gothic art and architecture

Gothic Art and Architecture

1200-1400

Gothic

Dates and Places: • Late 12th to 14th century• Western Europe

(begins in France)

People:• Growth of urban

centers• Sophisticated courts• Scholasticism• Cult of Virgin Mary

Map of Gothic Europe around 1200

GothicThemes:• Virgin Mary • Life of Christ and saints• Portraits • Secular life

Forms:• Immense churches

dominate Gothic architecture

• Increasingly optical approach to figures and space

• Lavish ornament and materials

Jamb statues from South transept portal including Saint Theodore (left-most), Chartres Cathedral, ca. 1215-1230.

GothicExample: • Birth of Gothic style • Abbot Suger

– Advisor to Louis VI and VII

– Strengthens ties b/w church and monarchy

• Royal church– Gothic style linked with

centralization and exercise of power and authority of French kings Exterior view from west end, abbey

church, Saint-Denis, 1137–1144.

GothicExample: • Site of 7th cent. Burial

place for French kings• Numerology of portal

– Trinity represented in 3s

– Celebration like the triumphal arches of Ancient Rome

Exterior view from west end, abbey church, Saint-Denis, 1137–1144.

Gothic

Example:

• Rib vaults and pointed arches

• Open space

• Suger design “Lux Nova” (stain glass)

Plan of the choir and ambulatory, abbey church, Saint-Denis, 1140–

1144.

GothicExample: • Abbey church

dedicated to S. Denis, 3rd century missionary who became bishop of Paris

• Martyred ca. 258 • Picked up head, walked

5 miles to current site of abbey church where he is buried Bishop window, abbey church, 16th

century stained glass, Church of St Aignan, Chartres, France

GothicExample: • Importance of Virgin

as intercessor• Gothic sees her

importance grow as she represents humanity of Christ, linked to divine love

• Suger able to cross boundary of Christ’s mandorla indicates his significance

Bishop window, abbey church, 16th century stained glass, Church of St

Aignan, Chartres, France

GothicExample: • Groin vault=intersection of

2 barrel vaults

– Pointed arch result• Use of groin vaults, begun

late Romanesque, allow for open interior

• benefits-=flexibility of design, walls thinner, lighter, allow for more windows

• Light, allowing nature inside very important

Ambulatory, abbey church, Saint-Denis, 1140–1144.

GothicExample:• Located 40 miles from Paris

• Founded by donations from wealthy, taxes, and bishops

• Right tower done first, left later in early 16th cent.

• Represents Early vs. Late Gothic

• Dedicated to Virgin Mary, relic of clothing worn during birth of Christ

• Head of her mother, Anne (1204)

South portal featuring rose window of Notre-Dame, Chartres, France,

begun 1163.

GothicExample: • Flying buttresses• Quadrant arches• Rose windows• Towers on heavily

ornamented Westwork

• Large clerestory of stained glass windows

• Skeletal support system

South portal featuring rose window of Notre-Dame, Chartres, France, begun

1163.

GothicExample:

•Decorated with scenes of Christ’s infancy, emphasis on Mary as bearer of Christ and throne of wisdom and queen of heaven

Royal portal (west portal), Cathedral od Notre-Dame, Chartres, France, ca. 1145-

1190.

Gothic

Jamb sculptures from the Royal portal (west portal), Cathedral

od Notre-Dame, Chartres, France, ca. 1145-1190.

Example: •Early statues look like the columns of which they are part

– Attenuated, made to fit space

•Figures Old Testament kings and queens

– Helps to solidify connection with French nobility

•Similarity of style to Saint Denis indicated sculptor may have worked on both

Gothic

Example:•Later jambs become more three dimensional in design, more use of naturalism

– Increasing trend of naturalism in Gothic period

– Relationship between column and sculpture dissolving

Jamb statues from South transept portal

including Saint Theodore (left-most), Chartres Cathedral, ca. 1215-1230.

GothicExample:• Nave severely damaged

by fire 1194

• Instead of compartmentalization of Romanesque, space is allowed to flow and interpenetrate, entire space is unified

• Emphasis on light Nave and choir, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Chartres France, ca. 1194-

1220.

GothicExample:

• Stained glass window

• Lux nova

• Stories of the faith

• Virgin Mary

• Bar tracery

• Stained glass windows, symbolic light

• Method of stain glass limit size of pieces

Rose window and lancets, Cathedral of Notre-Dame,

Chartres, ca. 1220.

Gothic

Example:

• “Our Lady of the Beautiful Window

• Site retains almost all of original 180 windows– Only part to survive 1194

fire

• Transport viewer much like Byzantine mosaics

Notre Dame de la Belle Verrière (detail), Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Chartres, ca. 1210. Stained-glass window, north portal, height approx. 14’

Gothic

Example:

• Portal jamb sculpture

• Compare to Royal Portal at Chartres

• Increasing naturalism

• Figures released from vertical support

• Influence of classical sculpture

• Cult of Mary: VisitationAnnunciation and Visitation, West portal, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims, France, ca. 1230–1265.

GothicDates and Places: • 12th to 14th century• Western Europe

(begins in France)

People:• Growth of urban

centers• Sophisticated courts• Scholasticism• Cult of Virgin Mary

West portal, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims, France, ca. 1230–1265.

GothicDates and Styles: • Early Gothic (S. Denis)

approximately 1140-1190• High Gothic (Chartres)

approximately 1195-1300• Late Gothic (St. Chapelle)

approximately 1300 and beyond

Developments:• Towns become cities• Organization of guilds• Centralization of power (feudalism)

helps to develop monarchy• Dominance Catholic church

Virgin of Paris, Early 14th cent. Stone, Notre-Dame,

Paris.

GothicExample: • Premiere example Late

Gothic style• Triple portal (numerology and

used as royal entrance)• Decorative aspects dominate• Tympanum sculpture

replaced by windows• “Encrusted” surface

– Finials, gables, tracery• Gallery of kings emphasizes

royal link• 1230s revolt, canons exiled!

West portal, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims, France, ca. 1230–

1265.

Gothic

Similarities:• Triple portal• Two towers• Used of Rose

window

Differences:• Notre-Dame,

plainer surface, less detail, more wall

• Reims busier, more surface decoration, open walls, tracery

West portal, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims, France,

ca. 1230–1265.

Notre-Dame, west façade, Paris, France, begun 1163; nave and flying buttresses ca. 1180-1200; remodeled

after 1225.

GothicExample: • Portal jamb sculpture • Dominant subject Marian

imagery• Increasing naturalism• Elegant sway and drapery,

refined gestures and movement– Influence of French court

• Figures released from vertical support

• Influence of classical sculptureAnnunciation and Visitation, West portal, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims, France, ca. 1230–1265.

Gothic

Jamb statues from South transept portal including Saint Theodore (left-most), Chartres Cathedral, ca. 1215-1230.

Annunciation and Visitation, West portal, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims, France, ca.

1230–1265.

Gothic

Annunciation and Visitation, West portal, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims, France,

ca. 1230–1265. Statue of Roman matron depicted as Cybele, mid-first century AD.

• Influence of antiquity also noticeable in hair, robes, solidity of body

• Reims once under control of Romans

GothicExample: • Late Gothic, Rayonnant style

• Palace chapel for Louis IX’s relics– Crown of thorns, metal tip from

lance, sponge, nails, splinter of cross

• Administrative center (like Aachen)• Decoration unified with function

and purpose of building– Skeletal support – Walls replaced by stained glass

• Presence of light

– Rib vaults, mullions Interior view of Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, 1241–1248.

GothicExample:

• Illuminated manuscript– Common survivors

• Produced in urban workshops

• Luxury books for private patrons, very expensive

• Contemporary architectural style

• Courtly elegance

Jean Pucelle, The Betrayal of Jesus and Annunciation, from the Hours of Jeanne d’ Évreux, 1325-28. Tempera and gold on parchment., each

page 3 1/2” x 2 7/16.” Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.

GothicExample:

• Given by French king Charles IV to his queen, Jeanne d’ Évreux after wedding n 1325

• Book of Hours– Canonical prayers for

reciting 8 times a day– Owner is laity, not

clergy, illustrator also laity



GothicExample:• Grisaille technique

– Monochromatic painting done in grays similar to sculpture

• Part of book parallels Christ’s childhood

• Bas-de-page– Figures on bottom

of page provide commentary on subject mattery



GothicExample: • Free-standing sculpture

revisited in the Late Gothic• As individual importance

increases, so does the amount of sculpture-in-the-round

• Sculptor’s guilds well established

• Traces of classicism disappear Virgin of Paris, Early 14th

cent. Stone, Notre-Dame, Paris.

GothicExample: • Elegance of courtly style

dominates • Gothic sway little

resemblance to contrapposto of classicism, no longer supports figure

• Christ no longer mini-emperor, now child playing with mother’s veil

• Virgin symbol and model for French queen Virgin of Paris, Early 14th cent.

Stone, Notre-Dame, Paris.

Gothic• Seed of

naturalism planted at Reims, bodies more solid

• Attention to detail and particulars also model

Virgin of Paris, Early 14th cent. Stone, Notre-Dame, Paris.

Annunciation and Visitation, West portal, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims, France, ca. 1230–1265.

Gothic

Example: • English regional variation• Not in city, in park near

Stonehenge• Includes cathedral and

chapter house• Horizontal emphasis• Stumpy towers• Walls solid, no ornate

decoration like Reims• Lots of blind arcades like

Romanesque Salisbury Cathedral, England, (view from southwest) 1320–1330.

GothicExample: • Double transept very un-

French• Rectilinear forms, squared off

apse• Short façade and vaults• Single aisles• Color contrasts• Unified space vs.

compartmentalization of Romanesque

• Combination of French elements and other variations Salisbury Cathedral, England, (floor plan)

1320–1330.

Gothic

Example: •Good example of Late English Perpendicular Gothic style

– Dominant vertical accent

•Increased decorativeness of English variation on Gothic•East wall replaced by glass•Nave walls extremely vertical

Interior view Gloucester Cathedral, choir, England, 1332-1357.

Gothic

Example:

•Decorative aspects dominate

•Vault ribs are not structural but decorative overlay providing no structural support on top of barrel vault

Cloisters with fan vaulted roof, Gloucester Cathedral, choir, England, 1332-1357.

Gothic

Example:

• Decorative style culminates in Chapel of Henry VII, Westminster Abbey

• Fan vaults

• Dissolves appearance of structural solidity

• Increasing power of nobility Robert and William Vertue, fan vaults of he

Chapel of Henry VII, Westminster Abbey, London, England, 1503–1519.

Gothic

Example:•Germany not as quick as England to adopt Gothic style•Architecture remains particularly Romanesque until 13th cent.

Naumburg cathedral from the southeast, Naumburg, Germany, ca. 1249–1255

Gothic

Example: • German sculpture evolves more

quickly

• Donor portraits = secular theme in church, 12 statues of ancestors/benefactors from local aristocracy

• Statues attached to columns with canopies over each (helps preserve)

• Individualized faces and personality– Contrasting personalities shown

• Drapery reveals body beneath

• Period costumes

Ekkehard and Uta, statues in the west choir, Naumburg Cathedral,

Naumburg, Germany, ca. 1249–1255. Painted limestone, Ekkehard 6’2.”

GothicExample: •Gothic naturalism also embraces observation of different races•St. Maurice Egyptian Christian warrior martyred 3rd cent.•Relics housed Magdeburg along with Otto I•Role model for Christian crusaders and knights because he was a virtuous warrior•Represented as African•Gothic strives for worldliness and cosmopolitan nature of patrons

Saint Maurice, from the Cathedral of Saints Catherine and Maurice, Magdeburg, Germany, ca.1250.

Gothic

Example: •Andachtsbild or vesperbild-image meant to be contemplated during evening prayers or vespers

– Private devotional pieces

– Title reflects collector’s name

•Not all Gothic sculpture displays courtly elegance

•Desire also for greater emotional appeal in tradition of Christian art

•Emphasis on empathy, provoking response through details, exaggeration and distortion of forms, gesture, and pose

Röttgen Pietà, ca. 1300-1325. Wood with paint, 34 ½” high. Rheinissches Landesmusem,

Bonn, Germany.

GothicExample: •Works like this response to worries of world (plague, famine, war, social strife)•People sought comfort in reflection of Mary and Christ’s humanity

•Pietà- Italian for pity or compassion

– Design possibly originates in Germany and becomes basis for Renaissance and other works

– No reference in scripture

•Meant to be placed on altarRöttgen Pietà, ca. 1300-1325. Wood with paint, 34 ½” high. Rheinissches Landesmusem,

Bonn, Germany.

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