Geometric Patterns in English Romanesque Sculpture

Abstract

The assistance of the Marc Fitch Fund by way of grants is acknowledged.Patterns are seen on the doorways of village churches, throughout greater churches and in secular buildings. Pattern-making was typical of traditional art, while geometry, symmetry and order were considered by theologians to reflect heavenly perfection. It is suggested that geometric patterns, sometimes described as rosettes, diaper, zigzag, scale and arcading, were used in English Romanesque sculpture in a coherent series to build up a cosmographic diagram. The comprehensive building programme that followed the Conquest allowed the language of geometric patterns to be used more intensively in England than appears to have been the case on the Continent. Evidence for the suggested interpretations is drawn from a variety of sources, but the placing of one pattern relative to another and to any figurative sculpture is always an important consideration.