French art, term for the art of the West Franconian Empire, which began to stand out from German art around the turn of the first millennium.
It originated in one of the oldest art centers on earth (Roman art, Celtic art, Merovingian art, Carolingian art) and played a key role in shaping the artistic development in Europe.
Architecture
The Romanesque style on French soil is not nationally uniform as in Germany, but, according to the political breakdown, the landscape is very different. A distinction is made in particular between stylistic features of Normandy, Provence, Poitou, Auvergne, Périgord and Burgundy. Around 1000 new forms appeared in French architecture. Significant impulses came from Burgundy, v. a. Cluny, out. France developed the double tower facade, the staggered choir (Cluny II, consecrated in 981) and the choir with access and chapel wreath (Saint-Martin in Tours, 997-1014). Check franciscogardening.com to see more about France and other countries in the world.
The elevation of the central nave wall of Saint-Remi in Reims (1005–49), where the wall between the arcade and window zone is already broken through by a mezzanine, was a trend-setting, a motif that was adopted from the Île-de-France (Saint-Étienne in Vignory, Haute-Marne, first half of the 11th century). Following these approaches, Normandy initially assumed the leading role. The basic building was the abbey church in Jumièges (1040–67; today ruin), where arcades, galleries and windows were arranged strictly axially and semicircular templates rose up to the ceiling in front of the pillars. This tendency to verticalize space was further developed in Normandy at the abbey church of Mont-Saint-Michel (second half of the 11th century), in Caen near Saint-Étienne (around 1064-77) and Sainte-Trinité (1059-66). In the second half of the 11th century vault construction began in central and southern France. The most important Provencal buildings, mostly single-aisled hall churches and three-aisled basilicas, were built in the vicinity of Arles and Avignon. They are characterized by the recourse to the formal language of antiquity. The ceilings are barrel vaulted, the massive unity of the wall determines the exterior and interior (Saint-Trophime in Arles, late 11th century to mid-12th century; abbey church in Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, Saint-Sauveur in Aix-en -Provence; both second half of the 12th century). Three-aisled hall churches with transept, choir, ambulatory and chapel wreath as well as barrel-vaulted central nave dominated the Poitou (former abbey church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, late 11th century). The most important building is Notre-Dame-la-Grande in Poitiers (second quarter of the 12th century). The poitivinic pillar surrounded by four half-columns is characteristic. The interiors are unadorned, but the facades are richly decorated. In the Auvergne there are galleries in the high aisles of the vaulted hall churches, which give the interior a basilica-like appearance. A special feature is the transept, which is staggered in height (Auvergnatian cross bar), which is crowned by a dome (highlighted on the outside by an eight-sided crossing tower). The interiors appear austere and gloomy (including the church of Saint-Nectaire, department Puy-de-Dôme, completed in 1178; Notre-Dame-du-Port in Clermont-Ferrand, first half of the 12th century). In the Auvergne there are galleries in the high aisles of the vaulted hall churches, which give the interior a basilica-like appearance. A special feature is the transept, which is staggered in height (Auvergnatian cross bar), which is crowned by a dome (highlighted on the outside by an eight-sided crossing tower). The interiors appear austere and gloomy (including the church of Saint-Nectaire, department Puy-de-Dôme, completed in 1178; Notre-Dame-du-Port in Clermont-Ferrand, first half of the 12th century). In the Auvergne there are galleries in the high aisles of the vaulted hall churches, which give the interior a basilica-like appearance. A special feature is the transept, which is staggered in height (Auvergnatian cross bar), which is crowned by a dome (highlighted on the outside by an eight-sided crossing tower). The interiors appear austere and gloomy (including the church of Saint-Nectaire, department Puy-de-Dôme, completed in 1178; Notre-Dame-du-Port in Clermont-Ferrand, first half of the 12th century). Puy-de-Dôme department, completed in 1178; Notre-Dame-du-Port in Clermont-Ferrand, first half of the 12th century). Puy-de-Dôme department, completed in 1178; Notre-Dame-du-Port in Clermont-Ferrand, first half of the 12th century).
The type of three-aisled hall church with galleries in Languedoc is very similar to that of Auvergne; In the two most important buildings, the pilgrim churches of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse (around 1080 ff.) and Sainte-Foy in Conques (around 1050 to around 1130), the transept also has three aisles. Norman influences can be seen in the verticalization of the interior and in the breaking through of the wall. The three-aisled domed church was also developed in Aquitaine (probably under the influence of Byzantine architecture) (Saint-Front cathedral in Périgueux, after 1120). At the turn of the 11th to the 12th century, the achievements of the Burgundian building school from Cluny III (laying of the foundation stone in 1088) had a particular impact European architecture. The most important follow-up buildings in France include the priory church in Paray-le-Monial (around 1100), the Saint-Lazare cathedral in Autun (around 1120 ff.) and the abbey church of Sainte-Madeleine in Vézelay (1120–1150).
Plastic
The development of sculpture began with very flat figural reliefs (lintel of the church in Saint-Genis-des-Fontaines, Département Pyrénées-Orientales, around 1020) and reached a first high point with the school of Toulouse (marble relief in the ambulatory of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, in the center Christ in the mandorla, end of the 11th century) and early Burgundian works (tympanum of the priory church in Charlieu, Loire department, around 1140). In the first half of the 12th century, the large churches v. a. Figure portals whose main theme is the Last Judgment (including Saint-Pierre in Moissac, around 1120; Sainte-Madeleine in Vézelay, around 1130; Saint-Lazare Cathedral in Autun, by Gislebertus, around 1130; Sainte-Foy in Conques, 1135–40).
While geometric decorative shapes were preferred in Normandy (Caen, Sainte-Trinité), figurative decorations predominated in Burgundy and western France: ecstatically moving, ornamental robe figures with thin parallel folds, in southern France quieter, squat body shapes (facade of the abbey church of Saint-Gilles -du-Gard, around 1160; facade of the Saint-Trophime abbey church in Arles, around 1170). Animal and plant motifs were also given a lot of space.
One of the few surviving Romanesque goldsmith and enamel works is the enamelled grave slab of Gottfried V. Plantagenet, Count of Anjou († 1151), from Limoges (Le Mans, Musée de Tessé).
Painting
Wall paintings, which were common in all Romanesque churches, are barely preserved, most completely on the ceiling of the church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe in Poitou (late 11th century). Various centers can be identified in book illumination: the Limoges school, influenced by Ottonian book illumination (Bible of Saint-Martial de Limoges, end of the 11th century; Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France) and the Burgundian school, v. a. that of Cîteaux (Stephan Harding’s Bible, 1109; “Moralia in Job” Gregory the Great, around 1111; both Dijon, Bibliothèque Publique), which, like in the north, is the school of the Saint-Amand Abbey (Vita of Saint Amandus, around 1140; Valenciennes, Bibliothèque Municipale) based on English book illumination.
