The \ornementalité\ of the capitals of the cloister of Sant Benet de Bages: the functions of decor in the Romanesque art

Author(s)

Aline Benvegnú dos Santos

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2015-01-27

Examining board members

Maria Cristina Correia Leandro Pereira; Mario Henrique Simao D Agostino; Ana Paula Tavares Magalhães Tacconi

• Advisor: Maria Cristina Correia Leandro Pereira

Abstract

The cloister of the Benedictine monastery of Sant Benet de Bages, in the Spanish Catalonia, has a large number and diversity of ornamental elements in its capitals, what sets us a fertile field of study. The few studies on this cloister indicate little attention by art historians to ornamentation, generally engaged in studying the historiated images. This is greatly due to the overemphasis of the idea of images as a \"Bible of the illiterate\", at the expense of a deeper analysis on the structural presence and complexity of the various elements that compose the images, among which, the ornamental elements. The existing papers on the subject of ornamentation and its presence in medieval images are generally superficial, limited to studies for stylistic categorizations, occupying a marginal place because they are supposed to be additional and unnecessary elements. At Sant Benet de Bages, like some other Romanesque cloisters, the amount of ornamental capitals exceeds that of historiated, which reveals the possibility of ornamentation to constitute a critical field to the aesthetic functioning of medieval art. This research aims to study such elements present in the cloister considering their structuring aspects in medieval imagetic economy, and the diversity of functions that can carry the concepts of \"ornemental\" and \"ornementalité\", proposed by the medievalist and French art theorist Jean-Claude Bonne, opening new possibilities for their study. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/10418-0 - The "ornementalité" of the capitals of the cloister of Sant Benet de Bages: the functions of "decor" in the Romanesque art
• Grantee: Aline Benvegnú dos Santos
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master