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French

Romanesque Portal, ca. 1150

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

French

Title

Romanesque Portal

Year

ca. 1150

Medium

Limestone

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • limestone

Dimensions

386.1 x 422.9 cm (152 x 166 1/2 inches)

Type

  • Sculpture

Credit

Museum Appropriation Fund

Object Number

40.014

Projects & Publications

Publications

The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Renaissance of the Twelfth Century

May 8 - June 22, 1969

European Galleries

The rounded, heavy appearance of this stone portal is typical of early medieval Romanesque style, which was adapted from ancient Roman architecture. This example is composed of three set-back arches resting on a sequence of engaged columns. The tops of the columns (capitals) are decorated with palm fronds, stars, ribbons, flowers, and mask-like faces. On the inner capital at left, a pair of birds drinks from a single vessel. This subject, a familiar motif in Christian art, suggests baptism and symbolizes Christ’s presence in the consecrated wine offered at Mass.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Romanesque Portal with the accession number of 40.014. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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