Occur primarily in the great river basins of France. The geographical distribution of these reliefs was seena quarter-century ago to Rare, hold only a subordinate place in the iconography of these strangeworks (figs. Shepherds and hunters appear, as do zodiacal signsand labors of the months, almost 2, 3, 5-7, 10-11, 25-28,ģ0), but with gesture, interaction, and spatial reference typically held to a minimum. Profile, may combine with other figures or with animals (figs.
Decorative motifs such as interlace, rinQeaux and rosettes abound, as do animals and orientalizing monsters, usually in sta~ic With Romanesque sculpture, of a symbiotic coexistence of architectural and scullPtural programs. There is seldom the sense,commonly associat~d Separate entities, distinct from the architectural context, even when carved in the I, 30), these self-contained reliefs tend to maintain the appearanceof Whether applied at random to a building (figs. Indeed, separatenessmixed with dependency is a distinguishing feature of the A phenomenon as yet poorly defined in Romanesque art, this body of relief sculpture sharesĬharacteristics with the mainstreams of Romanesque sculpture but has long been
Throughout Romanesque Europe, a particular form of architectural ornament stillĪwaits full investigation: single-unit reliefs arranged in various configurations -for~ing a frieze, flanking a portal, filling a gable, alternating as "metopes" beneath aĬornice, or distributed seemingly at random upon the face of a building. "RANDOM" RELIEFS AND "PRIMITIVE" FRIEZES: REUSED