Articles
"THE SURVIVAL OF ROMAN ANTIQUITIES IN THE MIDDLE AGES"
Professor Michael Greenhalgh is the Sir William Dobell Professor of Art History at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Among his numerous publications is this book which he has made available online. It is an invaluable resource for students of Medieval Art History
Link: 
FROM ROMAN TO ROMANESQUE by Julianna Lees
NOT ALL THE INFLUENCES ON THE ROMANESQUE DERIVE FROM THE ART AND ARTEFACTS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. THE MIDDLE EAST, THE MUSLIM EMPIRE, EVEN INDIA AND THE FAR EAST PLAYED THEIR PART. Nevertheless, this article seeks to explore some possible specific influences of Graeco-Roman origin.
NB - This article contains many illustrations and may take some time to download.
ANIMAL SYMBOLISM IN ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE by Professor E P Evans
We are always hoping to get closer to the mindset of Romanesque sculptors, the better to understand some of their images. Bestiaries may be helpful, so it’s useful to know that most of them are derived from a work of the 4thc called the Physiologus. The late Professor E P Evans of the Universities of Michigan andMunich wrote this article in 1896, but I think it is still relevant and full of useful information.
SYMBOLISM OF ANIMALS AND BIRDS represented in English Church Architecture by Arthur H Collins, MA
This article was published in 1913 in New York, in book form, with black and white photographs. The author is believed to have been a clergyman. He refers to the article by Professor Evans (above) as to other writers in this field.
THE WORK OF Professor J Nelson of the University of London, Dept. of History
Professor Nelson wrote this article about the history of the Church of St Cybard, Cercles, in 1993
DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONS by Tina Negus
Early Medieval Carvings and their Origins. "Your God himself, whom you have served so faithfully, will have to save you" (Book of Daniel, chapter 6, verse 16. These words, spoken by King Darius the Mede as he had the prophet Daniel thrown into the den of lions for the crime of refusing to worship him, have echoed down the centuries. Daniel's God did indeed save him, and ever since he has been taken as an example of faith and righteousness, together with Jonah and the three young men in the fiery furnace. His trust in the Lord and his innocence are seen as a protection against evil. It is not surprising therefore, that images of Daniel are found from the earliest years of Christianity, until medieval times; indeed Daniel may be taken as a prefigurement of Christ Himself.
Jerusalem Bible).
The Church of St Michel d'Entraygues near Angouleme
This article was written by Charles Daras, then President of the Société Archéologique et Historique de la Charente in 1969. It is reproduced by kind permission of the Society. Charles Daras wrote the Zodiaque volume on the Angoumois, and published his article in it.
Contrary to popular assumption, the church of St Michel was never associated with the Templars despite its unusual, clover-leaf shape. In fact, it was built to receive pilgrims on the way to Compostela. The only sculptured capital inside the church represents three heads of Green Men with horns. This was the work of Paul Abadie (1812-1884).
The Green Man in the churches of France and Britain
Tina Negus is a writer, artist and photographer with a tremendous knowledge and love of the natural world. Her work has been exhibited and published in a wide variety of venues and publications. Her articles on aspects of the Green Man have been published in Folklore magazine, where Lady Raglan first described and named the genre in 1937.
CELTIC RELIGION
While researching my article on possible Roman and Gallo-Roman iconography for some French Romanesque images, I became aware of the importance of Celtic religion in the evolution of many works of art of ancient France. Here is an article I wrote on the subject, originally for a Study Group of the Aquitaine Historical Society, which foreshadows may of my later observations.
The organic growth of iconography, layer upon layer, can be compared to the evolution of a forest from archaic origins, with all the damage both natural and human that occurs. Landscapes change - sometimes unrecognisably - with many things once held dear obscured and forgotten; but tendrils creep back, images recur and echoes may awaken memories of a past that is sometimes still present.
THE WORK OF GENERAL BRESSE, Director of the Musee des Invalides
GENERAL BRESSE, Director of the Musée des Invalides, Paris, has written this paper on the history of Cercles from its Gallo-Roman origins to the present day.
This is a translation of the original article.
From Jean-Louis Laignelot, Captain of the French Navy (Retd)
Captain Laignelot is a Renaissance Man, bi-lingual and capable of painting, restoring houses, making and playing violins, and 101 other things! He has kindly lent his map of Cercles in 1777 and a water colour he made of Cercles Church for the Limodore Orchid Park.
from "The House of God" by Ernest H Short, 1925: THE COMING OF CHRISTIANITY
"The House of God" by Ernest H Short, was originally published in 1925 and re-printed in the 1950s. It is easy to read, mixing a little history with a lot of detail on the subject.
from "The House of God" by Ernest H Short, 1925: CHURCHES OF EASTERN CHRISTENDOM
In this chapter, Short writes of the importance of the Eastern influence on the West, from the churches of Armenia to the basilicas of Ravenna and thence to the legacy of Byzantium.
from "The House of God" by Ernest H Short, 1925: ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE
Particularly interesting, I thought, were the descriptions of Lombard churches and the Comacine builders. Short's ideas regarding the symbolism of the sculptures at Pavia are worth further examination.
REPRESENTATIONS of the FANTASTICAL ADVENTURES of ALEXANDER the GREAT in ROMANESQUE and PRE-ROMANESQUE ART by JULIANNA LEES
Few themes have such an ancient pedigree or such a wide geography as the image of the “Master of Beasts”and the
Griffin. In the iconography of the Fantastical Adventures of Alexander the Great we have both in combination.
On the origins of Ecclesiastical Vestments
This PDF version of "Ecclesiastical Vestments, their development and History", by R A S Macalister, MA was published in London in 1896. He wrote it at the age of 26, and died in 1950. This edition comes courtesy of the University of Princeton, New Jersey. I have been using it in an attempt to answer the question of the origins of early medieval court dress and clothing of the educated classes. Is the development from Roman apparel of late antiquity via Byzantium in the East or Rome or Gaul in the West?
This question is the result of an attempt to consider the origin of the Nazareth Master, thought by Professor Jaroslav Folda and some other art historians to have been a native of Palestine removed by several generations from his European forebears; by others he is thought to be a "Frenchman", possibly from Burgundy, Vienne or the Ile de France, on stylistic grounds. The Apostles and saints sculpted on the Nazareth capitals are portrayed in a variety of garments that are not easy to equate with a particular time or place though the tunics with embroidered collars may be compared to similar ones on capitals from Toulouse and especially to the statue-colonne of St Thomas by Gilabertus, 1140-60. A close reading of chapters 2-5 offers some clues.
Please see also, http://www.green-man-of-cercles.org/articles/nazareth_capitals.pdf
ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE of the PILGRIMAGE ROADS by Arthur Kingsley-Porter, Vol.1
This is the first volume of: "Romanesque Sculpture of the Pilgrimage Roads" by Arthur Kingsley-Porter, (1923). It was downloaded courtesy of Toronto University who have made it available on line. This ten-volume work is no longer in copyright. Arthur Kingsley-Porter, an American art historian, (1883-1933), was born in Stamford, Connecticut, and taught at Yale (1915-1919) and Harvard (1920-1933). His life was cut short by a tragic accident in Ireland, where he owned Glenveagh Castle, Donnegal.
Among Kingsley-Porter's other works are, "Medieval Architecture: its Origins and Development", 1909, "Lombard Architecture" (4 volumes), 1919 and "Spanish Romanesque Sculpture" (2 volumes), 1928.
He is now, perhaps, best known as a pioneer of Art History in America, and as the mentor and guide of Meyer Schapiro.
MONUMENTAL GEORGIAN SCULPTURE - V-XI century bas-reliefs by Dr Natela Aladashvili
It is not easy for Westerners to obtain much information on line about Romanesque and pre-Romanesque sculpture in the East apart from those in the
Byzantine Empire.This article gives detailed information about sculpture from a number of churches in Georgia with some useful photographs.
“In the eleventh and twelfth century,Georgia was a powerful state, active in the political and cultural life of
Asia Minor...it was a fruitful epoch and there was a brilliant upsurge in every sphere of life. The fine arts flourished, monumental mural cycles decorated the churches, manuscripts were illustrated and richly illuminated, and wonderful chasing, especially on gold, were made.”- Dr Natela Aladashvili
FRENCH GOTHIC SCULPTURE - a short introduction
This is the text, with slide titles used for my half-hour introduction to French Gothic Sculpture for the Winter Study Group of An Aquitaine Historical Society at Montagrier on 24 November, 2009. This short talk followed an introduction to Gothic Architecture by Kit Rees-Evans. Most of the photographs are my own, but a few were taken by friends and - where necessary - I have borrowed a few from the Internet. The music used was Gregorian Chant from the CD, "Quand le chant Gregorien s appelait chant Messin".
To see the slides, please click below:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/JuliannaLees/FrenchGothicSculpture11401500#
MEDIEVAL TEXTILES and ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE by FRANCIS HENRY TAYLOR
Bulletin of the Pennsylvania
Museum,no.23 vol 120, April 1928,Philadelphia Museum of Art pp17-21