RICE UNIVERSITY
Department of Art and Art History
Fall Semester 1998

HART 205. Introduction to the History of Art

Lecture 37 (December 7, 1998). The Romanesque and Gothic Imagery
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I. The Medieval Book. Sources of information. Handbooks--Theophilus' De Diversis Artibus, early XIIth century; Cennino Cennini Il libro d'arte, early XVth century. Written sources--Matthew Paris of St. Albans, thirteenth century. The historical development of the book--from roll to codex.

II. Stages of Production. Materials--papyrus, parchment, wax tablet, paper; graphite, stylus, brush; color--lapis lazuli, gold, silver. Preparation of skins, lined, text, design, inked, color applied, gold applied, color washes, gold lined. The atelier, scribe, illuminator, theologian and patron.

III. Types of Illumination. Full page, historiated and decorated initial, canon table, marginalia, calendars

IV. Types of Books. The use and function of books in the Gothic period. 1. Scriptural (Bibles, Old Testament, New Testament, Apocalypse); 2. Liturgical (sacramentary, missal, breviary, psalter, book of hours; 3. Lives of Saints (Vitae, libelli); 4. Secular (histories--chronique, romances, bestiaries, herbals, medicine)
 

I. Embroidery
The Bayeux Tapistry c. 1070-1080
depiction of contemporary historical event-the Battle of Hastings in 1066
cf. Maciejoswky Bible, c. 1250, Old Testament scenes of battle

II. Frescoes
Santa Maria de Mur, Catalonia, Spain, early twelfth century
--Christ in Majesty
cf. Berzé-la-Ville, Christ and the Mission of the Apostles, Cluniac church, mid twelfth century
cf. Pantocrator, apse Mosaic, Monreale, twelfth century

III. Manuscripts
A. The Bury Bible (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College)
c. 1135, Bury St. Edmunds Abbey, Master Hugo
--Frontispiece to Book of Deuteronomy
cf. Nativity mosaic, Palermo, c. 1132

B. Master Hugo, The Canterbury Psalter (Cambridge, Trinity College)
c. 1150
--The Scribe Easwine

C. Moralia in Job (Dijon, Bibliothèque Municipale)
early 12th century
--Initial R, St. George and the Dragon

D. The Revelation of Saint John: Enthroned Christ and Twenty- Four Elders, Apocalypse of St.-Sever, France, c. 1050
cf. St. Pierre, Moissac, south porch, Christ and Twenty-Four Elders

Social and Historical Factors.
--Shift of patronage from monasteries to secular cathedrals;
--change from large format Bibles to books used for private devotion such as the Psalter;
--1215 Fourth Lateran Council gives better organization to cathedral, adopts Use of Sarum, encourages pastoral activity leading to production of devotion texts; rise in literacy among lay people;
--rise of universities in Paris, Cambridge, Oxford;
--contact of northern Europeans with sophisticated courts of Byzantine and Islamic empires through crusades resulting in desire for greater personal comfort and luxury;
--the general laicisation of society in thirteenth century.
 

VII. Gothic Illumination: Stained Glass and Manuscripts

A. Psalter of Blanche of Castile (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale)
c. 1235, Made of the mother of Louis IX
--Crucifixion and Descent from the Cross
influence of stained glass
cf. Crucifixion from Monastery at Daphne, Byzantine, late 11th century

B. Good Samaritan Window, Chartres Cathedral, early thirteenth century

C. Psalter of St. Louis (BN, Paris, lat. 10525)
c. 1260, made in Paris for Louis IX
--Abraham and the Three Angels
cf. so. trans. of Notre Dame, Paris (Rayonnant style architecture)
cf. Smiling Angel from Reims Cathedral


back to top

back to lectures page

back to Hart 205 Main Page