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GOTHIC ART CHAPTER 16
In the early part of the 12th century, Abbot Sugar was responsible for redesigning the Abbey of St. Denis near Paris. He felt very strongly that "light" was symbolic of heaven, and he wanted the effects of light to be incorporated dramatically in his design. This meant he had to open the walls to place windows in them. He also wanted his light to be colored, so stained glass windows were designed (Madonna and Child Enthroned). Another element that was part of this new Gothic style would be an emphasis on "height". Just as the pyramids pointed upward to the sky, the Gothic cathedral will reach great heights in the next two hundred years. The Romanesque cathedrals had to have the support of the solid walls to hold all of the stone vaulting over the nave section. This caused a problem when you open wall support with windows and sculpture, but retain stone vaulting overhead. Therefore, new solutions had to be invented. As the cathedrals pushed upward with almost shear walls of stained glass, architects usedflying buttresses, pointed archs, and ribbed vaulting to support the weight. Gothic cathedrals are also known for their beautiful "rose windows" over the various entrance portals. When you look at Notre Dame Cathedral, notice how the walls are cut through with sculpture as well as stained glass windows. St. Denis and Notre Dame are known as "early" Gothic churches. An example of "late" Gothic is Reims Cathedral. It is my very favorite. Chartres Cathedral has a little both, and has many of the original stained glass windows intact. The central nave of Notre Dame rose around 80 feet. The central nave of Reims rose over 130 feet high. The entire Gothic church was an icon of theological symbolism. Sculpture adorns most all Gothic cathedrals. It has become more life-like, but still attached to the wall (Annunciation and Visitation p. 566). Also, more than one stone mason worked on a cathedral, and you can see from this illustration that two different sculptors created the pieces. Free-standing sculpture, like the Virgin and Child p. 571, places her weight obviously on her left leg, creating the S-Curve that we discussed in the Greek Classical period. However, as natural and graceful as this appears externally, anatomy is not studied or used in this piece. It is just a visual observance by the artist.
As the Gothic style moved into other parts of Europe, each country adapted it to suit their needs and beliefs. Salisbury Cathedral is in England. They liked a double transept and a park-like setting. They emphasized length over height, and used web vaulting (uniquely English Gothic) along with rib vaults and the pointed arch. The German cities closest to the French border incorporated many of the French Gothic characteristics (Cologne and Ulm Cathedrals). Other cities further away adapted their own style called a "hall church." The nave and aisles were both the same height. They used the pointed arch, but didn't emphasize height or decorate the exteriors with much sculpture or decoration (Church of Saint Elizabeth, Marburg p. 585). Note the sculpture found on Naumburg Cathedral p. 589. These figures were part of twelve ancestors who were patrons of the church and were placed on pedestals around the chapel. These seem wonderfully lifelike and individualized, with paint still evident on the figures. Another element of Gothic sculpture is evident on p. 590 with the figure of Mary holding her dead son, Christ, in her lap. It shows graphically the pain and physical suffering that Christ endured and Mary felt. The figures are distorted, and blood gushes from the wounds of Christ. This style is very emotional and will influence many German artists in the 15th and 16th centuries.
In Italy, Florence Cathdral has a separate baptistry and bell tower, like Pisa. It also has a dome and is covered with a beautiful decorative pattern of pink and green marble, inside and out. The dome, however, wasn't put in place until the 15th century when it was designed by the great Brunelleschi. The bell tower was designed by Giotto in the late 14th century. He was also a painter. The Italian Gothic interior was very spacious, also, with a wide central nave. German, English and Italian churches will sometimes show flying buttresses, but they are used as ornamentation (or props) and aren't needed structurally. (These churches did not emphasize height like the French Gothic cathedrals.)
We will not cover painting or sculpture styles in Italy during the Gothic period for Test 2. We will begin the last third of the class with this section and it will be included in Test 3.
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Updated 9-26-2000
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