Romanesque Art the Stylized Nature Essay

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Figures in sculpture were somewhat distorted to accentuate certain features, and in paintings where multiple figures appear often have these figures rendered in completely different scales to show the importance of one or more figures over the others represented -- figures of Jesus or of various saints often appear larger than the crowds around them, for example, forming one stylized element of Romanesque art (The Met 2010; HighBeam 2005).

Another element of this stylization that was again somewhat borrowed from Roman art but morphed by the other influences is the use of nature motifs in architectural sculptures as well as in many manuscript illuminations and some paintings. Again, Roman art typically represented leaves and plants as realistically as possible, but Romanesque art turned these into abstractions more imbued with symbolic meaning than in the classical period (HighBeam 2005; The Met 2010; King's College 2010). These elements added a great deal of complexity and visual interest to the pieces where they were employed, and often seemed to have a frame and an energy all of their own, independent of the larger works into which they were incorporated (VADS 2010; Medieval Life and Times 2010). In this way, the stylization of Romanesque art can be seen as something of a celebration of the rediscovery of technique from earlier periods (The Met 2010).

It is in the architecture of the Romanesque period that the strongest and most direct Roman influences can be seen, and though the stylization -- that is, the "unnaturalness" -- of purely architectural works is difficult to assert (as whole buildings are not generally meant to be representative of anything already in existence in the way that paintings and sculptures are), the style of this architecture can be analyzed in a way that makes the influences on all aesthetic principles of the period quite clear.

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Essentially, the architecture of the period included large vaulted ceilings and an abundant use of arches, with columns that were both structural and decorative -- all elements that existed in many Roman buildings including temples to the Roman pantheon (Romanes 2010; Medieval Life and Times 2010). As the large majority of large-scale buildings in this period were churches or other buildings built for and utilized by the Church and its officers and clergy, it seems clear that these architectural details were meant to inspire the same sense of awe, majesty, and power as they were when used by the Romans themselves (The Met 2010).

Conclusion

Art and architecture in the Romanesque period was almost wholly devoted to religious imagery and subject matter, largely because the Church was the entity with the greatest wealth and power, and the monarchs of Europe were all bound to -- if not directly subservient to -- the Church in many regards. The various stylized elements were used in a way that played up the importance of certain religious figures and events, making clear symbolic points through the utilization of specific and conscious aesthetic techniques. It is this purposefulness that makes the art not representationally inaccurate, but rather "stylized.".....

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