Stylistic term used to define the architecture of western Europe from the 10th to the 12th century ad, subsequently extended to all the arts of the period. ‘Romanesque’ is normally used to describe sculpture, painting and the other arts only after c. 1050, and in certain areas such as Italy, Germany and Spain, Romanesque styles persisted into the 13th century. The idea of a Romanesque style preceding the Gothic (though of course without these particular labels) was already recognized in the Middle Ages. The 15th-century painting of the Marriage of the Virgin (Madrid, Prado) attributed to the Master of Flémalle, for instance, illustrates the division between the earlier and later ages of the world by contrasting a round-arched building with one with pointed arches. (Although there are numerous Romanesque buildings with pointed arches, this juxtaposition has remained one of the most popular means of distinguishing between the two styles.) English writers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries used ...