The art of the West in the Middle Ages. Volume 1 : Romanesque art

344 Pages·1963·75.852 MB·English

by  Henri Focillon

M. U.
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1222502 ART AND RECOffDtttGS DEPARTMENT
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HENRI FOCILLON
THE ART OF THE WEST
ROMANESQUE ART
PHAIDON
THE ART OF THE WEST BY HENRI FOCILLON
VOLUME ONE ROMANESQUE ART
•
VOLUME TWO GOTHIC ART
•
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY DONALD KING
WITH A GLOSSARY BY P. KIDSON
HENRI FOCILLON
THE
ART
THE WEST
OF
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
EDITED AND INTRODUCED
BY JEAN BONY
VOLUME ONE ROMANESQUE ART
•
PHAIDON PUBLISHERS INC
DISTRIBUTED BY
NEW YORK GRAPHIC SOCIETY PUBLISHERS LTD
GREENWICH CONN
•
© 1963 PHAIDON PRESS LTD • LONDON SW7
Original French Text
art d'occident, first published by Librairie Armand Colin, Paris
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY GEO. GIBBONS LTD LEICESTER
——
1222502
CONTENTS
EDITOR'S PREFACE PAGE IX
•
INTRODUCTION PAGE
• 3
The Middle Ages, definition of the—West. Architecture and civilisation. Diffusion of styles: one
language, the idioms. Medieval life sedentary and local, nomadic and European. Medieval art
universal in appeal and encyclopaedic in content. Humanism in medieval art. Periods, techniques
and spirituallife.
East and West: Romanesque Art
CHAPTER THE GREAT EXPERIMENTS: THE ELEVENTH CENTURY
I.
PAGE
17
I. The Pre-Roman—esque period. The barbarian invasions and the shifting ofvalues. Old settings,
new developments TherestorationoftheWesternEmpire. Areturntomonumentalarchitecture.
Revivalofthehumanfigureinthedecorativearts.Persistenceofeasternandbarbaricelements.The
innovations of the ninth and tenth centuries. II. The great events ofthe eleventh century. The
stabilisationofthebarbarians. TherecessionofIslamandtheliberationoftheMediterranean. The
adventofstablemonarchies.Therenewa—lofurbanlife.Themenwhogavethecenturyitscharacter.
Thehistoricalfunctionofthebuildings Thethreeaspects ofarchitectureintheeleventhcentury.
Mediterranean forms: the 'first Romanesque art'; Northern European forms: Ottoman art;
Romanesqueforms: thefirst Frenchgroups. III. Theplasticarts. Bronzeandstucco-workin Ger-
—
many. The revival ofston—ework in the Romanesque areas. Archaic academism: the 'frieze style'
and the figures in arcades. The search foramonumental style. Harmony between sculpture and
architecture. IV. The vault rib in the eleventh century. The problem ofits origin. The Lombard
ribbed vault. The Islamic ribbed vault. The Armenian ribbed vault. The Norman ribbed vault.
Bibliography.
CHAPTER THE ROMANESQUE CHURCH
II.
PAGE
62
I. The different periods ofRomanesque architecture and the evolutionofits forms. The transition
fromthe eleventh to the twelfth century. The historical factors. Thepartplayedbymonasticism.
Cluny. Thegreatpilgrimages andtheirroutes. II. The t—heoryofarchitecture: the basi—c factors.
The plan and its—sociological value in Romanesque art. The structure and thevault. The con-
ception of mass. The effects: relationships oflight and shade, of solid and void, of plain and
decorated surfaces. III. The geography of Romanesque architecture. Some remarks on the term
— —
'schools'. T—he principle offiliati—on. Burgundy—: the art ofCluny; the art ofVezelay. Auvergne
and Velay. The Rhone valley. Languedoc. Poitou and Saintonge. IV. The Northern zone.
CHAPTER (CONTINUED)
II
Norman art and its expansion. England.—Flanders and neighbouring territories. Imperial art in
Germany. The mediterranean zone. Italy. Romanesque art in the crusading territories. Importa-
tion. New East-West contacts. Spain. The Holy Land. Bibliography.
CHAPTER ROMANESQUE DECORATION
III.
PAGE
102
I. Theepicsentimentintheiconography. TheApocalypticsource.Visionarytheology.Theancient
East. Theophany. The metamorphosis ofman. II. The style.Thearchitectural character ofsculp-
ture. The positioning ofRomanesque sculpture. The form determined bythe setting. The capital,
the archivolt, the tympanum. The rectangular panel and the principle ofcontacts. Experiments to
—
achievemovement. Thedecorativecharacterofthesculpture.Romanesquesculptureasadialectic
—
development. III.Thesources. TheEastChristiancommunities.Syria,Egypt,Transcaucasia,and
— — — —
Sumerian art. Islam: geometrical forms. Ireland: interlacements. Carolingian art. Local
traditions: the Roman art of Gaul. IV. The question of beginnings. The Burgundy-Languedoc
— — —
problem.TheSpain-Languedocproblem. TheFrenchworkshops. Theperipheralgroups. The
evolutionofsculptureinthetwelfthcentury.T—hebaroquephaseofRomanesqueart.V.Romanesque
art and colour. The problem ofpolychromy. Relationships ofmetalwork, illumination, and wall-
—
painting. The architectural rule governing colour. Monumental painting. Technique, groups and
workshops. Bibliography.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PAGE
• 147
ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
• 149
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
• 291
GLOSSARY PAGE
• 297
INDEX PAGE
• 305
CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO PAGE
• 311