1. Romanesque Sculpture
Revision

2. Introduction It is limited by the frame in which it is contained.
The main places for sculptural location are
Capitals
Portals

3. Introduction
Romanesque sculpture had an educational objective: it should teach the Bible to illiterate people
The message is simple and clear to be easily understood
It is not important to be loyal to nature but to express the ideas they aimed at transmitting.

4. Introduction
The location of the iconographic programme is always the same:
Tympanum is reserved for the depiction of the Last Judgement
Jambs are the place for saints sculptures
Capitals are left for
Biblical stories
Vegetal motives
Satirical depictions
Other minor decorations (in the outside) are left for depicting sins and vices.

5. Parts of a portal

6. Tympanum The tympanum depicts the Last Judgement
In the middle appear Christ as a Judge
He is sitting in the mandorle or almond shape
It is surrounded by the four Evangelist as people of animals
Around them people judged or the twenty-four wise men of the Apocalypses

7. Tympanum Christ appears blessing, with the hand elevated
His feet are standing on a symbol of the earth
The mandorle represents a mystical element
The evangelist are around
Mark, the lion
Mathew, the man
Luke, the ox
John, the eagle

8. Composition Images must adapt to the frame
They are distributed following criteria of hierarchy and symmetry
The unity of the scene is given by the eyes of the images that converge in Christ
There are several details

9. Composition Other important elements appear in the portals:
Images of the Apostles tend to appear in the jambs, being elongated images
Christ, the Virgin or other important Saints may appear in the trumeau
The lintel is reserved for less important images of for the wise men of the Apocalypse

10. Composition
In some cases decoration may escape from the classical locations to invade the whole façade
The images out of the normal places tend to be depictions of vices and sins

11. Archivolts The images are distributed in each archivolt
The subjects can vary from one archivolt to the other
They are limited by the space
Subjects can vary from geometrical to human depictions

12. Archivolts Images in the archivolts are looking at the centre
Sometimes each voussoir contains a whole story
We can find non religious elements such as zodiacal symbols

13. Other decorations
Images that appear below the roof: they represent monsters and vices

14. Cloisters
Cloisters were other of the main areas where sculpture could appear
The sculpture tends to be limited to the capitals over the small column.

15. Cloisters Capitals can be decorated following several patters:
Some of them explain biblical stories in a simple and understandable way
Others copy natural elements such as plants and flowers
Others are symbolical, with monsters or allegories

16. Cloisters
Biblical
Animals
Vegetables
Satirical

17. Relieves They are not as common as the tympanum or cloister sculptures
They appear somewhere in the wall of the churches
Subjects are religious

18. Relieves
Technically they have the same characteristics as the rest of the sculptures
Lack of naturalism
Simplicity of the message
Different plans to give impression of deepness.

19. Exempt Sculpture It is made of wood The images are not of big size
They are always religious
They have Byzantine influences
Types:
Virgin with her Son
Christ on the Cross
Deposition

20. Exempt Sculpture Virgin: It is based on the Byzantine Teotokos
The Virgin is a throne for her Son
Both of them appear looking at the front
They are blessing
There is not different of ages, just of size
They are disproportionate
With the time they evolved and the position of the Son varied to be a bit more naturalistic
They were polychrome

21. Exempt Sculpture Christ They are on the cross
They still alive and lack of any symbol of sufferance
They were a long dress
They have four nails
Everything in them is symmetrical
They are polychrome

22. Exempt Sculpture Depositions
Some times more than one image appear creating a biblical scene
The most common is the one representing the moment in which Christ was deposited from the cross

23. Exempt Sculpture
Deposition
Piety