Considerations on the Preparatory Marks in the Stone Architecture and Decorative Sculpture of Romanesque Aquitaine (11th-12th Centuries)

Preparatory drawings are the fleeting vestiges of operations and technical gestures of bygone builders, and are little studied when looking at the buildings of the High Middle Ages. This work aims to highlight the abundance of these drawings on blocks of facings as well as on sculpted blocks. Their discreet and often fragile character makes them difficult to observe and record; they nevertheless bear crucial witness to the work of the builders of the High Middle Ages (eleventh–twelfth centuries).