In Romanesque architectural sculpture of twelfth-century France numerous components may be termed marginal. These include figural corbels installed either in series or individually, inside or outside churches, bell towers and the like. Marginal sculpture of this kind has not yet been investigated as a meaningful category. The style and content of marginal and official sculptural programs demonstrate two completely different concepts. Official sculptural schemes employ a compositional model that is hierarchical, and symmetrically oppositional--based on contrasting parallels such as high and low, good and evil, light and dark. Their contexts impart to the individual images a specific meaning that can be ready by the observer. On the other hand, marginal sculptures introduce an antimodel. Their compositions are neither symmetrical nor hierarchical, and the oppositional schemes of official art are absent. Moreover, in marginal sculpture the stage is entirely given over to the appearance of women, men and ot...