Gothic Art

Early Gothic
*2 fathers of architecture: Abbot Suger and Bernard of Clairvaux
-Flying buttresses help church look taller
-St. Denis: place for tombs, by Abbot Suger
-Ambulatory: from St. Denis, every chapel is divided into 5 part groin vaults to create
stability in outer wall, lots of windows in ambulatory to create lots of lighting-idea of
elegance/praiseworthiness, lighting from God, slender columns, pointed arches, thin
masonry walls, not a lot of walls in ambulatory to have wonderful uninterrupted light,
colored light also comes (lux nova) which reflects on walls that dematerialize walls
-Portals and West Faade of St. Chartres: 7 female figures of liberal arts and their male
champions that represent court of medieval learning and human knowledge, which leads
to true faith, capitals are all scenes from the life of Christ so all capitals link together,
forming kind of frieze, labors of the month and signs of zodiac are around ascension of
Christ to refer to the cosmic and earthly world
-Jamb Statues: from Chartres Cathedral, Kings and queens of France depicted, capitals
have scenes of Christs life that put together, is like frieze, to come together visually,
figures are shown to support the images of the New Testament above them, figures link
heaven and Earth, figures are bound to architecture but arent caryatids, sculptures of
figures attached to columns not columns themselves, elbows are held close to hips to
create very still and stable figures, little sense of body contour, irregularity in fall of
drapery to create more realism, mightve been by diff. artists, Romanesque elongated
proportions which echoes vertical columns behind them, decorative patterns on pedestal
for aesthetic reasons, stylized faces and fixed gazes, statues are made to protrude out of
columns to make it so that they are in our space
-Laon Cathedral: rib vaulting to support ceiling, pointed arches, deep porches in each
portal doorway to create more open structure for towers, reduces sheer mass of building
by creating more voids in front, 3 registers in front referring to holy trinity as well as 3
portals, Plan: clearly defined crossing, based on module structure, 80 ft. tall, nave has
large sexpartite groin vaulted ceilings, has vaulted gallery above aisles, triforium: band of
arcades right beneath clerestory to break down continuous wall space and make it less
massive, 2 pointed arches clerestory above 3-triforium, archways in nave, gallery
(walking area) to create more voids and provide more light in nave, lancet windows (tall
narrow windows w/ arches), alternating support system (compound column and piers),
column bundles of 3 and 5 that alternates to frame arches and runs all the way down
walls so that eye runs down it
-Notre Dame: 107 ft. tall, gables dont extend beyond 1
st
register, row of kings across
front on top of portals, rose window-virgin sculpture and consists of columns and arches,
double arches creating double voids, tower placed to refer to crossing point, flying
buttresses added later to alleviate weight in walls, Plan: 5 aisle church, buttresses shown,
looks like bullet, has transept, interior: groin vaulted in nave and gallery, outer level
didnt exist in original plan, Violett-Le-Duc, sexpartite, no triforium, clerestory composes
of rose window and 2 lancets, 3 part elevation but used to be 4, remodeling done in 18
th

century, gargoyles placed to scare away spirits, some sculptures used to work as a rain
gutter
High Gothic
-Chartres Cathedral: 280 ft. tall, crypt and west tower are only things original, 1
st
time
designed to have flying buttresses to make walls thinner and taller, Cactus plan, bread
and butter towers-people had to pay bread and butter money for tower, uses rectangular
nave base instead of square base with sexpartite vault-different, vault braces more
weight, four part vaults, everything blends together unifying interior, makes width of
nave more narrow to make it look taller and thinner, creates visual line with bundled up
colonettes vertically, crowned by single oculus at top that creates halo lighting in apse,
very divine lighting
-Rose Window and Lancets: gift from King of France, yellow motifs of castles on red
background, fleur de lis on blue background, 8 narrow windows below, all iconography is
fitting for queenvirgin and child, mainly looking as whole on cloisonn style, colored
glass made to look like gemstones, 4 doves above virgin representing holy spirit, 8 angels
around her referring to spring, 12 square panels around her having images of old
testament kingsroyal ancestors of Christ, St. Anne with Virgin to deal with genealogy
of Christ, floating vision as whole of celestial heavens, opens up wall mass into stained
glass thats held in place with stone tracery, tracery in between look like black but are
actually carved out of wall and glass is inlaid
-St. Martin, St. Jerome & St. Gregory: from Chartres cathedral, Jerome is translating
from Latin to that of the people, giving people the info that they cant read, represents
earthly quality, links church to people, holds copy of scriptures, Martin represents
France as country, direct link to church, has gaunt features, Gregory is listening to holy
spirit which is represented by dove sitting on his shoulder, personality of human
faces=jump from early gothic, attempt at conversation btwn. figures, less columnar,
stands on pedestals, softer folds in garmentfabric itself has more weight, high play of
light and shadow, discs behind head to refer to halo
-Bourges Cathedral: 125 ft. tall, sexpartite vault, 5 radiating chapels to hold relics,
buttresses exist, clerestory windows are wider but shorter, 4 part elevation, side aisles are
lower than main building
-Amiens Cathedral: by Robert de Luzarches-architect but not constructer, 144 ft.,
elaborate gables that dont extend beyond registers, dissolves buildings solid core,
sculptures within arcades and then row of sculptures, 3 portals-holy trinity, lots of voids
for dematerializing building, 4 part vaulting system, 5 aisle church, flying buttresses, very
narrow w/ lots of windows to make it seem like vault is like canopy w/ bundle columns,
full maturity of skeletal structure, lots of windows to make it seem like its open
-Reims Cathedral: 125 ft. tall, above rose windowgallery of king statues in much more
ornate frames, more ornamented to make it seem like more elegant lacing is carved into
building, pinnacles over portals that make it seem more taller and thinner in gable areas
-Central Porch: from portal from Reims Cathedral
-The Annunciation & visitation: from Central Porch, sculptures are placed in between
columns to make them less restricted, mary and st. Elizabeth shown in roman robes,
contrapasto and serene faces, individualized but idealized figurespresents old Classical
idea of ideal figure, they arent staring out at nothingness, more body contour thats more
thick and heavy, taller and thinner on left and more heavy on the right, more body
contour on left, high play of light and shadow, deeply undercut, conversation occurring
through gestures w/ hands and bodies
-Beauvais Cathedral: 157 ft., nave collapsed from too much height, looks cut off,
verticality quality w/ tall and thinness w/ bundle of colonettes, sexpartite rib vault that
created more floral effect on ceiling

Rayonnant Style (under high gothic)
-Rose Window: from Notre Dame, by Jean De Chelles, stained glass w/ leaded stone
tracery, transforming massive wall into something light, airy, and luminous, flooded w/
lighting and fills transept, radiant, represented heaven, jewel like stars surrounding virgin,
ring 1 has prophets, 2
nd
ring has kings, most of background is blue to represent
sky/heaven, made of stained glass to flood transept with light
-Sainte Chapel: 66 ft., use of stained glass dematerializes wall of this building, window
and masonry, blue painted ceiling w/ gold stars to represent heaven, mullions (stone
vertical wall) used to emphasize verticality, looks like jewelry box or box that would hold
relic, reliquary church, no transept

Late Gothic
-The Virgin of Paris: statue from Notre Dame, royal wordly queen, wearing royal
garments and heavy gem encrusted crown to connect her to earthly world, humanizing 2
figures, holding Christ child delicately to make her more elegant or royal, body is
elongated to give her more of a body curve, not natural shift in body weight, S-shaped
curve, not contrapasto, body is lost in deeply undercut folds of drapery, face is
disproportioned face to body

English Gothic
-Salisbury Cathedral: emphasis on park like setting to allow it to stand out and to
emphasize soaring crossing tower, screen like faade elementnot as heavy and
dominant, no huge bell towers, horizontal tiers of niches: 7 horizontal registersoptical
illusion making it seem not as tall, play of light and shadow across front, smaller entrance
portals, buttresses: support for walls, cant understand layout of interior from exterior, 2
transepts, square apse, Nave: compound piers, colonettes dont connect w/ vault ribs,
darker stone highlights top story and lighter stone on arches to create horizontal
linesemphasis on horizontal not vertical, rich color contrast creates play of light and
dark
-Choir of Gloucester Cathedral: uses perpendicular style named after Tudors: uses stone
ribs and uses other stone ribs in between to create web like effectmakes stone look like
its carved out of wood & emphasis on verticality, very lace like and breaks down whole
area into smaller areas, makes ceiling look less dense, enormous window broken into
smaller windows in apse to mimic the breaking up of ceiling, vertical lines are
emphasized, Romanesque ceiling w/ Gothic ornamentation
-Chapel Henry VII: by Robert and William Vertue, groin vaulted ceiling covered w/ fan
vaults, large fan shapes made to look like pendants or stalactites, more like lace than
stone, perpendicular style to dematerialize entire ceiling, enlarged windows to emphasize
lightness and airy quality of ceiling

German Gothic
-Choir of Cologne Cathedral: pinnacle style, so much masonry that makes it more heavy,
more ornamentation added to lighten up structure, placing it back in city, extremely
heavy, complete w/ buttressing and rib vaulting, 5 aisle church, triforium is lighted by
windows to help w/ verticality, heavy masonry helped to keep it up, by Gerhard of
Cologne
-St. Elizabeth: a type hallenkirche-hall church (everything looks like 1 giant hallway),
emphasis is on masonry in aisles, aisles=same height as nave, no tribune, triforium, or
clerestory, buttresses attach to sides, clover shape plan, rounded transept, emphasis on
verticality w/ completely open aisles, columns used to separate aisle from nave, no outer
sculpturesdiff. from French Gothic, no flying buttresses, windows are in outside wall
aisles not nave
-Death of the Virgin: arc of mourners that can fit into semicircular frameapostles,
Christ in center over her holding doll like figure representing soul of Mary, Mary
Magdalene represented as figure in intense grief with wringing hands, deeply undercut
folds emphasize drama w/ play of light and shadow, recession into space
-Ekkehard and Uta: painted limestone, covered w/ canopy above head, has columns
behind them, on pedestal, vivid gestures shown that give more realistic emotion, so much
detail that it seems like the artist did this while looking at the figures, beautiful and aloof
Uta is contrasted with serious and stout Ekkehard, shows body contours and body
wearing clothing
-Bamberg Rider: sandstone, mounted on pier, canopy stuck, carefully represented rider,
stiff and schematic definition of horse-not realistic, tortion of the figure reflects
impatience at subordination to architecture
-Rottgen Pieta: painted wood, human suffering traits emphasized here by using dramatic
forms, Christ is shown is stunted and distorted in death, stiff quality to show death,
Virgin cradles him like child in lap, true image of maternal anguish, Virgin showed w/
oversized head to emphasize her unbearable grief, no serene depictions like in other
styles, icon of agony, death, and sorrow, exaggeration so that mankind can connect to a
remainder of salvation, What is your suffering compared to this?

Italian Gothic
-West Faade of Orvieto Cathedral: by Lorenzo Maitani, French influence of pointed
gables over doorways, rose window framed by statues in niches, 4 large pinnacles divide
builing into 3 bays across front, elaborate faade that resembles screen thats just been
attached to building,
-Florence Cathedral: by Arnolfo di Cambio, dome is done in renaissance, octagon cover
instead of dome, 2 toned stoneRomanesque in style, emphasized horizontal lines by red
roof lines, little domes around side of apse area, faade uses multi tone marble w/ lots of
geometric designs, round portal windows, Octagon dome in plan, arches arent as
pointed b/c less emphasis on vertical lines, painted oculus
-The Doges Palace: Doge=duke, most ornate public building in medieval Italy, 1
st
level
has short and heavy looking columns that support severely pointed arches to makes it
look strong enough to hold up 3
rd
level, more slender columns in upper level than in
lower level creating faster rhythm as you go up, creates flip at top edge of column to
create little indentations on sides, quatrefoils are pierced into medallions on top of
columns-4 lobed sections, registers get taller as you go up, different colored marbles used
to make walls look paper thin, building looks like its floating on water giving it a light
and airy feel, floats btwn. water and air
-Milan Cathedral: more wide than tall, lots of pinnacles from French Gothic, mixture of
Late gothic and classical renaissance elements, portals capped w/ rounded sections that
are like half tympanumsrenaissance element