Pentecost, Cluny lectionary, late 11th
century. Nouv. Acq. Lat. 2246, fol.
79v. Courtesy of the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris.
areas that shape space—vaults, walls, and interior focal points—and thus could convey
narrative to the processing pilgrim differently than did sculpture.
Other than illuminated manuscripts, wall paintings were the dominant and most
accessible form of painting in Romanesque France. Apart from antependia from
Catalonia and altar frontals from other European countries, few Romanesque panel
paintings survive in France, although many must have been produced. Remains of French
monumental painting abound. Compared with other regions in western Europe, French
wall painting is diverse. Early scholarship formulated inadequate categories of workshops
and schools that have led to a recent focus on the synthesis of painting styles of
individual workshops and use of a variety of media. The lack of a recent in-depth survey
or overview of French Romanesque wall painting may be at
The Encyclopedia 1541