Catalan Romanesque and Gothic Architecture: Churches and Art
Cardona: Church Basilica Plan
Characteristics: Church basilica plan, three naves, semicircular apse, surplus three.
Materials: The stone is linked with lime mortar. Stone covering of the dome and the returning cruise of the arches and narthex.
Supporting elements: Thick walls, also some small spurs, midfield pillars. The interior seems clear and illuminated.
This religious building was under the political influence of Abbot Oliva, bishop and counselor of Catalonia. It constructs a new level but does not provide the layout of your space. It is one of the highlights of the 11th century.
Romanesque Virgin
Characteristics: Romanesque sculptures. The theme we see is the Virgin Mary with the child on her lap in a blessed attitude. Hieratic and frontal positioning. It is a venerated “Mare de Déu” (Mother of God). Usually, at the foot, the infant was softening up the Gothic.
Poblet Monastery
The church is austere, undecorated with pictorial or sculptural decoration. It is a transitional style and contains elements of Romanesque and Gothic, but also, like the ogive vault, which is typical of the Cistercian order. The construction system is surrounded; the material used is stone.
Treatment of the wall: Isodom, made for regular seating.
Ground: Church of monastic cloister and outbuildings. Latin cross plan in a short transept nave; the longitudinal axis consists of three naves. The principal will have an ogive vault, and the sides have a ribbed vault. The header is highly developed, with an ambulatory. The supporting elements are the square pillars in cross-shaped columns that rest on pillars and buttresses that are abroad. The elements are supported by an ogive arch, arches, and ogive vault and ribbed vaults.
The appearance of the outer space is now a walled fortress, and a border zone of conflict, so it was a small walled city. However, the interior is austere. There are many openings, but only symbolic light comes in. It is only broken by the horizontal line. The predominant verticality of the towers. The function of the work is religious.
Romanesque Frontal Influence
Romanesque style. The technique is divided into five parts, presided over by the central Virgin holding a child, strongly hieratic but more humane. The monochrome background gives the composition balance and a sensation of movement. Its purpose was to decorate the altar and attract the attention of the loyal.
Chartres Cathedral
The building has a cruciform floor plan with the main body of 28 feet, divided into three naves. The sanctuary is located in an ambulatory with five semicircular radial chapels. The organization on three ships is extremely original for its time, with the central nave much higher than the sides. This difficulty is usually resolved constructively by raising wide aisles on the roof of the grandstand, which offset the weight of the structure around the central reinforcing. It was removed, leaving only three gallery levels in the height of the nave: arcades, and windows. The clerestory is a small gallery that was built on the gallery and, at times, under the windows to take space on the roof of the grandstand.
It is made of sandstone with a Latin cross floor plan, ocher in color, with three longitudinal premises. On the outside, Gothic flying buttresses follow one another. Outstanding stained glass decoration. Notable sculptural decoration. This cathedral marked a milestone in the development of Gothic architecture and began a phase of full mastery of technique and the Gothic style, establishing a balance between them.
Gothic “Mare de Déu” (Mother of God)
The mother always appears with the child in her hands. This differs from the Romanesque, where the child was on her lap. From the analysis of this work, we can deduce some characteristics of Gothic sculpture:
- Humanization of religious issues.
- It abandons the hieratic solemnity of the Romanesque; the Virgin appears as a child with his mother.
- The face of both the Virgin and the Child reveals sweetness.
Compare this work with the image of Santa Maria de Taüll shown reproduced in another study. Study of proportions. You will find that there is a correspondence between the size of various body parts. The volume figures have. It clearly tends to realism. Concern about the technical details, notes the correspondence between gestures together or the address of seeking a balanced composition.
Taüll Painting
Fresco with registration funds. There are three bands of marl within which there is the Pantocrator’s feet on the footstool in the area. The returning triumphant arch has a symmetrical composition and closed hierarchical perspective. Use of flat colors, predominantly blue. Symmetry and hieratic dominance are features of the Romanesque style.