HUM 4261: Cultural Periods and Styles: Romanesque Art and Church Reform
An Undergraduate Research Course
Dr. James D’Emilio
A draft syllabus for HUM 4261: Cultural Periods and Styles: Romanesque Art and Church
Reform, an Undergraduate Research Course
1. Goals
This course will introduce you to Romanesque art, the style of medieval art which
prevailed in western Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. We will focus primarily on
church architecture and the sculpture that decorated it. This includes religious subjects as well as
“profane” or “secular” ones: stories from epics and fables, real and imagined animals, and
historical themes. We will treat some examples of wall paintings, mosaics, manuscripts and
metalwork. Throughout the course, an important theme will be how Romanesque art expressed
the aims of the church, as its institutions and practices underwent far-reaching reforms, and how
it communicated with the laity, in response to challenges from the secular world.
Our final goal will be to prepare the materials for an online exhibition, hosted by the USF
Library Special Collections, that will combine a broad introduction to Romanesque art with a
closer look at selected monuments and types of sculpture. You will learn and practice research
skills (developing bibliographies, using primary and secondary sources and analyzing art works;
moving from basic “informational” research questions [who? when? what?] to more complex
interpretative questions about the uses and meanings of art works) and you will prepare to
present your research, through the online exhibition and/or the Undergraduate Research
Symposium.
2. Required texts
-Stalley, Roger. Early Medieval Architecture. Oxford University Press, 1999.
-Toman, Rolf. Romanesque: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting. Ullmann Publishers, 2011.
-Hourihane, Colum. Romanesque Art and Thought in the Twelfth Century. Penn State UP, 2008.
These will be supplemented by articles available online.
3. Assignments
1) You will will be expected to research and draft catalog entries for images of several works of
Romanesque art. This will include preparing bibliographies; assigning the works to specific
galleries (subjects, sites, timeline...) in an online photo archive; tagging them with relevant key
words – based on various classification systems; and writing concise and informative entries,
highlighting key research questions and meeting the requirements of standard classification
systems. (25% of grade)
2) Expanding upon that initial research, you will contribute to the thematic essays and
bibliographies that will form part of the online exhibition/catalogue. These might be topics like
“Romanesque engineering”, “The Romanesque Artist”, “The Bible in Romanesque Art”, or “A
World of Monsters” (20% of grade)
3)Finally, you will develop a paper topic – ideally, from your research for the exhibition -- and
write an 8-12 page research paper with the goal of presenting an extract from it. (25% of grade)
4) Students will be expected to participate regularly, in class and online, in discussions of the
assigned readings and the progress of their individual research. (30% of grade)
Tentative schedule of readings and topics
INTRODUCTION: BUILDING BLOCKS
Jan. 8: What is the “Romanesque”? Why do we study it?
Readings: Toman, “Introduction”, in Romanesque, pp. 7-18.
Jan. 15: Romanesque architecture: from buried crypts to soaring vaults
Readings: Stalley, chaps. 1, 2, 6, pp. 17-57, 121-44; Kluckert, “Romanesque Building Styles” in
Romanesque, pp. 19-31.
Jan. 22: Romanesque sculpture: sermons in stone? fantasies and monsters?
Readings: Geese, “Romanesque sculpture” in Romanesque, pp. 256-323; Sauerlander,
“Romanesque Sculpture in its Architectural Context,” from The Romanesque Frieze (PDF), 1643.
Jan. 29: Romanesque decoration, artists, and workshops: rules and rebellion
Readings: Stalley, chaps. 5, 9, pp. 103-19, 191-211; D’Emilio, “The Romanesque Churches of
Galicia: The Making of a Provincial Art,” “Working Practices and the Language of Architectural
Decoration in Romanesque Galicia,” (PDF/offprints).
RELIGIOUS REFORM AND ROMANESQUE ART
Feb. 5: Monastic reform and the arts: building heaven on earth
Readings: Stalley, chap. 8, pp. 167-89.
Feb. 12: The papal reform and the arts: Rome reborn
Readings: Glass, “Revisiting the ‘Gregorian Reform’,” in Romanesque Art and Thought, pp.
200-18; Maureen Miller, “New Religious Movements and Reform,” in A Companion to the
Medieval World, eds. Carol Lansing and Edward English, pp. 211-30 (available online through
USF library/PDF).
Feb. 19: Romanesque cloisters and monastic life
Readings: Ilene Forsyth, “The Romanesque Cloister: Recent Research,” in The Cloisters: Studies
in Honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary, ed. Elizabeth Parker, pp. 2-25 (PDF).
Feb. 26: The Cistercian reform: a radical response?
Readings: Martha Newman, “Foundation and Twelfth Century,” and Thomas Coomans,
“Cistercian Architecture or Architecture of the Cistercians?” in The Cambridge Companion to
the Cistercian Order, eds., Mette Birkedal Bruun, pp. 25-37, 151-70 (available online through
USF library/PDF).
THE MESSAGES AND AUDIENCES OF ROMANESQUE ART
March 5: Words and images in Romanesque art
Readings: Neil Stratford, “Verse ‘Tituli’ and Romanesque Art”; Ilene Forsyth, “Word-Play in the
Cloister at Moissac,” in Romanesque Art and Thought, pp. 136-78; D’Emilio, “Inscriptions and
the Romanesque Church: Patrons, Prelates, and Craftsmen in Romanesque Galicia,”
(PDF/offprint).
March 12: Spring break
March 19: Storytelling in Romanesque art
Readings: Suzanne Lewis, “Narrative,” in A Companion to Medieval Art, ed. Conrad Rudolph
(USF library online and PDF), pp. 86-105.
March 26: Secular subjects and monsters on the margins
Readings: Thomas Dale, “The Monstrous,” and Laura Kendrick, “Making Sense of Marginalized
Images in Manuscripts and Religious Architecture,” in A Companion to Medieval Art, ed.
Conrad Rudolph (USF library online and PDF), pp. 253-94.
April 2: Preaching to the laity: the Romanesque portal and facade
Readings: Walter Cahn, “Romanesque Sculpture and the Spectator,” from The Romanesque
Frieze and the Spectator, ed. Deborah Kahn, pp. 45-60 (PDF).
CASE STUDIES
April 9: The art of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela
Readings: Stalley, chap. 7, pp. 147-65; Williams, “Framing Santiago,” in Romanesque Art and
Thought, pp. 219-38.
April 16: Other pilgrimages
Readings: Glass, Portals, Pilgrimage, Crusade in Western Tuscany, pp. 1-44 (PDF)
Aprtil 23: Romanesque art in the Italian city
Readings: Glass, “The Cathedral at Modena...,” chaps. 4-5 from The Sculpture of Reform in
North Italy, pp. 108-98.