The Romanesque and Gothic Influence in the Sculpture of the Virgin and Child

Art 101- Research Paper 2

The Romanesque and Gothic influence in the Sculpture of the Virgin and Child

The two major movements in art and architecture that defined the late middle ages in Europe are the Romanesque and the Gothic. The Romanesque style provided an artistic unity to Church art between the 11th and 13th centuries. Its principal characteristics were symbolism rooted in theology and the concept of physical beauty. The Romanesque religious art portrays the body without the least naturalist concern. Only the Virgin Mary and Christ Child, the apostles and saints are deemed worthy of being portrayed on the walls of Romanesque churches. Gothic art depicted religious art in human images that were more relatable. Gothic sculpture had a more humanistic and recognizable likeness that was discovered. The spiritualized figures portrayed in sculpture, such as the 14th century Virgin and Child (see attached), communicated directly a religious devotion that attracted huge numbers of worshipers.

The Romanesque style gives way to the statue that begins to assume a feeling of grace with curving shape and freedom of movement. Religious sculptures dominated this new prominence in iconography of the Gothic sculpture. It triumphed in the development of sculpture in the round for devotional statues of saints, and especially the Virgin and Child, of which more than a thousand examples survive. “The creative momentum of Romanesque sculptors was expressed in various ways: they used stone, marble and sometimes stucco or alabaster, working in bas-relief and in the round, even sculpting rock” (Fossi p.78). This 14th century artistic production of the Virgin and Child directly focused on showing elements of realism and naturalism. Such images confirmed the Virgin’s status as representing a universal ideal of motherhood. The Oxford History of Art says “It set the scene for the movement towards personal responsibility for salvation” (Sekules p. 85).

The interior...