<P> Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region . The term was invented by 19th - century art historians, especially for Romanesque architecture, which retained many basic features of Roman architectural style . The Romanesque style was the first style to spread across the whole of Catholic Europe, from Sicily to Scandinavia . Romanesque art was greatly influenced by Byzantine art, especially in painting, and by Insular art . From these elements was forged a highly innovative and coherent style . Art of the period was characterised by a very vigorous style in both sculpture and painting . The latter continued to follow essentially Byzantine iconographic models for the most common subjects in churches, which remained Christ in Majesty, the Last Judgement and scenes from the Life of Christ . In illuminated manuscripts, for which the most lavishly decorated manuscripts of the period were mostly bibles or psalters, more originality is seen, as new scenes needed to be depicted . The same applied to the capitals of columns, never more exciting than in this period, when they were often carved with complete scenes with several figures . The large wooden crucifix was a German innovation at the very start of the period, as were free - standing statues of the enthroned Madonna, but the high relief was above all the sculptural mode of the period . </P> <P> Colours tended to be very striking, and mostly primary . Stained glass became widely used, although survivals are sadly few . Compositions usually had little depth, and needed to be flexible to be squeezed into the shapes of historiated initials, column capitals, and church tympanums; the tension between a tightly enclosing frame, from which the composition sometimes escapes, is a recurrent theme in Romanesque art . Figures often varied in size in relation to their importance, and landscape backgrounds, if attempted at all, were closer to abstract decorations than realism . Portraiture hardly existed . </P> <P> Gothic art developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture . It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Southern and Central Europe, never quite effacing more classical styles in Italy . In the late 14th century, the sophisticated court style of International Gothic developed, which continued to evolve until the late 15th century . In many areas, especially Germany, Late Gothic art continued well into the 16th century, before being subsumed into Renaissance art . Primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco and illuminated manuscripts . The easily recognizable shifts in architecture from Romanesque to Gothic, and Gothic to Renaissance styles, are typically used to define the periods in art in all media, although in many ways figurative art developed at a different pace . </P> <P> The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture, on the walls of Cathedrals and abbeys . Christian art was often typological in nature (see Medieval allegory), showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side . Saints' lives were often depicted . Images of the Virgin Mary changed from the Byzantine iconic form to a more human and affectionate mother, cuddling her infant, swaying from her hip, and showing the refined manners of a well - born aristocratic courtly lady . </P>

Who believed that culture came from everyday life