[Redbook8:310][19910306:0930p]{Romanesque Art [continued (13)}[6th March 1991]
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[continued]
‘The paintings [on the walls of the Abbey S. Angelo in Formis near Capua]* include the figure of Abbot Desiderius of Monte Cassino, shown with a square nimbus (signifying a person of importance, still alive)....’
**
*[Square brackets per ms, indicating insertion in ms]
**– E[ncylopaedia of] V[isual] A[rt] 4:569
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[Redbook8:310][19910306:0930o]{Romanesque Art [continued (12)}[6th March 1991]
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‘[Cluny]* had many features that prepared the way for Gothic:** tall proportions, grouped piers, pointed arches, specialised wall and vault construction.’
***
*(1088-1130[ce])
[Square brackets per ms, indicating insertion in ms]
**cf [[Redbook8:308][19910306:0930l]{Romanesque Art [continued (9)]}[6th March 1991],] 308
*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica], 13:987
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[Redbook8:309][19910306:0930n]{Romanesque Art [continued (11)]}[6th March 1991]
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‘After 950[ce] the excellent construction, the grand scale, the assured design, the increasingly capable use of masonry vaulting, and the increasingly rich and appropriate use of foliate and figural sculpture showed that the initial period was over and that a noble, new Romanesque style had come into existence (fully, by 1050[ce]). The greatest works in the Romanesque style date from the period 1075-1125[ce], the classic age of Romanesque, so to speak; after this, in some regions, the style entered a florid “Baroque” phase that lasted a generation and then was revivified as Gothic.
‘The coming eclipse of Romanesque may first be sensed in new structural developments that began about 1090[ce].’
*
*– E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 13:986
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[Redbook8:309][19910306:0930m]{Romanesque Art [continued (10)] – Aspiration and Intersection of Forms}[6th March 1991]
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‘Perhaps even more important was the Northern love of aspiring and intersecting forms, powerfully composed, which affected almost the entire Romanesque area, stretching from Portugal to the Holy Land, including Scandinavia and the Holy Roman Empire. The greater buildings were most often churches, which stood out boldly above the ordinary * constructions but had an organic relationship with them. The resulting silhouette, so much in contrast with placid classical design, quite transformed man’s idea of what a city or church group should look like, either from within or from a distance as an ensemble. This dynamic mode was bequeathed to Gothic, Renaissance and modern times.’
**
*{
}
[Why not the other way – inner circle?]
**[– Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:986]
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[Redbook8:308][19910306:0930l]{Romanesque Art [continued (9)]}[6th March 1991]
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‘The Roman heritage is particularly apparent in conservative southern regions, where Roman massiveness and horizontality* persist and are perceptible to some degree even in the Gothic** architecture of the area.’
***
*C→\S~↓
NB-- contrasted with Gothic verticality???
G~
↑
J~\←
cf [[Redbook8:310][19910306:0930o]{Romanesque Art [continued (11)}[6th March 1991],] 310 (top)
**[See eg [Redbook8:314][19910307:1718]{Gothic Art}[7th March 1991]]
*** – ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:985]
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[Redbook8:308][19910306:0930k]{Romanesque Art [continued (8)]}[6th March 1991]
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‘The several cloisters or courts of a large monastery* carried on the tradition of the greater Germanic households of the pagan time; they too were composed of “proliferating quadrangles”.’**
***
*(like those of an older [contemporary] University or College – eg [a Cambridge college].
**cf Chaos patterns – & C[ircles] A[nalysis &] S[ynthesis].
*** – E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 13:985
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[Redbook8:308][19910306:0930j]{Romanesque Art [continued (7)]}[6th March 1991]
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‘The term Romanesque – coined in 1818 – denotes in art the medieval synthesis of the widespread Roman architectural and artistic heritage and various regional influences, such as Teutonic, Scandinavian, Byzantine, and Muslim. Although derived primarily from the remains of a highly centralised imperial culture,* the Romanesque flowered during a period of fragmented and unstable governments.** It was the medieval monasteries, virtual islands of civilisation scattered about the continent, that provided the impetus – and the patronage – for a major cultural revival.’
***
*S~
**J~
*** – E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 27:86
[cf [Redbook8:306-308][19910306:0930c]{Romanesque Art}[6th March 1991]]
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[Redbook8:307][19910306:0930i]{Romanesque Art [continued (6)]}[6th March 1991]
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‘Regional variations in Romanesque illumination are easily recognisable, but, for the first time in Western Europe, these were unified by a common stylistic trend.’*
**
*c[ontra]
J~ => i[nner] c[ircle]?
(but regionally varied)
**[– Encyclopaedia Britannica 25:339]
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[Redbook8:307][19910306:0930g]{Romanesque Art [continued (5)]}[6th March 1991]
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‘Especially popular among Romanesque, as well as early medieval, illuminators, was the elaborate decoration of initials; although regarded as suitable vehicles for didactic illustration, these were often invaded by a rich and fantastic repertoire of grotesque and fantastic monsters....’*
**
*cf [[Redbook8:150][19901223:1916d]{More Mesopotamian Symbols [continued (4)] – Monsters}[23rd December 1990],] 150 (1890-1600{BCE}=2048S~ but 4096J~ the Mesopotamian long cycle is ?a 4096-year period?)
**[– Encyclopaedia Britannica 25:339]
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[Redbook8:307][19910306:0930f]{Romanesque Art [continued (4)]}[6th March 1991]
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‘The Romanesque style, which began to crystallise in Western Europe soon after the year 1000[ce]* and which reached maturity in the first half of the 12th century, was born during a period** of religious fervour. The crusading spirit was at its height; the pilgrimage routes were much frequented by those who could not actually go to the Holy Land; and Western monasticism was at its peak.’
***
*1024C
**{
}
***[– Encyclopaedia Britannica 25:339]
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[Redbook8:307][19910306:0930e]{Romanesque Art [continued (3)]}[6th March 1991]
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[continued]
‘At Cluny each monk was required to read at least one book a year.’
– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 25:339]
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