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VISITING SLEEPING BEAUTIES: REAWAKENING FASHION?

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HEILBRUNN TIMELINE OF ART HISTORY ESSAYS


MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN SCULPTURE FOR BUILDINGS

COLUMN



PILLAR WITH CAPITAL



DOORWAY FROM THE CHURCH OF SAN NICOLÒ, SAN GEMINI



CUXA CLOISTER



HEAD OF KING DAVID



COLUMN STATUE OF A KING



PORTION OF A PILASTER WITH AN ACROBAT



CAPITAL WITH THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE (FROM SAINT-GUILHEM
CLOISTER)



SAINT-GUILHEM CLOISTER



LIMESTONE HEAD OF JOSEPH



SCULPTURE OF AN ENTHRONED KING



DOORWAY FROM MOUTIERS-SAINT-JEAN



CAPITAL WITH BUST OF THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL



SUPPORT FIGURE OF A SEATED CLERIC OR FRIAR



Melanie Holcomb
Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2001

Much of the allure of medieval buildings derives from the sculpture that so
frequently adorns them. Some of the most inventive art of the Middle Ages
appears in the expansive portals of churches, on the rectangular sides of piers,
and on the cramped contours of column capitals. While mosaics and wall paintings
remained the preferred means of embellishing buildings in the Byzantine East,
the Latin West came to rely a great deal upon carved stone. The very fabric of
the building served as a field for a range of subjects, from complex theological
ideas to biblical tales, from whimsical creatures to purely decorative foliate
forms.

Architectural Sculpture and Classical Antiquity
Sculptural practices from classical antiquity had a large impact on medieval
architectural sculpture. For example, the basic forms of the Corinthian capital,
decorated with the acanthus motif, are persistently repeated and reinterpreted
throughout the Middle Ages. Often the marble itself comes from ancient
buildings. At times an ancient slab might be recarved by a medieval sculptor,
while at other times a handsome relief was simply refitted as is into a medieval
setting (Sangemini Doorway, 47.100.45). Architectural features not customarily
embellished by the Romans and Greeks, such as the shaft of the column, might
nonetheless receive ornamentation drawn from a classical repertory (Toulouse
columns, 21.172.1).

The Character of Architectural Sculpture
Medieval sculptors were in no way impeded by the structural requirements of the
stone they carved. In fact, they exploited the peculiar shapes of structural
elements to create highly expressive forms. The narrow column permitted elegant,
attenuated figures such as the Old Testament King from Saint-Denis (Column
Figure of a King, 20.157). The slender folds of the figure’s drapery further
emphasize the column’s elongated proportions. The four sides of a column
capital, all of which could never be visible at a single glance, made it
possible to present a biblical narrative unfolding in time. Figures carved on
the capital could be presented as peeking around corners, thereby mimicking the
actions of a viewer, who moved around the capital in order to follow the story’s
sequence (Capital, with the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, 25.120.60).

The Church Portal
As the face of a building to the outside world, doorways had always been a focus
for sculpture in the Middle Ages, but a great explosion of sculpture on church
portals occurred in the mid-eleventh century, expanding over time to include
entire facades. In many regions of medieval Europe, the semicircular tympanum,
or the space created between the lintel and arch over a doorway, became the site
of spectacular medieval sculpture. The Last Judgment, showing events from the
end of time, was a particularly favored theme. Depicting the fate of the
righteous and the sinful as they appear before Christ as judge, the door served
as a powerful reminder of the ultimate authority of God and the earthly
authority of the Christian church.

The Monastic Cloister
With its rhythmic disposition of columns and piers, the confined space of the
monastic cloister offered an ideal opportunity for an extended program of
sculptural decoration (St. Ghilhem Cloister, 25.120.1-.134; The Cuxa Cloister,
25.120.398–.954). Sculptural embellishment might display a fascinating array of
foliate forms. Other cloisters show a multitude of curious beasts, the sort of
decoration that Bernard of Clairvaux, a twelfth-century monastic reformer,
decried as “ignoble fancies.” Still others depict stories of saints and biblical
heroes, tales no doubt meant to edify the monks who roamed these monastic
courtyards.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CITATION

Holcomb, Melanie. “Medieval European Sculpture for Buildings.” In Heilbrunn
Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/arch/hd_arch.htm (October 2001)

FURTHER READING

Hearn, M. F. Romanesque Sculpture: The Revival of Monumental Stone Sculpture in
the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press,
1981.

Williamson, Paul. Gothic Sculpture: 1140–1300. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1995.

ADDITIONAL ESSAYS BY MELANIE HOLCOMB

 * Holcomb, Melanie. “Barbarians and Romans.” (October 2002)
 * Holcomb, Melanie. “Animals in Medieval Art.” (originally published October
   2001, last revised January 2012)
 * Holcomb, Melanie. “Jewish Art in Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium.” (June
   2008)
 * Holcomb, Melanie. “Jews and the Arts in Medieval Europe.” (originally
   published June 2008, last revised August 2010)
 * Holcomb, Melanie. “Drawing in the Middle Ages.” (June 2009)


RELATED ESSAYS

 * The Face in Medieval Sculpture
 * Gothic Art
 * Late Medieval German Sculpture
 * Monasticism in Western Medieval Europe
 * Stained Glass in Medieval Europe
 * The Age of Saint Louis (1226–1270)
 * Animals in Medieval Art
 * Architecture in Renaissance Italy
 * Art and Death in the Middle Ages
 * Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages
 * Drawing in the Middle Ages
 * Gardens in the French Renaissance
 * Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium
 * Italian Painting of the Later Middle Ages
 * Late Medieval German Sculpture: Images for the Cult and for Private Devotion
 * Late Medieval German Sculpture: Materials and Techniques
 * Late Medieval German Sculpture: Polychromy and Monochromy
 * Medicine in the Middle Ages
 * Medieval Aquamanilia
 * Monumental Architecture of the Aksumite Empire
 * Ottonian Art
 * The Rediscovery of Classical Antiquity
 * The Rock-hewn Churches of Lalibela


CHRONOLOGY

 * Central Europe (including Germany), 1000–1400 A.D.
 * Central Europe (including Germany), 500–1000 A.D.
 * The Eastern Mediterranean, 1000–1400 A.D.
 * France, 1000–1400 A.D.
 * France, 500–1000 A.D.
 * Iberian Peninsula, 1000–1400 A.D.
 * Italian Peninsula, 1000–1400 A.D.


MAP

 * Original Locations of Medieval Sculpture in the Met's Collection


KEYWORDS

 * Abbey
 * Architectural Element
 * Architecture
 * Bronze
 * Byzantium
 * Capital
 * Central Europe
 * Christianity
 * Church
 * Classical Period
 * Cloister
 * Column
 * Doorway / Portal
 * Europe
 * Façade
 * France
 * Games
 * Germany
 * Gothic Art
 * International Gothic Style
 * Italy
 * King David
 * Medieval Art
 * Old Testament
 * Pilaster
 * Regalia
 * Relief Sculpture
 * Romanesque Art
 * Ruler
 * Sculpture
 * Sculpture in the Round


ONLINE FEATURES

 * The Artist Project: “Martha Rosler on The Met Cloisters”
 * Connections: “Doors” by Dan Kershaw
 * Connections: “The Column” by Nancy Wu
 * Viewpoints/Body Language: “Pilasters of Angels Sounding Trumpets”

 * Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

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