Romanesque: Saint-Lazare Autun

                                                                                 

Also known as...  Autun Cathedral
Where is it?  Autun, France
What is it?  A Roman Catholic Cathedral + National Monument
When was it built?  Between 1120 - 1146 (Wow, it's old!) 

In the 11th + 12th centuries, a large number of pilgrims started traveling all over the place, which led to the development of new churches, cathedrals and monasteries. Monasteries in particular held enormous amounts of land, which resulted in political and economic power. This enabled them to make a revival of sculpture and ornamentation on Christian buildings. What all of these new religious structures shared were rounded arches, stone vaults, thick walls, and exterior relief sculptures. There were systems of stresses + buttressing, logical arches in the naves of churches, and lots of geometric shapes. Not only were these buildings well decorated, but they were also built quite large to accommodate for all the pilgrims coming to visit churches with sacred relics (Adams).

The elaborate decoration that became popular within Romanesque art is particularly evident at the Autun Cathedral.

Autun Cathedral, France

It was built when the Bishop of Autun requested its construction as a response to pilgrims headed to Santiago de Compostela. He hoped for it to house the relics of Lazarus + include sculptures that shared Christian ethics (which it did). It was believed that Lazarus sailed to Provence, became the Bishop of Marseilles, was martyred, and then his relics obtained by Autun.

The cathedral features elaborate sculptures by Gislebertus (such as acanthus leaf decoration -- see below "Flight into Egypt"). It is built in the shape of a Latin cross. An inscription in they tympanum says "Gislebertus hoc fecit," which means "Gislebertus made this" (Hayes).

Gislebertus' signature.

An example is the Flight into Egypt, which shows the Holy Family escaping King Herod's order for all boys younger than two to be killed.

 Flight into Egypt

This piece has a very detailed surface + lots of repeated curves (which is prominent in Romanesque art). It also features Christ as a homunculus ("little man"). While he is shown as the size of an infant, he is not babylike in other physical aspects nor in personality, which was a popular convention of Christian art at the time (Adams). The acanthus leaf decoration is particularly prominent in the upper left corner.

Another example is the tympanum of the cathedral, which pictures Christ at the Last Judgment. (A tympanum is the semi-circular wall space above an entrance.) In this image, Christ appears nearly weightless. *Gislbertus' acanthus leaf decoration is particularly visible here, too.

Tympanum at Autun: The Last Judgment 

In the 15th century, parts of the church were burnt in a fire and gothic features were added to the structure in place of what was lost. The sculptures were all still very Romanesque until canons in 1766 destroyed them. A large portion of it was then covered in plaster + painted over to look more contemporary. In 1837, a clergyman finally chipped the plaster away to rediscover the tympanum (Hayes).

What I find most interesting about this is that Christ's head wouldn't stop protruding from the plaster. 

Clergymen eventually became so fed up with Christ's unwillingness to be covered up, that they simply chopped his head off and gave it away. It wasn't until 1948 that it returned where it belongs. To me, this image is a convicting example of the way we tend to cover Christ up at times when he seems irrelevant. I have to give thanks at the fact that he wouldn't go away though, not even in sculpture form.


Sources:

Adams, Laurie. A History of Western Art. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print. 184-191.

Hayes, Holly. "Autun Cathedral." Sacred Destinations. N.p., 2011. Web. 13 Sept. 2015. <http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/autun-cathedral;.

"Autun Cathedral." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Jun. 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2013.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autun_Cathedral;.