  Vision of Norman ships at his feet

·         From a 1927–1933 facsimile of the frontispiece of the Liber Scivias of Hildegard of Bingen. Original, 1150–1175

·         Hildegard founded on convent c. 1147, wrote important treatises on medicine and science, and was a gifted composer

·         Received command from god in 1141 to record the mystical visions she had been experiencing since age 5 (perhaps b/c of migraines?)

o   Resulting book = Liber Scivias – words and images of visions

·         THIS = one of her visions

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·         First Gothic building = this Benedictine abbey

o   Special royal significance – tombs of French kings, regalia of crown, and relics of St. Denis, patron saint of France.

·         Construction supervised by Abbot Suger (abbot 1122-1151)

o   Prized magnificence, precious materials, and fine workmanship

§  Invited masons, sculptors, metalworkers, glass painters from all over the continent – center of artistic exchange

§  EXPENSIVE!

·         Paris, France

·         Flying buttresses – increase window size while still supporting massive (115 ft) vault

o   Arching exterior supports that counter lateral thrust of nave; transfer weight outward

·         Use of gargoyles to protect foundation

·         West façade c. 1134; rebuilt after a fire in 1194; building continued to 1260; north spire 1507-1513

·         New conceptions of space, walls explored further in Chartres

·         Site of pre-Christian virgin-goddess cult, later dedicated to Mary

o   Oldest and most important Christian shrine in France (relic =linen worn by Mary when she gave birth)

§  Kings, queens, prophets of Hebrew bible

·         Evoke Christ’s royal and spiritual ancestry and connect Church to French royal house

·         Elongated figural proportions (//columns behind them) but very lifelike drapery

o   Carefully carved, idealized heads

o   The entrance of the Chartres cathedral is on the west side and the altar is placed on the east side. They say this because the sun rises in the east.

o   pointed arches, compound piers, ribbed groin vaults, exterior flying buttresses

§  Buttresses allow for larger clerestory windows, development of triforum level

o   Lancets, plate tracery –allow for greater luminosity

§  Stained glass windows have SURVIVED fire; depict multi-layered narrative scenes

o   Five lancets: royal and priestly heritage of Mary and Jesus

§  Anne in center with daughter, baby Mary; flanked by leaders from Hebrew Bible

§  Mary and Jesus above in rose window; enthroned, surrounded by doves, angels, kings and prophets

·         Expensive!

·         West front – almost every surface decorated w/ sculpture, tympana filled with stained glass

o   Mary (not Christ) in central portal – growing popularity of marian cults

o   Towers  and so-called “gallery of kings” added later

§  Pointed arches repeated all over the exterior of the structure; only strictly horizontal aspect is gallery of kings

o   Central portal: Annunciation (left) and Visitation (right)

§  Annunciation c. 1240, Visitation c. 1230

·         Show stylistic diversity of many sculptors working over span of time on project

§  Visitation

·         Mary visits cousin Elizabeth – both pregnant

·         Sculptor active in Reims 1230-35; drew heavily on ancient sources (Reims had been a major Roman city)

o   Bulky/solid bodies, similar to imperial portrait sculpture

§  Ideal of youth (Mary) vs aged accomplishment (Elizabeth) = two “types” of Roman portraiture

o   Contrapposto

§  Annunciation

·         Archangel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear Jesus

·         Second sculpture – Mary rendered more delicately; drapery simpler

·         Third sculptor – Gabriel possesses graceful sway, refined features that would come to characterize Gothic figurative

o   Three-story elevation: nave arcade, triforium, clerestory

§  Division of space captured in drawings by Villard de Honnecourt during visit to Reims      ·         Bar tracery: mullions (thin stone bars) inserted into expansive opening in wall to form lacy framework for stained glass (replaces plate tracery used at Chartres)

o   Allows fro larger areas of stained glass)

o   HUGE rose window on clerestory level – interior of cathedral dissolves in glow of its light

§  Sculpture in lower nave level anchor space – greater sense of solidity

·         Prophets, royal ancestors

·         Houses relic of Christ’s crown of thorns – built explicitly for this purpose

o   Crown brought to Paris by Louis IX (purchased from cousin, Baldwin II, ruler of Constantinople) and pope declared Christ had crowned Louis IX with this crown – religion/politics inexorably linked

·         Upper chapel COMPLETELY OPEN (!) surrounded by walls made almost entirely of stained glass

o   Glittering, overwhelming expanse of luminosity

lots of kings crowned here

·         Church building 1220-1258; west façade finished 1265; spire c. 1320-30; cloister and chapter house 1263-84

·         England

o   Gothic introduced to England by Norman and Cistercian builders, traveling master masons

o   Less emphasis on height here though – long/broad naves and screenlike facades

o   More like monastic church than cathedral (reflects “heavier” Norman building tradition)

o   Use of color in stonework

o   Greater horizontal emphasis to direct worshipers’ attention forward towards altar (vs. upward towards vaults in France)

Nicola Pisano

relief

pulpit baptistery of Pisa 

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