L1059
Middle Ages Sculpture
Sculpture in the later Middle Ages was used to decorate churches. In the Early Middle Ages sculpture was banned from churches for fear it would be confused with pagan worship. The Byzantine church never did use sculpture to a large degree in their churches. The Western Roman Catholic church began using sculpture again around the 11th Century.
The later in the Middle Ages you went, the more realistic the sculpture became. The Romanesque sculpture looks blocky and lacks good proportion. The Gothic become more realistic with flowing robes and better proportioned people. In the Renaissance we see a return to Greek and Roman forms of sculpture. We see again the youthful and athletic nude being depicted by people such as Michelangelo and Dontello. Dontello also begins working in bronze which had not been done since the Greek and Roman time.
Click here for Renissance Art
