Sainte-Chapelle, 1243–1248, Paris

Gothic Europe

Map Europe ca. 1200

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

France)

People:• Growth of urban centers• Sophisticated courts• Scholasticism (universities)• Guilds• Cult of Virgin Mary• Abbot Suger

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

Fig. 7-3.

GothicThemes:• Virgin Mary • Life of Christ and saints• Portraits • Secular lifeForms:• Height & light (soaring height

& open space illuminated by light (Lux nova – new light)

• Flying buttresses• Stained glass windows• Rib vaults and pointed

arches• Lavish ornament and

materials• Increasingly optical approach

to figures and space

Notre-Dame, begun 1163

Paris

Sainte-Chapelle, 1243–1248. Paris

Gothic –The Cathedral

Model of the hypostyle hallTemple of Amen-ReKarnak, Egypt, ca. 1290 BCE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u9rjssGJrc&feature=youtu.be

The Medieval Mind: How to Build a Cathedral

Gothic – The Cathedral

Diagram, Romanesque vs Gothic rib vault

View, Great Mosque, Isfahan, Iran, 11-17th cent. Amiens Cathedral, Nave, begun 1220 CEhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/arch/index_embed.shtml

Gothic: France• Contains relic of Virgin (tunic)• Early Gothic (west façade and

towers)• After fire (1194), remainder

High Gothic• Towers on heavily

ornamented & sculpted westwork & transept portals

• Flying buttresses• Large clerestory of stained

glass windows• Rose windows• Skeletal support system Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France,

Begun 1134, rebuilt after 1194http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/Gothic.html

Romanesque vs. Gothic

Saint-Sernin, ca. 1070–1120 Toulouse, France, Fig. 6-14.

Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France, Begun 1134, rebuilt after 1194

Gothic: France

Royal Portal, West façade, Chartres Cathedral, 1145-1155

Ascension of Christ Second Coming Christ & Virgin Mary

Gothic: France• Royal Portal on west façade

(original) • Kinder, gentler Last Judgment

(vs. Romanesque portals)• Cult of Virgin Mary• Jamb statues flanking doors

show Old Testament kings & queens

• Romanesque linearity (elongated bodies, garment folds, rigidly attached to columns)

• New naturalism (individualized faces)

Old Testament kings & queensRoyal Portal, West façade, Chartres

Cathedral, 1145-1155

Saint Theodore, jamb statue, south transept portal, Chartres Cathedral, ca. 1230

Gothic: France

Old Testament kings & queensRoyal Portal, West façade, Chartres Cathedral, 1145-1155

• Independentof architecture

• As Christian knight

• Greater naturalism

• Contrapposto

Kroisos, from Anavysos, Greece, ca. 530 BCEPolykleitos Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) ca. 450 BCE

From Archaic to Classical Greece

Gothic: France

Rose window, North transept, Chartres Cathedral, ca. 1220. Fig. 7-11.

fleurs-de-lis

Virgin & Christ child

Old Testament kings

Gothic: France• Stained glass window • Lux nova (new light)• Given by Queen of France to

Chartres (fleurs-de-lis) • Stories of the faith• Virgin Mary at center• Surrounded by doves of holy

spirit, angels, Old Testament kings

• Lancets below (Queen Anne with baby Mary and royal ancestorys of Christ)

• Bar tracery (stone armature)

Rose window and lancets, Chartres Cathedral, ca. 1220.

43’

Gothic: France

God as architect of the world, folio 1 verso of moralized

Bible, Paris, ca. 1220

Gothic: France• Illuminated manuscript• Produced in urban workshops • Luxury books for private

patrons• Moralized Bible (pairs Old &

New Testament)• God as architect (holding

compass)• Sun & moon present, Earth

still unformed• Like Medieval cathedral

builder?God as architect of the world,

folio 1 verso of moralized Bible, ink, tempera, gold leaf on vellum, Paris, ca. 1220

Gothic: England

ROBERT and WILLIAM VERTUE,

Westminster Abbey, 1503–

1519. Fig. 7-22.

Gothic: Holy Roman Empire

Ekkehard and Uta, Naumburg Cathedral,

ca. 1249–1255. Fig. 7-25.

Gothic: Italy

DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, from 1308–1311. Fig. 7-32.

Gothic: Italy• Altarpiece

• Wood panels

• Civic pride

• Cult of the Virgin Mary

• Shifting from Italo-Byzantine to more naturalistic style

DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints, from

1308–1311. Fig. 7-32.

Gothic: Italy

CIMABUE, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, ca. 1280–1290, 12’7” x 7’4”

GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Madonna Enthroned, ca. 1310, 10’8” x 6’8”

Gothic: Italy• Italian humanism (emphasis on

human values & interests distinct from otherworldly religious values)

• Increasing interest in antiquity and study of Roman sculpture, literature, philosophy, sciences, etc

• Growing naturalism of figures and spaces (observation)

• Cimabue = Italo-Byzantine (flat, frontal figures, symmetry & patterning, gold)

• Giotto anticipates Renaissance (3D stability & solidity, mass, figures profile)

Left: CIMABUE, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, ca. 1280–

1290. Fig. 7-28. Right: GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Madonna Enthroned, ca.

1310. Fig. 7-29.

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/cimabue-santa-trinita-madonna.html

Gothic or Early Renaissance? : Italy

Giotto, Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy, 1305-1306

GIOTTO DI BONDONE, Lamentation, ca. 1305. Arena Chapel

Gothic or Early Renaissance? : Italy

Gothic: Italy• Fresco program in family chapel • 38 framed pictures• Registers for 3 narrative cycles

(Life of Virgin, Life of Christ, Passion of Christ)

• Imitation marble frame• Shallow, illusionistic space for

narrative (implied lines)• Symbolism (Tree of knowledge of

good & evil)• Focus dynamically off center• Naturalistic treatment of figures

(light & shade)• Drapery reveals body mass • Figures seen from back• Emotional expression & gesture

(grief)• Like contemporary mystery plays

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/giottos-lamentation.html

Gothic: Italy

ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO and others, Florence Cathedral, begun 1296. Fig. 7-36.

Gothic: Italy• Regional variation of Gothic

in Italy • Florence a dominant city-

state• Civic project (intended to

hold entire city population)• Basilican church• Marble incrustation• Campanile (bell tower) by

Giotto• Compartmentalized clarity

of architectural parts• Anticipates Renaissance• Dome not present until 15th

century

ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO and others, Florence Cathedral, begun 1296.

Fig. 7-36.