Eras of Art History - Part I Intro and Romanesque Art

Understanding art is an important part of becoming more cultured. To understand art we must first look at the different styles of art through the centuries. The four most important periods in the west are the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque.

“Characteristics, alone, do not make a style. There must be a central idea that gives life to them all.” Nikolous Pevsner

Romanesque Art (11th century to the 13th century):

The beginning of the High Middle Ages, this time in history is dominated by the crusades, powerful popes, Vikings, and the Byzantine Empire (that is the eastern part of the Roman Empire) was still around. Religion was extremely important, and wars were fought over it. The Romanesque period combined Roman and Barbarian artistic styles.




Typically the churches reflected this new style such as the Maria Lach Abby in Germany pictured above that I visited a few years ago, notice the lack of large stained glass windows, instead it has solid walls and small windows. The most important thing to remember about Romanesque style is the curved arches holding up the vaulted ceilings as in this picture of the St. Louis Basilica below. The most decorative that people got during this time was frescoes on the walls (paint absorbed by plaster), mosaics, and sculpture, not a far stretch from the Romans. They also had manuscript illuminations that decorated books and for the first time bronze doors appeared, sometimes covered with detailed scenes.



Example of Romanesque arches and painted frescoes in the St. Louis Basilica.



An example of Romanesque Sculpture from the Tournus Abby in France where demons are terrorizing sinners.



A Romanesque mosaic from St. Apollinarius.



A manuscript illumination from the Winchester Bible.



Bronze Romanesque doors from Siena Duomo.

Tip of the Day: Get rid of the t-shirts that you wore in college and invest in more mature clothes that flatter the figure with grown up style.