During obscure times of the Early middle ages, the sculpture knows a great eclipse: it becomes quasi non-existent, and of a poor quality. It starts to find a real importance under the reign of Charlemagne, participant of the revival of the spirits and arts which one called the “Carolingian Rebirth”.

In Aachen, the emperor makes decorate his Palatine vault by eight grids with gilded bronze which close the platforms; they are forged of only one part, which constitutes a technical prowess, and propose a refined and stripped decorative research, of a very modern spirit already. De Charlemagne, Louvre preserves a very small equestrian bronze statue, which is one of the very rare preserved human figurations of this time.

Under the reign of Otton III, holy Bernard (993-1022), bishop of Hildesheim, order two bronze doors in 1015, for its cathedral. The sixteen panels are designed in a very pictorial way: the bottom locates the scene, and its weak relief creates the illusion of space. The characters are almost illustrated in round bump, and give a very clear impression of life and movement: in the Nativity, holy Joseph leans with admiration towards the Virgin, in an attitude very fortunately selected.

It develops of the XI ^E to the XII ^E century. The beginning of this period corresponds to the reappearance of the monumental stone sculpture. One of the first works is the lintel of the church of Saint-Génis-of-Fountains (1019-1020), true starting point of the Romance sculpture. One of its fundamental laws is already respected, that of the primacy of the architectural framework: the characters and the details of the sculpture are there strictly subordinates.

The volume of the bodies is very still schematically expressed, and the sculpture remains very close to a stone drawing. The semicircular tympanum of the churches, which crowns the gate, becomes a space privileged for these low-reliefs, as shows it the tympanum of the church Saint-Pierre de Moissac, the Appearance of the Apocalypse (1110-1120). The twenty-four old men, laid out in planks, raise the eyes towards Christ, surrounded of the symbols of the four evangelists; each one of them adopts an attitude different and natural, while the flat pleats of the drapery which equips Christ confer him a monumental aspect. The unit is full with liveliness and dignity, and puts rhythm into it of the composition yields perfectly with the architectural framework.

One of the other places invested by the sculpture is the capital, which derives from Antiquity, but is entirely reinvented by the Romance stonecutters. They make of it the support of monstrous figures, truculent scenes of the daily life, and especially of representations drawn from Old and New Testament. The capitals of the abbey church of the Madeleine (1130-1145), in Vézelay, are the most famous example. The characters, of a remarkable invention, an extraordinary life and an animation, are placed in such way that they underline the tension fields of the articulation of the capitals.

It opens out between 1150 and 1400. It is generally estimated that the Gothic sculpture follows the Romance sculpture chronologically, which is overall right. Its birth in Ile-de-France is however hardly posterior with that of the Romance sculpture, since one locates it at the time of the creation of the royal gate of the cathedral of Chartres (around 1150). The columns of the jambs are decorated with statues which borrow their overall form from architecture: they were called “statue-columns”. The law of frontality is respected, but the characters are equipped with modern clothing which shows a preoccupation with an entirely new realism, that one finds in the faces, which become true portraits.

Consequently, the sculptures of the gates of the cathedrals of Senlis, Direction, Paris are connected and shown a continuous progress in the truth of returned and the figuration of the relief. The groups of the Visitation (around 1220) and the Annunciation (around 1230) of the cathedral of Chartres present individualized and diversified faces, and a preoccupation with an expression specific to the XIII ^E century, while continuing in their overall structure the tradition of the statue-columns of 1150. Contrast between the humanity of the faces and the rigidity of the bodies gives to these sculptures a strange character, appropriate to Christian mysticism.

In Germany, the Gothic art appears abruptly, around 1230, in the decoration of the cathedral of Bamberg. The Rider of Bamberg (1230-1240) is the first equestrian group of big size since Antiquity. The head of the captain presents new characters: its modelled brutal, its solid construction create a powerful and expressive realism, quite far away from the softness of the sculpture of Ile-de-France. This research of the forms in their singularity, this desire to return characteristics of each individual is illustrated with glare by the Master of Naumburg, conventional name data with the artist who carried out the decoration of this cathedral. With Eckehard and ATU (around 1260-1270, Western chorus of the cathedral of Naumburg), which still keeps traces of their polychromy, it represents countess ATU, accompanied by her husband Eckehard, margrave de Meissen. The faces are cut with such an intensity, their features are so clearly marked that one reads true portraits there.

Only Italy constitutes itself like a ground of resistance to the European expansion of the Gothic art. Many areas continue the Romance tradition there, and Tuscany knows with Nicola Pisano (towards 1220-towards 1287) a true esthetic revolution. This last breaks with the medieval tradition by creating a hexagonal pulpit for the baptistry of Pisa. It joins again there with the Antique art by presenting studies of naked musculature which prove a perfect knowledge of the anatomy. In the Worship of the Magi (around 1260, pulpit of the baptistry of Pisa), the faces are directly inspired by the antique, but the new element is the use of space: successive plans are easily discernible and contribute to the clearness of the unit.

The Gothic art is continued to the XIV ^E century, and one traditionally attaches to this style Burgundian works of Claus Sluter, whose personality and life remain badly known. Born in Holland, it carves in Dijon the Well of Brace (1395-1404, Charterhouse of Champmol), which is the masterpiece of the late Gothic. The figure of Brace is of an epic strength perfectly in conformity with the biblical tradition. One recognizes the legislator carrying the Tables of the Law and the chief of chosen people, with the double barb. The marble is cut with a violence such as the artist folds it with all his desires. The wrinkles, the eyebrows, the expression of the face lead to a theatrical effect good far away from conventions of time. Until in this excess, the Gothic sculpture continues like an art had of the desire to give an account of reality in all its force.