With all the other changes there came revivals of architecture and sculpture, which went hand in hand, and in the beginning can scarcely be separated from each other. The early Christians had been content with the decoration of interiors; now the exteriors received much attention, and the portals or entrances to the churches were richly decorated with statues and other sculptured ornaments, and the exterior decoration soon extended to many portions of the edifices. In the interiors, too, the altars, fonts, choir-screens, and other objects were made of carved stone or of stucco, which hardened like stone, and were all richly ornamented with sculpture. A completely new spirit seemed to possess the artists, who thus found a satisfactory field for their labors, and the period known as the _Romanesque_ was thus ushered in.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.--FROM THE FAÇADE OF CHARTRES CATHEDRAL.]
We cannot claim that the works of the twelfth century were free from the faults of the preceding eras, or were satisfactory to our artistic sense; but we may say that they show the effect of the new life which had come into the world, and give unerring promise of the progress which followed. The same improvement is seen in bronze-casting as in sculpture; and though to our eyes it still remains crude and ungraceful, yet by comparing it with the work of the previous century we mark a hopeful and important change.
Germany, in its different provinces, took the lead in this artistic progress; but France was not far behind; and, indeed, in the cathedral of Chartres the first promise was given of the splendid church portals of the early Gothic style of architecture which followed the Romanesque. In this cathedral, too, we see for the first time an attempt to make the head and face a reproduction of nature rather than a repetition of the classic head, which had come to be so imperfectly copied that it had degenerated into a caricature. (Fig. 74.)
Other cathedrals at St. Denis, Le Mans, Bourges, and Paris are splendid examples of the art of this time; and when we remember how Italy took the lead of these northern countries in later days, it seems strange that at this era she was far behind them. It is even true that the first works in Northern Italy which indicated that the awakening which had come north of the Alps had reached that country were executed wholly or in part by German artists; but by the end of the twelfth century both the sculpture and bronze-casting of Italy gave promise of the great revival of true art which was to come in that home of the arts.