Built the First Gothic Church and His Writings Help Us to Understand Early Gothic Art

Interior of Leon Cathedral Spain.
A treasure trove of medieval art of the
late 13th century. Built during the
period 1250-1550, it exemplifies
Castilian Gothic architecture of the
1250s. Note the ribbed vaulting and
pointed arches.

Terminology
For a guide, see:
Architecture Glossary.

Introduction: The Gothic Cathedral

There is no better evidence of the quality of Christian fine art during the Middle Ages, than the Gothic cathedral. The Gothic architectural style outset appeared at Saint-Denis, about Paris, in 1140, and within a century had revolutionized cathedral design throughout Western Europe. The former mode of Romanesque architecture, with its rounded ceilings, huge thick walls, modest windows and dim interiors had been replaced by soaring Gothic arches, sparse walls, and huge stained drinking glass windows, which flooded the interiors with calorie-free. By modifying the arrangement of ceiling vaulting and employing flying buttresses to change how weight was transferred from the elevation down, Gothic architects managed to radically transform the interior and make it a far greater visual experience. Everything was taller and more fragile-looking, and colonnettes frequently reached from the floor to the roof, pulling the center up with dramatic strength. Outside, a mass of rock sculpture added decoration as well as Biblical narrative, with statues of Saints on the walls, and complex reliefs around the portals and doors. Add together mosaics, carved altarpieces, fonts and pulpits, vivid stained glass art, exquisite Gothic illuminated manuscripts and precious ecclesiastical metalwork, and you can understand why Gothic cathedrals amounted to some of the greatest works of art ever made. Outstanding examples of these structures include: Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris (1163-1345), Chartres Cathedral (1194-1250) and Cologne Cathedral (1248-1880).

Characteristics of Gothic Architecture

Gothic fine art evolved out of Romanesque art and lasted from the mid-12th century up to the tardily 16th century in some areas of Germany. Architecture was the main art course of the Gothic, and the primary structural characteristics of Gothic architectural design stemmed from the efforts of medieval masons to solve the problems associated with supporting heavy masonry ceiling vaults (arched roofs) over broad spans. The problem arose because the stonework of the traditional arched roof exerted a tremendous downwardly and outward pressure level confronting the walls upon which information technology rested, which often acquired a collapse. Up to and including the preceding period of Romanesque compages (c.800-1150), building designers believed that vertical supporting walls had to be fabricated extremely thick and heavy in order to counteract and blot the vault's downward and outward pressure level. Only Gothic designers solved this problem around 1120 with several bright innovations.

Ribbed Vaulting: Flying Buttresses: Pointed Arch

Outset and most important, they developed a ribbed vault, made upwards of intersecting butt vaults, whose stone ribs supported a vaulted ceiling of sparse rock panels. Not just did this new arrangement significantly reduce the weight (and thus the outward thrust) of the ceiling vault, but also the vault'south weight was at present transmitted forth a singled-out stone rib, rather than along a continuous wall edge, and could be channelled from the rib to other supports, such as vertical piers or flight buttresses, which eliminated the need for solid, thick walls. Furthermore, Gothic architects replaced the round arches of the barrel vault with pointed arches which distributed the vault'due south weight in a more vertical direction.

To put it simply, until Gothic builders revolutionized building pattern, the weight of the roof (vault) fell entirely on the supporting walls. As a result, the heavier the roof or the higher the roof, the more downwardly and outward pressure on the walls and the thicker they had to be to stay upright. A Romanesque cathedral, for instance, had massively thick continuous walls which took up huge amounts of space and created minor, dim interiors. In contrast, Gothic architects channelled the weight of the roof along the ribs of the ceiling, across the walls to a flying buttress (a semi-arch), and then downwards vertical supports (piers) to the ground. In effect, the roof no longer depended on the walls for support. As a consequence the walls of a Gothic cathedral could be built a lot higher (which made the building even more than awesome), they could exist a lot thinner (which created more interior space); they could incorporate more windows (which led to brighter interiors and, where stained glass fine art was used, more than Biblical art for the congregation).

All this led to the emergence of a completely new type of cathedral interior, whose tall, thin walls gave the impression of soaring verticality, enhanced past multi-coloured low-cal flooding through huge expanses of stained glass. Its exterior was more complex than before, with lines of vertical piers continued to the upper walls by flying buttresses, and large rose windows. Equally the style evolved, decorative art tended to supercede structural matters. Thus decorative stonework known as tracery was added, forth with a rich assortment of other decorative features, including lofty porticos, pinnacles and spires.

Main Masons
Medieval masons were highly skilled craftsmen and their trade was most ofttimes used in the edifice of castles, churches and cathedrals. A Master Mason was someone who also had charge over carpenters, glaziers and other works (and work teams). Indeed, all skilled and unskilled workers on a building site were nether the supervision of the Principal Mason. He himself was based in what was known as the Mason's Lodge. All major building sites would have a Mason'due south Guild, from which all the work on the site was organised.

History and Evolution of Gothic Architecture

Three phases of Gothic architectural design tin can be distinguished: Early, High, and Belatedly Gothic.

Early Gothic (1120-1200)

The fusion of all the in a higher place mentioned structural elements into a coherent style of architecture occurred kickoff in the Ile-de-France (the region effectually Paris), whose prosperous inhabitants had sufficient resource to build the great cathedrals that now epitomize Gothic compages. The earliest surviving Gothic construction is the Abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris, begun in about 1140. Cathedrals with similar vaulting and windows presently appeared, outset with Notre-Dame de Paris (c.1163-1345) and Laon Cathedral (c.1112-1215). A series of four distinct horizontal levels soon evolved: ground-level, and so tribune gallery level, then triforium gallery level, above which was an upper, windowed level called a clerestory. The blueprint of columns and arches used to support and frame these different elevations contributed to the geometry and harmony of the interior. Window tracery (decorative window dividers) besides evolved, together with a diverse range of stained glass.

The eastern end of the early on Gothic cathedral consisted of a semicircular project called an apse, which independent the high chantry encircled by the ambulatory. The western end - the principal entrance to the building - was much more visually impressive. Typically it had a wide frontage topped by 2 huge towers, whose vertical lines were balanced past horizontal lines of monumental doorways (at footing level), to a higher place which were horizontal lines of windows, galleries, sculpture and other stonework. Typically, the long outside walls of the cathedral were supported by lines of vertical piers connected to the upper office of the wall in the form of a semi-curvation known as a flying buttress. This early mode of Gothic architectural design spread beyond Europe to Germany, England, the Depression Countries, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

For an interesting comparison with Eastern architecture, come across: the 12th century Angkor Wat Central khmer Temple (1115-45) and the 11th century Kandariya Mahadeva Temple (1017-29).

High Gothic (1200-fourscore) "Rayonnant"

On the Continent, the next phase of Gothic building design is known as Rayonnant Gothic architecture, whose English language equivalent is referred to as "Decorated Gothic". Rayonnant Gothic architecture was characterized by new arrays of geometrical decoration which grew increasingly elaborate over fourth dimension, merely hardly any structural improvements. In fact, during the Rayonnant phase, cathedral architects and masons shifted their attention abroad from the chore of optimizing weight distribution and edifice higher walls, and concentrated instead on enhancing the 'look and experience' of the building. This approach led to the addition of many different decorative features including pinnacles (upright structures, typically spired, that topped piers, buttresses, or other exterior elements), moldings, and, notably, window tracery (such as mullions). The well-nigh feature feature of the Rayonnant Gothic is the huge round rose window adorning the westward facades of many churches, such every bit Strasbourg Cathedral (1015-1439). Other typical characteristics of Rayonnant compages include the slimming-downward of interior vertical supports and the merging of the triforium gallery with the clerestory, until walls are largely composed of stained glass with vertical bars of tracery dividing windows into sections. The foremost examples of the Rayonnant way include the cathedrals of Reims, Amiens, Bourges and Beauvais.

Late Gothic (1280-1500) "Flamboyant"

A tertiary style of Gothic architectural blueprint emerged around 1280. Known equally Flamboyant Gothic architecture, it was even more decorative than Rayonnant, and continued until nigh 1500. Its equivalent in English Gothic architecture is the "Perpendicular style". The characteristic feature of Flamboyant Gothic architecture is the widespread apply of a flame-like (French: flambe) S-shaped bend in stone window tracery. In addition, walls were transformed into one continuous expanse of glass, supported by skeletal uprights and tracery. Geometrical logic was frequently obscured past roofing the exterior with tracery, which overlaid masonry likewise as windows, augmented by complex clusters of gables, pinnacles, lofty porticos, and star patterns of actress ribs in the vaulting.

The focus on image rather than structural substance may have been influenced by political events in France, after Rex Charles 4 the Off-white died in 1328 without leaving a male heir. This prompted claims from his nearest male relative, his nephew Edward III of England. When the succession went to Philip VI (1293-1350) of the French Business firm of Valois, it triggered the start of the Hundred Years War (1337), which led to a reduction in religious architecture and an increase in the construction of armed forces and civil buildings, both majestic and public.

Every bit a result, Flamboyant Gothic designs are axiomatic in many town halls, society halls, and even domestic residences. Few churches or cathedrals were designed entirely in the Flamboyant style, some notable exceptions being Notre-Dame d'Epine near Chalons-sur-Marne and Saint-Maclou in Rouen. Other of import examples include the northward spire of Chartres and the Tour de Beurre at Rouen. In France, Flamboyant Gothic compages eventually lost its way - becoming much too ornate and complicated - and was superceded by the classical forms of Renaissance architecture imported from Italia in the 16th century.

Gothic Architectural Sculpture

Gothic sculpture was inextricably linked to compages - indeed it might even be called "architectural sculpture" - since the exterior of the typical Gothic cathedral was heavily decorated with column statues of saints and the Holy Family unit, too equally narrative relief sculpture illustrating a variety of Biblical themes. It was a huge source of income for sculptors throughout Europe, many of whom travelled from site to site. During the Early on Gothic, statues and reliefs were fiddling changed from Romanesque sculpture in their strong, hieratic forms - witness the figures on the Regal Portal of Chartres Cathedral (1145-55). But during the 12th century and early on 13th century, they became more true-to-life, equally exemplified past the figures at Reims Cathedral (c.1240), who possess individual facial features and bodies, as well as natural poses and gestures. Sculpture assumed a more than prominent role during the period 1250-1400, with numerous statues and other carvings actualization on the facades of cathedrals, typically in their own niches. Then, from around 1375 onwards, the courtly idiom known every bit International Gothic Art ushered in a new era of refinement and prettiness, which apace led to an over-the-top artificiality in all types of fine art including International Gothic illuminations and painting as well equally sculpture. From almost 1450, Gothic sculpture in French republic was increasingly influenced past Renaissance sculpture being developed in Italy, although traditional styles - notably in woods carving - persisted later in Deutschland and other areas of northern Europe.

See also: English Gothic Sculpture (from roughly 1150 to 1250) and High german Gothic Sculpture (from 1190 to 1280).

Gothic Revival Movement (19th Century)
Afterwards first reappearing in late-18th century architecture (in Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill home) Gothic designs experienced a major revival during the menstruation of Victorian architecture (c.1840-1900), notably in England and America. Championed past the fine art critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) and employed principally for its decorative and romantic features, Gothic Revivalism gave a significant impetus to Victorian art thanks to buildings like: the Houses of Parliament (completed 1870), designed past Charles Barry and August Pugin; and Fonthill Abbey, designed past James Wyatt. In the United States, the way is exemplified by New York's Trinity Church building (1840), designed by Richard Upjohn (1802-78), and St Patrick'due south Cathedral (1859-79), designed past James Renwick (1818-95). For the influence of Gothic architecture on modernistic buildings in England and America, run across: Architecture 19th Century.

Articles on Medieval Fine art

• Medieval Christian Fine art (600-1200) Illuminated texts, sculpture.

• Medieval Sculpture (300-1000) From Belatedly Artifact to Romanesque.

• Medieval Artists (1100-1400) From Gislebertus onwards.

• Ottonian Art (900-1050) Compages, ivory carvings, illuminations.

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Source: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/gothic-architecture.htm