La figure de l'Atlante dans la sculpture romane
Institution:
Paris 4Disciplines:
Directors:
Abstract EN:
"atlante figure" was a designation given by the greeks to a human supporting figure used since antiquity in architectural decoration, and which through its iconographical relationship to its architectural burden refers to the greek myth of atlas supportin g heaven. Thus the atlante figure has a cosmological significance. In the romanesque iconographical programs the atlante figure becomes, just as atlas was, an essential link created between high and low, between the celestial and the terrestrial world. It articulates for the viewer the relations and tensions between various iconographical and architectonic symbolic worlds. On one hand the atlante figure by its vertical axis underlines the tectonic function of the sculpture in architecture. On the other hand it creates a link between different iconographical groups. The atlante-figure appears in different attitudes. The upright type which seemsto reach toward the load, and the crouching type, imprisoned by its upper load, express two very different, and even opposed images but which belong to the same moral and spiritual concept. The atlante-figure is, beyond its physical reality, the image of the human condition and of the moral and ethical quest of the human being. Several iconographical groups -in france, spain, italy and switzerland- are discussed to clarify the meaning of the two opposing attitudes of the atlante-figure. A catalogue with all the romanesque exemples found in france has been added at the end of this study.
Abstract FR:
"atlante" est un terme d'origine grecque attribue a une figure humaine de support utilisee des l'antiquite dans le decor architectural. A cause de son rapport iconographique a la charge qui la surmonte, la figure se refere au mythe grec d'atlas, porteur de la voute celeste. Ainsi l'atlante recoit-il une signification cosmologique. L'atlante, comme l'etait atlas, devient dans les programmes iconographiques romans un lien essentiel entre le haut et le bas, le celeste et le terrestre. Il constitue un point-cle dans la lecture des ensembles romans, articulant les rapports et les tensions entre differents domaines symboliques iconographiques et architectoniques. D'une part l'atlante, qui participe activement a la structure architecturale, souligne par son axe vertical la fonction tectonique de la sculpture. D'autre part, il lie des ensembles iconographiques distincts. L'atlante est defini par des attitudes differentes. Le type de l'atlante debout qui semble s'elever vers le faix, et le type accroupi, courbe et prisonnier de la charge superieure, expriment deux idees differentes, voire opposees, mais qui sous-tendent un meme concept moral et spirituel. Ce que l'atlante signifie au-dela de son comportement physique, c'est l'image de la condition humaine, ce sont les voies morales et ethiques du cheminement interieur et ascensionnel de l'homme. Plusieurs ensembles iconographiques -en france, en espagne, en italie et en suisse- sont examines du point de vue de la signification des deux comportements opposes de la figure de l'atlante. Un ca- talogue rassemblant tous les exemples romans trouves en france accompagne la these.