Activity 1

As you know from your reading, the terms "Romanesque" and "Gothic" refer to the major styles of medieval architecture. They also refer to styles of sculpture. Read this overview of Romanesque sculpture with the following questions in mind: what are the typical characteristics of Romanesque sculpture? How does it differ from the Greco-Roman sculpture you have encountered in previous readings and Web activities? Now take a look at some examples of Gothic sculpture. All of them appear on the façade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Chartres, France, the cathedral (built between 1195 and 12220) that many scholars regard as the epitome of the Gothic style. Examine Christ and the Saints on the tympanum of central portal of the west façade; figures included on the portal door jamb; and figures on a second door jamb. How does Gothic sculpture resemble and differ from Romanesque sculpture? How has sculptors' understanding of the human form and its relationship to the space it occupies changed from the Romanesque to the Gothic periods? You have read about how Gothic architecture represented a particular version of the medieval Christian world-view: how do these sculptures from Chartres exemplify that world-view; how do they integrate with and complement their architectural frame and religious ideas behind it?

Activity 2

As you have read, many scholars consider Dante's Divine Comedy to be the preeminent literary work of the High Middle Ages. Through its three parts-the Inferno, the Purgatario, and the Paradiso-the poem articulates the medieval world-view in all its complexity while expressing the poet's unique vision of humanity. Arguably the most vivid part of the poem is the Inferno, in which Dante imagines himself traversing Hell under the guidance of the Roman poet Virgil. Among his other achievements in the poem, Dante envisioned a detailed geography of Hell that continues to provoke the imaginations of visual artists. Take a look at one interpretation of Dante's Hell rendered by an early Italian Renaissance painter named Bartolomeo around 1420; and another painted by the later Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. Notice how both artists represent the levels of Hell to which sinners are consigned according to the severity of their sins. Now read Canto V and Canto XXXIII of the Inferno. Who are the major sinners in these cantos? What were their crimes, and how do their punishments fit their crimes? How does Dante the character respond to them and the stories they tell of themselves? How does Dante's vision of Hell represent the medieval Christian world-view?