Gothic art
Gothic art, the painting, sculpture, and architecture
characteristic of the second of two great international eras
that flourished in western and central Europe during the Middle
Ages. Gothic art evolved from Romanesque art and lasted from the
mid-12th century to as late as the end of the 16th century in
some areas. The term Gothic was coined by classicizing Italian
writers of the Renaissance, who attributed the invention (and
what to them was the nonclassical ugliness) of medieval
architecture to the barbarian Gothic tribes that had destroyed
the Roman Empire and its classical culture in the 5th century
ad. The term retained its derogatory overtones until the 19th
century, at which time a positive critical revaluation of Gothic
architecture took place. Although modern scholars have long
realized that Gothic art has nothing in truth to do with the
Goths, the term Gothic remains a standard one in the study of
art history.
Architecture
Architecture was the most important and original art form
during the Gothic period. The principal structural
characteristics of Gothic architecture arose out of medieval
masons’ efforts to solve the problems associated with supporting
heavy masonry ceiling vaults over wide spans. The problem was
that the heavy stonework of the traditional arched barrel vault
and the groin vault exerted a tremendous downward and outward
pressure that tended to push the walls upon which the vault
rested outward, thus collapsing them. A building’s vertical
supporting walls thus had to be made extremely thick and heavy
in order to contain the barrel vault’s outward thrust.
Medieval masons solved this
difficult problem about 1120 with a number of brilliant
innovations. First and foremost they developed a ribbed vault,
in which arching and intersecting stone ribs support a vaulted
ceiling surface that is composed of mere thin stone panels. This
greatly reduced the weight (and thus the outward thrust) of the
ceiling vault, and since the vault’s weight was now carried at
discrete points (the ribs) rather than along a continuous wall
edge, separate widely spaced vertical piers to support the ribs
could replace the continuous thick walls. The round arches of
the barrel vault were replaced by pointed (Gothic) arches which
distributed thrust in more directions downward from the topmost
point of the arch.
Since the combination of ribs
and piers relieved the intervening vertical wall spaces of their
supportive function, these walls could be built thinner and
could even be opened up with large windows or other glazing. A
crucial point was that the outward thrust of the ribbed ceiling
vaults was carried across the outside walls of the nave, first
to an attached outer buttress and then to a freestanding pier by
means of a half arch known as a flying buttress. The flying
buttress leaned against the upper exterior of the nave (thus
counteracting the vault’s outward thrust), crossed over the low
side aisles of the nave, and terminated in the freestanding
buttress pier, which ultimately absorbed the ceiling vault’s
thrust.
These elements enabled Gothic
masons to build much larger and taller buildings than their
Romanesque predecessors and to give their structures more
complicated ground plans. The skillful use of flying buttresses
made it possible to build extremely tall, thin-walled buildings
whose interior structural system of columnar piers and ribs
reinforced an impression of soaring verticality.
Three successive phases of
Gothic architecture can be distinguished, respectively called
early, High, and late Gothic.
Early Gothic
This first phase lasted from the Gothic style’s inception in
1120–50 to about 1200. The combination of all the aforementioned
structural elements into a coherent style first occurred in the
Île-de-France (the region around Paris), where prosperous urban
populations had sufficient wealth to build the great cathedrals
that epitomize the Gothic style. The earliest surviving Gothic
building was the abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris, begun in about
1140. Structures with similarly precise vaulting and chains of
windows along the perimeter were soon begun with Notre-Dame de
Paris (begun 1163) and Laon Cathedral (begun 1165). By this time
it had become fashionable to treat the interior columns and ribs
as if each was composed of a bunch of more slender parallel
members. A series of four discrete horizontal levels or stories
in the cathedral’s interior were evolved, beginning with a
ground-level arcade, over which ran one or two galleries
(tribune, triforium), over which in turn ran an upper, windowed
story called a clerestory. The columns and arches used to
support these different elevations contributed to the severe and
powerfully repetitive geometry of the interior. Window tracery
(decorative ribwork subdividing a window opening) was also
gradually evolved, along with the use of stained (coloured)
glass in the windows. The typical French early Gothic cathedral
terminated at its eastern end in a semicircular projection
called an apse. The western end was much more impressive, being
a wide facade articulated by numerous windows and pointed
arches, having monumental doorways, and being topped by two huge
towers. The long sides of the cathedral’s exterior presented a
baffling and tangled array of piers and flying buttresses. The
basic form of Gothic architecture eventually spread throughout
Europe to Germany, Italy, England, the Low Countries, Spain, and
Portugal.
In England the early Gothic
phase had its own particular character (epitomized by Salisbury
Cathedral) that is known as the early English Gothic style (c.
ad 1200–1300). The first mature example of the style was the
nave and choir of Lincoln Cathedral (begun in 1192).
Early English Gothic churches
differed in several respects from their French counterparts.
They had thicker, heavier walls that were not much changed from
Romanesque proportions; accentuated, repeated moldings on the
edges of interior arches; a sparing use of tall, slender,
pointed lancet windows; and nave piers consisting of a central
column of light-coloured stone surrounded by a number of slimmer
attached columns made of black purbeck marble.
Early English churches also
established other stylistic features that were to distinguish
all of English Gothic: great length and little attention to
height; a nearly equal emphasis on horizontal and vertical lines
in the stringcourses and elevations of the interior; a square
termination of the building’s eastern end rather than a
semicircular eastern projection; scant use of flying buttresses;
and a piecemeal, asymmetrical conception of the ground plan of
the church. Other outstanding examples of the early English
style are the nave and west front of Wells Cathedral (c. 1180–c.
1245) and the choirs and transept of Rochester Cathedral.
High Gothic
The second phase of Gothic architecture began with a
subdivision of the style known as Rayonnant (ad 1200–80) on the
Continent and as the Decorated Gothic (ad 1300–75) style in
England. This style was characterized by the application of
increasingly elaborate geometrical decoration to the structural
forms that had been established during the preceding century.
During the period of the
Rayonnant style a significant change took place in Gothic
architecture. Until about 1250, Gothic architects concentrated
on the harmonious distribution of masses of masonry and,
particularly in France, on the technical problems of achieving
great height; after that date, they became more concerned with
the creation of rich visual effects through decoration. This
decoration took such forms as pinnacles (upright members, often
spired, that capped piers, buttresses, or other exterior
elements), moldings, and, especially, window tracery. The most
characteristic and finest achievement of the Rayonnant style is
the great circular rose window adorning the west facades of
large French cathedrals; the typically radial patterns of the
tracery inspired the designation Rayonnant for the new style.
Another typical feature of Rayonnant architecture is the
thinning of vertical supporting members, the enlargement of
windows, and the combination of the triforium gallery and the
clerestory until walls are largely undifferentiated screens of
tracery, mullions (vertical bars of tracery dividing windows
into sections), and glass. Stained glass—formerly deeply
coloured—became lighter in colour to increase the visibility of
tracery silhouettes and to let more light into the interior. The
most notable examples of the Rayonnant style are the cathedrals
of Reims, Amiens, Bourges, Chartres, and Beauvais.
The parallel Decorated Gothic
style came into being in England with the general use of
elaborate stone window tracery. Supplanting the small, slender,
pointed lancet windows of the early English Gothic style were
windows of great width and height, divided by mullions into two
to eight brightly coloured main subdivisions, each of which was
further divided by tracery. At first, this tracery was based on
the trefoil and quatrefoil, the arch, and the circle, all of
which were combined to form netlike patterns. Later, tracery was
based on the ogee, or S-shaped curve, which creates flowing,
flamelike forms. Some of the most outstanding monuments of the
Decorated Gothic style are sections of the cloister (c. 1245–69)
of Westminster Abbey; the east end, or Angel Choir, of Lincoln
Cathedral (begun 1256); and the nave and west front of York
Minster (c. 1260–1320).
Late Gothic
In France the Rayonnant style evolved about 1280 into an
even more decorative phase called the Flamboyant style, which
lasted until about 1500. In England a development known as the
Perpendicular style lasted from about 1375 to 1500. The most
conspicuous feature of the Flamboyant Gothic style is the
dominance in stone window tracery of a flamelike S-shaped curve.
In the Flamboyant style wall
space was reduced to the minimum of supporting vertical shafts
to allow an almost continuous expanse of glass and tracery.
Structural logic was obscured by the virtual covering of the
exteriors of buildings with tracery, which often decorated
masonry as well as windows. A profusion of pinnacles, gables,
and other details such as subsidiary ribs in the vaults to form
star patterns further complicated the total effect.
By the late Gothic period
greater attention was being given to secular buildings. Thus,
Flamboyant Gothic features can be seen in many town halls, guild
halls, and even residences. There were few churches built
completely in the Flamboyant style, attractive exceptions being
Notre-Dame d’Épine near Châlons-sur-Marne and Saint-Maclou in
Rouen. Other important examples of the style are the Tour de
Beurre of Rouen Cathedral and the north spire of Chartres.
Flamboyant Gothic, which eventually became overly ornate,
refined, and complicated, gave way in France to Renaissance
forms in the 16th century.
In England the parallel
Perpendicular Gothic style was characterized by a predominance
of vertical lines in the stone tracery of windows, an
enlargement of windows to great proportions, and the conversion
of the interior stories into a single unified vertical expanse.
The typical Gothic pointed vaults were replaced by fan vaults
(fan-shaped clusters of tracery-like ribs springing from slender
columns or from pendant knobs at the centre of the ceiling).
Among the finest examples of the Perpendicular Gothic style are
Gloucester Cathedral (14th–15th centuries) and King’s College
Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1515).
Sculpture
Gothic sculpture was closely tied to architecture, since it
was used primarily to decorate the exteriors of cathedrals and
other religious buildings. The earliest Gothic sculptures were
stone figures of saints and the Holy Family used to decorate the
doorways, or portals, of cathedrals in France and elsewhere. The
sculptures on the Royal Portal of Chartres Cathedral (c.
1145–55) were little changed from their Romanesque predecessors
in their stiff, straight, simple, elongated, and hieratic forms.
But during the later 12th and the early 13th centuries
sculptures became more relaxed and naturalistic in treatment, a
trend that culminated in the sculptural decorations of the Reims
Cathedral (c. 1240). These figures, while retaining the dignity
and monumentality of their predecessors, have individualized
faces and figures, as well as full, flowing draperies and
natural poses and gestures, and they display a classical poise
that suggests an awareness of antique Roman models on the part
of their creators. Early Gothic masons also began to observe
such natural forms as plants more closely, as is evident in the
realistically carven clusters of leaves that adorn the capitals
of columns.
Monumental sculptures assumed
an increasingly prominent role during the High and late Gothic
periods and were placed in large numbers on the facades of
cathedrals, often in their own niches. In the 14th century,
Gothic sculpture became more refined and elegant and acquired a
mannered daintiness in its elaborate and finicky drapery. The
elegant and somewhat artificial prettiness of this style was
widely disseminated throughout Europe in sculpture, painting,
and manuscript illumination during the 14th century and became
known as the International Gothic style. An opposite trend at
this time was that of an intensified realism, as displayed in
French tomb sculptures and in the vigorous and dramatic works of
the foremost late Gothic sculptor, Claus Sluter.
Gothic sculpture evolved into
the more technically advanced and classicistic Renaissance style
in Italy during the 14th and early 15th centuries but persisted
until somewhat later in northern Europe.
Painting
Gothic painting followed the same stylistic evolution as did
sculpture; from stiff, simple, hieratic forms toward more
relaxed and natural ones. Its scale grew large only in the early
14th century, when it began to be used in decorating the retable
(ornamental panel behind an altar). Such paintings usually
featured scenes and figures from the New Testament, particularly
of the Passion of Christ and the Virgin Mary. These paintings
display an emphasis on flowing, curving lines, minute detail,
and refined decoration, and gold was often applied to the panel
as background colour. Compositions became more complex as time
went on, and painters began to seek means of depicting spatial
depth in their pictures, a search that eventually led to the
mastery of perspective in the early years of the Italian
Renaissance. In late Gothic painting of the 14th and 15th
centuries secular subjects such as hunting scenes, chivalric
themes, and depictions of historical events also appeared. Both
religious and secular subjects were depicted in manuscript
illuminations—i.e., the pictorial embellishment of handwritten
books. This was a major form of artistic production during the
Gothic period and reached its peak in France during the 14th
century. The calendar illustrations in the Très Riches Heures du
duc de Berry (c. 1416) by the Limburg brothers, who worked at
the court of Jean de France, duc de Berry, are perhaps the most
eloquent statements of the International Gothic style as well as
the best known of all manuscript illuminations.
Manuscript illumination was
superseded by printed illustrations in the second half of the
15th century. Panel and wall painting evolved gradually into the
Renaissance style in Italy during the 14th and early 15th
centuries but retained many more of its Gothic characteristics
until the late 15th and early 16th centuries in Germany,
Flanders, and elsewhere in Northern Europe.
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