The art of sculpture in the Middle Ages

Romanesque sculpture and Gothic sculpture.

The most outstanding sculptural works of the Byzantine Empire are the ornamental works on the capitals; There are good examples in San Vitale in Ravenna. Ivory reliefs applied to chests, diptychs or the famous Chair of Bishop Maximilian, a work carved around the year 550, were common. 15 Characteristic of Ottonian art are small sculptures in ivory and bronze to which inlays of precious stones were added. Also made of bronze are the doors of the church of Saint Michael in Hildesheim, a work related to Byzantine art and Carolingian art. It is worth highlighting the wooden images covered in gold that were used as a reliquary. Among these, the Gero Crucifix (10th century) stands out, in polychrome wood, which is in the Cologne Cathedral.

Romanesque sculpture (11th century—13th century) was at the service of architecture and many examples are found around the great pilgrimage routes, such as the Camino de Santiago. The sculptors treated various parts of the churches — tympanums, covers and capitals with stories on biblical themes—with great realism. The Maiestas Domini and the Last Judgment were the most represented iconographic themes. The most used material was wood, which was used to make devotional images such as the "Virgins with Child", widely represented throughout Catalonia and by the South of France. But, the most important image of the Romanesque was Christ in Majesty, highlighted by the Volto Santo of Lucca, in the Cathedral of Milan, and also the Christ of Mig Aran and the Majesty of Batlló in the National Museum of Art of Catalonia.

The door of Chartres Cathedral (1145) is one of the first examples of Gothic sculpture, and on it, among other characters, fabulous animals are represented that give shape to gargoyles. In Germany, both outside and inside the Bamberg Cathedral (13th century) there are some very significant sculptures, a good example is the Equestrian Statue of the Knight of Bamberg. An innovation is the sculptures on dramatic themes, with scenes of the Passion of Christ and the Pieta. At the end of the Gothic period, some magnificent altarpieces were made in Germany, executed by artists such as Tilman Riemenschneider and Veit Stoss. In the kingdom of Castile, the sculptors Gil de Siloé and Alejo de Vahía worked.20 As for the kingdom of Aragon, Aloi de Montbrai made the Altarpiece of the Tailors of the Cathedral of Tarragona and Pere Moragues sculpted the tomb of Fernández de Luna, piece found in the Cathedral of San Salvador in Zaragoza. Also worth highlighting is the relief of Saint George from the Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia executed by Pere Joan. Claus Sluter, a Flemish artist, made the cover of the Champmol charterhouse (Dijon) and a pedestal for the well of the cloister known as the Well. of Moses. In Italy, in Pisa and Siena, the sculptors Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni Pisano left works of great quality, where they already announce the step towards a new type of sculpture.