Romanesque

The art of Western Europe from about 1000 to 1200, named for its debt to Roman building. Pilgrimage churches with thick walls and round arches were covered in carved stone: tympanums above doors with Christ in Majesty and the Last Judgement, capitals full of monsters and Bible stories, as at Vézelay, Moissac and Autun. Inside, walls and vaults were painted with frescoes, as in the Catalan churches now in Barcelona, and monks illuminated Bibles and Apocalypses in bold colours. Figures are stylised and expressive rather than natural, fitted to the shape of the space, with heavy outlines and patterned drapery.

How to tell it apart: heavy, rounded, sculptural forms and stiff, stylised figures with bold outlines; Gothic, after it, is taller, lighter and more graceful.

228 works in the quiz. Play a round on Romanesque.

Artists

Romanesque art

Best-known works

“Hortus deliciarum” — Romanesque art, 1200
“Saint-Sever Beatus” — Romanesque art, 1050
“Codex Aureus of Echternach” — Romanesque art, 1100
“Batlló Majesty” — Romanesque art, 1200
“Old English Hexateuch” — Romanesque art, 1000
“Harley Psalter” — Romanesque art, 1025
“Tyniec Sacramentarium” — Romanesque art, 1065
“Crucifix from St. Georg in Cologne” — Romanesque art, 1001
“Altar frontal from Ix” — Romanesque art, 1130
“Frescos of Vals” — Romanesque art, 1200
“Le Signe du Lion et le Signe du Bélier” — Romanesque art, 1120
“Crucifix” — Romanesque art, 1090
“Madonna Enthroned as the "Seat of Wisdom"” — Romanesque art, 1199
“Cloth of St Gereon” — Romanesque art, 1050
“Lectionnaire de Cluny - BNF NAL2246” — Romanesque art, 1101
“Evangelistarium” — Romanesque art, 1100
“Biga de la Passió. MNAC 15833” — Romanesque art, 1220
“Forstenried cross” — Romanesque art, 1200
“Mare de Déu del Remei de Cornellà de Llobregat” — Romanesque art, 1200
“NLW MS 735C Astronomy” — Romanesque art, 1000
“Tavèrnoles baldachin” — Romanesque art, 1250
“Cathédrale Saint-Just de Narbonne - Pyxide” — Romanesque art, 1100
“Camel” — Romanesque art, 1125
“Christ in Judgment” — Romanesque art, 1100
“Concordance” — Romanesque art, 1050
“Christ in Majesty, Murals and interior of Saint-Julien in Brioude, France.” — Romanesque art, 1100
“Murals and interior of Saint-Julien in Brioude, France.” — Romanesque art, 1100
“Angels praising God in glory” — Romanesque art, 1100
“Angel Lion, Murals and interior of Saint-Julien in Brioude, France.” — Romanesque art, 1100
“Murals and interior of Saint-Julien in Brioude, France.” — Romanesque art, 1100