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At the peak of the Romanesque era in art, countless artists were emerging, dabbling their hands in many different techniques and materials. One of these artists was the French sculptor Gislebertus. Only having been recently rediscovered, Gislebertus has only a few known works still remaining. It is believed that he was “trained in the workshop that was responsible for the decoration of the abbey of Cluny, the most influential of all Romanesque monasteries, and that he worked at the nearby cathedral at Vezelay before going to Autun”(Kren).  The Cathedral of St. Lazare in Autun is the site of most of his work, including his most popular piece “Last Judgment”. This piece, which is above the entrance of the cathedral, was often overlooked, and not particularly thought about. It was not until the words “Gislebertus hocfecit” were discovered beneath the feet of the figure representing Jesus in the giant sculpture, that he was truly recognized. “Absolutely nothing is known about Gislebertus; no document mentioning him has survived. He must have had considerable fame in his time to have signed his work so boldly, under Christ’s feet, and to have had an entire church turned over to him to decorate. But all we have is his signature” (Matthews).   The words literally mean “Gislebertus made this”, making his name famous once more. The extraordinary installment that was carved into the cathedral about six meters high named the “ Last Judgment” depicts the return of Christ. The sculpture is of a large figure in the center with arms outstretched, being Jesus, and surrounding him are different stories from the Bible portrayed in small snapshots. Among these are the “Suicide of Judas”, “Eve”, and “Dream of the Three Magi”.   From about 1120-1135, Gislebertus worked at the cathedral in Autun, France. As a result, much of his work was influenced by the teachings from this environment. It was taught that Jesus was known to be compassionate, caring, and loving despite his surroundings, causing a theme to occur in Gislebertus’ work. The cathedral of St. Lazare was first designed to be a sanctuary and hospital for lepers, also the bones of Lazarus are said to be kept there, so naturally the embellishment on the outside of the door was intended for a certain audience. Being that lepers are seen as the hopeless and dying, sculptures of encouragement were necessary.   The sculpture has actually been able to withstand a lot and has been very well preserved throughout the years. The piece was untouched until 1766, when the canons of the cathedral were ashamed of the sculpture’s association to the “barbarous age”, so they covered it with plaster and bricked it over. The parts that stuck out too far were knocked off, which is why the face of Christ was not present when the sculpture was finally found again in 1837, the other sculpture part known as “Eve” was completely taken off, but luckily was found and now resides in a museum. The church has been kept in remarkably good condition, which is not characteristic of cathedrals of that size.  Generally modifications will occur to keep up with the style of the day. In all, it is quite fortunate that this great monument has been so well preserved, and that Gislebertus was able to regain recognition for his masterpiece.

Gislebertus

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