Thursday, April 7, 2011

Romanesque Art


This carving from the Maria Laach Abbey shows the devil next to a dog like creature. The animal, grapes, and vines are idealized, but still very beautiful. The dog's neck is turning, giving us a strange view of the dog, dogs could never do this in real life. The designs are more symmetrical than they would be in nature. This relief looks like a fusion of Roman and Greek styles and is further progressed toward realism compared to the medieval period. I think in this particular carving, nature is used more ornamentally and less symbolically than other examples of art I've looked at so far on this blog. This could be because as greater achievements by man are made, such as large buildings, advancements in science, and so on, nature is less revered because man is dominating it and can control it more, as well as escape from the weather.

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