Sculpture in Catalonia during the Romanesque period

Abstract

Studies on much of the Catalan sculpture from the Romanesque period have naturally been closely associated with studies on the architecture from the same period. The historiographic story presented here is organised through a series of relevant themes that we believe have marked the research, especially on architectural sculpture: the eleventh century and the start of sculptural decoration of churches in both stone and stucco; the knowledge we have about the materials used and reused and aspects of the workshops’ work processes; the historiographic creations by the supposed masters, in a scene without the names of artists; the iconographic programme in its context; and the reality of many sculptural sets which at a some point were pillaged or disassembled and are now dispersed and decontextualised. This article ends with a section on furniture.