The Great Era of Gothic Art Began in

Gothic Fine art

Gothic art developed after the Romanesque, in the 12^th century. The style continued to be used well into the 16^th century in some parts of Europe, while giving way to the Renaissance mode before in some regions.

Learning Objective

Describe the economical and political reasons that led to the development of the Gothic way

Cardinal Takeaways

Key Points

• An increased population of cities in France, equally well every bit a strengthened French monarch, contributes to the development of the Gothic style.
• The virtually expressive medium for the Gothic fashion is architecture, specifically, Cathedrals.
• While the Gothic style was developed in Northern France, it spread throughout Europe where different regional styles were adopted.

Key Term

• Book of Hours: A common type of illuminated manuscript that was created for personal devotion and contained a drove of texts, prayers, and psalms.

Gothic art developed later the Romanesque, in the 12^thcentury.  The fashion continued to be used well into the 16^th century in some parts of Europe, while giving way to the Renaissance way earlier in other regions. The manner was developed in Northern France due to socioeconomic, political, and theological reasons.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, people fled cities as they were no longer safe.  The Romanesque era saw many people living in the countryside of France while cities remained largely abased. During this time period, the French monarchy was weak and feudal landowners exerted a large corporeality of
regional power. In the 12^thcentury, the French royalty strengthened their power, their titles, and their landholdings, which led to more than centralized authorities. Additionally, due to advancements in
agriculture, population and trade increased. These changes brought people dorsum to the cities, which is where nosotros find the most expressive medium for the Gothic style—cathedrals.

Gothic Architecture

Gothic architecture is unique in that nosotros can pinpoint the exact place, the exact moment, and the exact person who developed information technology. Around 1137, Abbot Suger began re-building the Abbey Church of St. Denis. In his re-designs, which he wrote nearly extensively, we tin run across elements of what would go Gothic architecture, including the use of symmetry in blueprint and ratios.

Ratios became essential to French Gothic cathedrals because they expressed the perfection of the universe created by God. This is where nosotros too see stained glass emerge in Gothic compages. Abbot Suger adopted the idea that light equates to God. He wrote that he placed pictures in the glass to replace wall paintings and talked about them as educational devices. The windows were instructional in theology during the Gothic era, and the calorie-free itself was a metaphor for the presence of God.

Cathedrals served as religious centers and they were important for local economies. Pilgrims would travel throughout Europe to see relics, which would bring an influx of travelers and money to cities with Cathedrals.

Ambulatory at St. Denis: Nosotros tin see the Gothic style emerge at St. Denis in Abbot Suger's re-designs.

While the Gothic fashion was developed in Northern France, it spread throughout Europe where unlike regional styles were adopted. In England, for example, cathedrals became longer than they were tall and architects in Italy typically did not incorporate stained glass windows in the mode that the French did.

Gothic Painting

Illuminated manuscripts provide first-class examples of Gothic painting. A prayer book, known as the book of hours, became increasingly popular during the Gothic age and was treated equally a luxury item. The Hours of Mary of Burgundy, produced in Flanders c. 1477, contains a miniature showing Mary of Burgundy in devotion with a wonderful delineation of a French Gothic Cathedral backside her.

Miniature from The Hours of Mary of Burgundy: This piece contains a miniature showing Mary of Burgundy in devotion with a wonderful depiction of a French Gothic Cathedral behind her.

Sculpture & Metalwork

Sculpture during the Gothic era actually sheds light on the noesis of artists working during this time period. Some historians believed that artists and artisans during the Gothic era had "forgotten" how to create realistic works of art, or art influenced by the classical age. However, a viewer only needs to wait at the work of Nicolas of Verdun to come across that artists could and did work in a classical manner during the Gothic era. Additionally, sculpture produced in Germany during the Gothic era is specially noted for its lifelikeness.

Shrine of the Iii Kings at Cologne Cathedral: The metalwork past Nicolas of Verdun demonstrates his noesis and agreement of classical elements in art.

Gothic Cathedrals

French Gothic cathedrals are characterized by lighter construction, big windows, pointed arches, and their impressive meridian.

Learning Objective

Evaluate the construction and symbolism of the French Gothic cathedral

Key Takeaways

Fundamental Points

• French Gothic cathedrals were characterized by lighter structure and large windows.
• The pointed curvation was the defining architectural feature of Gothic construction.
• Peak is enhanced by both the architectural features and the decoration of the building.
• All design elements of Gothic cathedrals are intended to pay homage to and bring attending to the Glory of God.
• The western entrance to the Cathedral is typically the primary point of entry and therefore the almost elaborate facade.
• Stained glass adds a dimension of color to the calorie-free within the building, too as providing a medium for figurative and narrative art.

Key Terms

• Ogival: Having the curved, pointed shape of a Gothic pointed arch, or a rib of a Gothic vault.
• Lancet Arch: A sharp pointed arch used in doors and windows, etc.
• Gothic Compages: A way of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period; information technology evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance compages.
• Jamb: The vertical components that course the sides of a door frame, window frame, or fireplace, or other opening in a wall.
• Blind Arcade: A series of arches, often used in Romanesque and Gothic buildings, that has no actual openings and has no load-bearing office, and that is applied to the surface of a wall equally a decorative element.
• Nave: The center or body of a church, extending from the transepts to the principal entrances.

The Gothic cathedral represented the universe in microcosm, and each architectural concept, including the tiptop and perfect ratios of the structure, were intended to convey a theological message: the great glory of God and his cosmos of a perfect universe. The building becomes a microcosm in two means. Offset, the mathematical and geometrical nature of the construction is an image of the orderly universe, in which an underlying rationality and logic can exist perceived. Second, the statues, sculptural decoration, stained glass, and murals comprise the essence of cosmos in depictions of events from the Quondam and New Testaments.

Most Gothic churches accept the Latin cantankerous (or "cruciform") programme, with a long nave making the body of the church building. This nave is flanked on either side by aisles, a transverse arm called the transept, and, beyond information technology, an extension referred to as the choir.

Ane of the defining characteristics of Gothic architecture is the pointed or ogival arch. Arches of this blazon were used in the Well-nigh East in pre-Islamic as well as Islamic architecture before they were structurally employed in Gothic architecture. They are thought to have been the inspiration for their use in France at the Autun Cathedral, which is otherwise stylistically Romanesque. The style in which the pointed curvation was drafted and utilized developed throughout the Gothic flow, and four popular styles emerged: the Lancet arch, the Equilateral curvation, the Flamboyant arch, and the Depressed arch.

Autun Cathedral, ca. 1120-46: Exterior of Autun Cathedral, showcasing the pointed arches of the Gothic style on an otherwise Romanesque building.

The Gothic vault, unlike the semi-round vault of Roman and Romanesque buildings, can be used to roof rectangular and irregularly shaped plans such as trapezoids. This enabled architects to enhance vaults much college than was possible in Romanesque compages. While the employ of the pointed arch gave a greater flexibility to architectural grade, information technology also gave Gothic compages a very different and more than vertical visual characteristic than Romanesque architecture.

In Gothic architecture the pointed arch is used in every location where a vaulted shape is chosen for, both structurally and decoratively. Gothic openings such equally doorways, windows, arcades, and galleries have pointed arches. Rows of pointed arches upon delicate shafts class a typical wall decoration known equally a bullheaded arcade. Niches with pointed arches that contain statuary are a major external feature. The pointed arch lent itself to elaborate intersecting shapes, which adult complex Gothic tracery inside window spaces and formed the structural support of the big windows that are characteristic of the mode.

Cantankerous-ribbed vault, Bonne-Espérance Abbey, Vellereille-les-Brayeux, Belgium, ca, 13th century: Ogival, or pointed arches, increased in popularity in the Gothic menstruation.

The façade of a large church or cathedral, often referred to as the W Forepart, is mostly designed to create a powerful impression on the approaching worshiper. In the curvation of the door (the tympanum) is often a significant sculpture representing scenes from Christian Theology, near oft Christ in Majesty and Judgment Solar day. If there is a central door jamb or a tremeau, so it frequently bears a statue of the Madonna and Child.

The West Forepart of a French cathedral, along with many English, Castilian, and German language cathedrals, generally has two towers, which, especially in France, limited an enormous multifariousness of form and decoration. A characteristic of French Gothic church architecture is its height, both accented and in proportion to its width, the verticality suggests an aspiration to Heaven. As the Gothic Age progressed in French republic, the different towns and cities may take been in competition with one another to create the tallest Cathedral. Architects also closely guarded the ratios they used in their architectural plans.

Interior of Cologne Cathedral: The verticality demonstrated in this image is a definitive feature of Gothic compages.

Another i of the most distinctive characteristics of Gothic architecture is the expansive expanse of windows and the large size of the many individual windows. The increase in the utilize of large windows during the Gothic catamenia is straight related to the use of the pointed curvation, the ribbed vault, and the flying buttress. All of these architectural features captivated the weight of the structure, which had rested on the walls in Romanesque architecture. Since the walls had less weight to support, thanks to these innovations, architects were able to pierce the walls of the structures with windows without risking the structural soundness of the cathedral.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/introduction-to-gothic-art/

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