Romanesque Sculpture: Characteristics, Themes, and Iconography
Romanesque Sculpture: Main Features
Romanesque sculpture was influenced by pre-Romanesque tests and sculptures from the East. During the Romanesque period, large-scale sculpture was not common, as the ancient sculptural tradition had been largely forgotten. Artists favored smaller dimensions, such as those found in ivory works.
Romanesque sculptors were more interested in the intellectual aspect and the message of their work than in naturalism. Figures are typically simple, with very flat relief, and are depicted wearing tight clothes with simple, parallel folds. They are often disproportionate, lacking volume, atmosphere, or backgrounds. The figures are expressionless, hieratic, and static.
In the 11th century, Romanesque sculpture appeared to be primarily copies of works in ivory, metal, textiles, and miniatures. By the 12th century, figures were designed and defined by their architectural setting, which led to a change in proportions, making them more elongated and giving them more movement.
The second half of the 12th century is characterized by a greater richness in movement and costumes, with many folds, achieving higher volumes and more natural expressions. The architectural function of the sculptures began to be less emphasized.
The primary role of Romanesque sculpture was to decorate temples. In this regard, it fulfills the “framework law,” adjusting the figures to the architectural structure. The intent was to communicate a message. It is important to distinguish between sculpture intended for the general public, who were largely uneducated and illiterate, and the art found in the cloisters of monasteries, which was intended for the educated monks.
The two main areas where Romanesque sculpture appears are:
- Exterior covers: Themes related to sin.
- Capitals of interior columns: Themes related to humans defeated by sin.
- Cloisters of monasteries: More intellectual themes.
Iconographic Themes
A) Tympanums of the Covers
Although other themes can be found, the two most repeated and characteristic themes of the style are:
- The Pantocrator: The Almighty, Christ in Majesty, as described in the Book of Revelation, with the Tetramorph (symbols of the four Evangelists), surrounded by the 24 elders of Revelation.
- The Last Judgement: Presided over by the Pantocrator and Tetramorph, usually surrounded by the elders of the Apocalypse or the Twelve Apostles and the Virgin Mary. To the right of Christ are the righteous, and to the left are the condemned. The anthropomorphic representation of the devil was beginning to emerge, but he sometimes appears as an animal or a monster.
B) Capitals of the Cloisters
The capitals mainly feature plant motifs and animals, both real and fantastic. Among the latter, we can distinguish several types:
- Allegorical decoration: Referring to sin in an intellectual form.
- Historiated capitals: Narrating scenes of a religious nature, such as the lives of saints or martyrs, and Bible stories.
Free-Standing Sculpture
Except for the Deposition of Sant Joan de les Abadesses, Romanesque free-standing sculpture is primarily limited to images of the Crucifixion and the Virgin and Child.
The Crucified
Similar to the Byzantine world, Christ is depicted with four nails, his feet nailed separately. He is impassive to pain, stiff, hieratic, with a solemn expression, his body straight and his arms horizontal. He is depicted as alive.
There are two main types:
- Christ in Majesty: Wearing a long-sleeved tunic and a crown.
- Christ naked: Covered only from the waist to the knees with a loincloth.
The Virgin and Child
The Virgin is depicted seated, frontal, and hieratic. The Child is seated on her knees, also frontal and static, in a blessing gesture, with a book or a globe in his hand. There is no interaction between the two figures.