Romanesque vs. Gothic1050-1200 1100-1500

• Religion:– Christ is the judge– People live in fear– The last judgment common subject– Crusades– Pilgrimages

• Economics– Feudalism-little economic freedom– New trade routes

• Rural society-– Monasteries

• Architecture– Churches solid and grounded– Destination of pilgrimage route

• Religion– God is less vengeful– Virgin Mary is the queen of heaven-

intervener– Triumph of the papacy

• Society– Emphasis on education and

philosophy– Importance of women– Courtly love– Chivalry

• Economics and politics– Trade– Craft guilds and unions– Emerging Kingdoms

• Urbanization– Urban churches vertical thin and light

Gothic Europe: Time of Turmoil and change

• Prosperity and Urbanization– Power shift from rural monastery to city

cathedral

– Paris becomes the intellectual center of Europe

• Death and Destruction– 100 year war began:1337 between England and

France

– Black Plague: 14th century

Women Assume Prominent role

• Cult of the Virgin Mary: high status

• Eleanor of Aquitane (1st French Queen) supports literature that emphasizes courtly love and chivalry

Gothic Advances

• Space and verticality

• Flying buttresses lead to thinner and less massive walls

• More windows; use of stained glass

Saint Denis 735,1137-1281 • Saint Dionysis(3rd c) :an

Apostle who brought Christianity to Gaul, and died a martyr.

• St. Denis:originated as a Carolingian basilica(735)– France’s royal church and a

symbol of the monarchy.

– burial place of St.Denis and French Kings

– too small & in disrepair

– Remodeled to become the key monument of Early Gothic art

Abbot Suger (soo-gaythe rebuilding of Saint Denis

1081-1151

• Goals: increase prestige of Saint Denis and of the monarchy.

• Rebuilt France’s royal church– Birthplace of French Gothic

architecture

– Shine with light

– A way station on the road to paradise

Saint Denis: vaults. Saint Denis, France1140-1144

art card #2

• Lightweight vaults spring from slender columns.

• Walls between chapels are eliminated and outer walls filled with stained glass

• Thrust of arches is directed to buttresses

Plan View Crypt

Advantages of a pointed arch

• Pointed arch:– crown of arches can all be the same level

regardless of span– channel the thrust down instead of out– Look taller than round arch– Flexibility: vaulting of compartments of

varying shapes

• Less buttressing and larger windows

Anagogical window, St. Denis

• lux nova “new light”

• Metaphysical properties

• Divine light: can be seen and felt, not touched

• Metaphor for God

Parts of the nave elevation

Flying Buttresses

France, Chartres, Chartres Cathedral (of Notre Dame) South View

built 1134, burned 1194, rebuilt in high Gothic style 1194-1220AC # 4

• South tower: 1194 transition from Romanesque to Gothic• North Tower 1507: Late Gothic

Chartres Cathedral West façade Chartres France

• Tripartite organization

• Lancet window above portals

• Rose window above lancet

Gothic from 1100

• ART:A creative movement celebrating the heavenly city of God– Height and light– Stained glass windows– Statuary comes alive

• Environment: Shift from rural to urban: monastery to cathedral

• ECONOMIC: Guilds (precursors to unions)– Book production from

monastery to secular for profit

• SOCIAL:– Role of women: no longer

handmaidens of the devil– Cult of the Virgin replaced

Eve the great sinner

• Romantic love – Poetry and music French

courts

• POLITICAL: Beginnings of European boundaries and countries

Iconography of ChartresThe City as the center of learning

• Center of town: high on a hill

• St. Augustine: summa: summary of law, philosophy and theology

• Combination of the secular and the spiritual– The Bible in stone and glass

• Nature: plant and animal forms• Instruction: teaching of the seven

liberal arts• History: from Adam and Eve to

the last judgement• Morality: virtue and vice; wise

and foolish, saved and damned

Royal Portal, west façade Chartres Cathedral 1145-1155

• Copied the “Royal” portals of Saint Denis– Statues of kings and Queens flank the doorways

• Sculpture proclaims majesty and power of Christ– Mary is prominent (Cult of the virgin Mary)

• Figures integrated with the architecture and stand as individuals

Royal Portal, west

façade Chartres Cathedral 1145-1155 left portal slide

• Left Portal– Tympanum: Close of Christ’s days on earth and his ascension– Archivolts: signs of the zodiac, labors of the months (symbols of

cosmic and earthly worlds

Royal Portal, west façade Chartres Cathedral 1145-1155• Center Portal: Christ in mandorla, signs of 4 evangelists

– Tympanum: second coming of Christ (the last Judgment) – Lintel:, 24 elders of the Apocalypse, 12 Apostles

Right Portal, Christ in Mary’s lap art card #5

– Archivolts: 7 female liberal arts and male champions– Tympanum: Christ’s early life

Right Portal Archivolts, west façade Chartres Cathedral 1145-1155

• Outer archivolt– Ptolemy: invented calendar and

clock– Grammar– Donatus (Anc. Roman

grammarian)

• Inner Archivolt:– Music (striking bells of perfect

intervals)– Pythagoras

Chartres Cathedral central Jamb Statues

• Columns of Kings and Queens of the old testament flank 3 doors– ancestors of Christ– Jamb statues destroyed during

French revolution, why?• How are they different than

classical caryatids?– Attached to columns

• Different from Romanesque?– New naturalism 3D personalities

• More naturalistic although still elongated

• Stand out from the wall-3D• no dangling feet• Kindly human faces

Laon Cathedral 1160-1200

Early Gothic• What makes it

Gothic?– Pointed arches– Rose window– deep portals– open structure of

towers

Laon Cathedral Laon, France 1190Early Gothic

• Romanesque features:– nave bays w/ 6 part rib

vaults– Module system:

• ¼ crossing square• 2 groin vaulted

squares in each aisle

Laon 1190• Early Gothic Features

– Pointed rib vault w/ pointed arch

– triforium

Laon

– 4 story Early Gothic Elevation:• nave arcade, vaulted gallery, triforium, clerestory with lancets

– more unified space, not compartmentalized– Romanesque: alternate support system(above nave piers),

vaulted gallery

Notre Dame of Paris 1163-1250

• Louis VI moves his official residence to Paris

• Building activity and commercial growth

• New Cathedral built

• Flying buttresses

High Gothic 1194-1300: standard is height and luminosity

• Chartres completed 1220 118’• Reims: 1211-1290 Nave 125’ tall• Amiens: begun 1220, nave= 144 ft• Ratio of height to width continues to increase

Chartres Reims AmiensLaon Paris

Nave arcade

gallery

clerestory

triforium

Clerestory:Oculi and

lancet windows

France, Chartres, Chartres Cathedral of Notre Dame Plan Rebuilt 1194-122

• 1194 fire destroys parts of Chartres Cathedral

• New plan: the first high Gothic building: planned from the beginning with flying buttresses

High Gothic: Chartres Cathedral of Notre Dame, Chartres, France, Nave

1194-1222

• No alternate support system• Unified interior: Vast

continuous space flowing quality

• Tripartite Elevation: arcade, triforium and clerestory(emphasized; double lancet with oculus)

– Gallery( which acted as a buttress) eliminated in favor of triforium

St. Sernin 1010, St. Etienne1067, Chartres 1194(E. Romanesque) (L. Romanesque) Gothic

Chartres Cathedral of Notre Dame Rose Window and lancets,

n. transept 1194-122

• Stone bar tracery

• Narrative Scene– Center of Rose : Virgin Mary– Lancets: St. Anne and 4 Old

testament prophets

• Symbolism– Square and circle:heaven and

earth– Rose= Virgin Mary

Chartres Cathedral of Notre Dame Stained Glass Virgin

and Child and Angels;Chartres France 12-13 c.

• Emphasis on Mary queen of heaven

• Traditional frontal composition

Hagia Sophia mosaic Gothic Stained glassLight reflecting light transmitting

young and worldly

Virgin and childChartres cathedral

• Maze of ThChartresTT

On the left is a labyrinth, note it is #2 above. People would walk it as part of their pilgrimage to a holy

site.

Chartres Cathedral of Notre Dame Transept Portals Saints, 1220-1230

• Classical revolution

• Forceful projection ( fully in the round) from architecture

• Individual personalities

of saints

• Bodies turned at angles

• Soft , not stiff drapery

Saint Theodore, Jamb Statues Chartres 1230

• Ideal Christian Knight (far left)

• Gothic crusader costume

• Pronounced movement in body

• Note the suggested contrapposto pose because of the diagonal of the sword strap across one hip

Romanesque Tympanum at Cathedral of Saint-LazareThe Last Judgment by Gislebertus, 1120

Note similarities, through the lines or bands that separate the levels of action, to ancient narrative art works such as the Column of Trajan or the Standard of Ur. While these works dealt with the subject of war and victory, Romanesque and Gothic art deal

almost exclusively with stories from the bible and the life of Christ.

Amiens Cathedral begun 1220 Robert de Luzarches, Thomas de Cormont, Renaud de

Cormont AC #14( plan and façade)

• High Gothic Formula:– Rectangular bay

system– 4 part rib vault– dissolution of

heavy walls– excellent

buttressing

Amiens Nave, 144 feet high

• Self sustaining skeletal architecture: perfect expression of Gothic spirituality

• Nave arcade, triforium, clerestory

• Buttressing eliminated mass

• What would be its Byzantine counterpart?

How did the focus of religious art change between the Romanesque and Gothic period?

• ROMANESQUE

• Emphasis on the damnation

• Women-devils

• Eve the sinner

• Books produced by monks

• Bible source of all knowledge

• GOTHIC• Emphasis on salvation• Cult of the virgin• Mary the redeemer• Dedication to love• Books produced by secular

sources• Emphasis on the

intellectual- St. Thomas Aquinas

Early ChristianYouthful

Byzantine: pantocrater- ruler of heaven and earth

Consider these mosaics in comparison to stained glass windows

Reims CathedralReims France 1225-1290

• Kings gallery above Rose window

• Openings taller, narrower, more intricate

• Dematerialize the building• Glass replaces stone in

tympanums

Chartres 1194 Amiens 1220 Reims 1225

The development of Gothic architecture

West façade Reims,-Visitation jamb statues 1230

• Classical naturalistic style, appear to be conversing!• Detached from background, full bodied• Celebration of Mary’s life

Compare the four heads

The Rayonnant Style “Radiant” 1250-1300

• From the Royal Paris court– Wealthy,

powerful, prestigious

• Bar tracery and light – turns architecture

into radiant light

Sainte- Chapelle Paris France 1243-1248

• Patron:Louis IX “The Saintly king”

• Glass replaces whole building (6,450 sq ft of glass)

• A Carved Reliquary for Christ’s crown of thorns

6’ reliquary 1190 relics of 3 magi Cologne Germany

Sainte Chapelle interior 1243-

1248

• Slender architectural forms

• linearity

• Rayonnant Style

Virgin of Paris Notre Dame, Paris early14 c.

• Worldly queen and son

• Humanization

• artificial “S” curve, body is lost

Hermes and infant Dionysis high classical Greece

Note similarities of the poses also note how the works reflect cultural values,

Gothic Flamboyant StyleSaint Maclou, Rouen

France 1500-1514

• Flame like tracery

• 5 portals bend out in an arc

Book illumination and Luxury Arts

• Paris intellectual center

• Fine books produced not by clergy but by urban factories

• Dante: The Divine Comedy 1320

Villard de Honnecourt1220-1235

Ink on Vellum

• Personal sketchbook• All sketches based on

geometric forms

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

moralized Bible, from Paris, ca. 1220-1230. Ink, tempera,

and gold leaf on vellum, 13 1/2" X 8 1/4”.By Sterreichische

• Circle: eternity –one God

• Sun , moon and matter

• Using tools-industrious mortal

Abraham and the Three Angels, Psalter of Saint Louis, PARIS 1253-1270

• Same artists who made stained glass for St. Chapelle.

• Architectural setting

• Prefiguration of trinity

• Parisian court style

– Elegant proportion

– Swaying pose

– Facial expression

– Theatrical gestures

Master HonoreBreviary of Phillippe le Bel, Paris France 1296

• Pioneer of naturalism

– Figures modeled

– But lacking background

• Court Style

• Note similarities to Islamic and Celtic art in terms of pattern making

Virgin of Jeanne D’Evreux Saint Denis, Silver gilt with enamel

1339, 27inches

• Reliquary for the hair of the Virgin Mary

• Gift from the Queen to the church

– Holding fleur de Lis -symbol of Royalty

– Crown is missing

• Sophisticated and Elegant– S curve

– “hipshot” position

– small head Gothic mannerism

– heavy drapery

Gothic Outside France

• 2nd half of 13th cent. Gothic becomes international style (in Europe).

• Modified to fit local preferences

Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, England

(View from NW)1220-1258

• Different from French?– Emphasis

on length, not height

– Crossing tower dominates, not W. facade

• Similarities:– Lancet

windows, blind arcades

Superficial Gothic attributes, not structural logic or emphasis on height

Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, England1220-1258

• Façade wider than interior, does not correspond to interior aisles

• Double transept, no apse

Interior Salisbury Cathedral

• How does it depart from French gothic Style?– Pier colonnettes

stop at spring line

– Vault ribs rise from triforium

– Two tone color

– Horizontality

English Gothic 14th Cent. The Perpendicular Style

• Choir of Gloucester Cathedral

• Verticality of decorative details

Chapel of Henry VII Westminster Abbey, London 1503-1519

• Perpendicular style disguises structure

• Fan vault• hanging pendants• Decorative fancy• Kings tomb and portraits of

Henry and Queen Elizabeth– Reminder of human mortality

Germany

• Architecture remained conservatively Romanesque until 13th Cent

• German art is passionate and emotional

Gerhard of Cologne, Cologne Cathedral, begun 1248 Germany nave, towers, façade 1880

Choir from Nave Cologne Cathedral

• Similar to Amiens

• Light and height

Death of the Virgin, Tympanum1230, Strasbourg Cathedral

• 12 apostles gather around a “gothic “ Mary

• Christ holds Mother’s soul

• Classical characteristics?

– Organization– Natural drapery

• Gothic Art– Humanized and

natural• German Gothic

– Passionate drama• Medieval or non-

classicizing characteristics?

– No space for bodies

– Unnatural movement

Ekkehard and Uta, Naumburg Cathedral, Germany

1249-1255 6’2”

• French Gothic– Attached to columns,

below canopies

• Period costumes• Changes from earlier

– Drapery is accurate– Very realistic– Humanization– Secular– Real people(donors) in

a church

Virgin with Dead Christ, Germany 1300-1325

painted wood

• Humanization of religious themes

• Troubles of the 14th century– War, plague, famine,

social strife

• Christ and Mary share human woes

• Christ: Stunted and distorted , evokes feeling and compassion

These two works represent the work of sculptors working in two different

media, in two different cultural contexts and with different religious

purposes in mind.

Rottgen Pieta, 1300-1325, painted wood, 2’10” high

Virgin of Jeanne d’Evreux, Saint Denis, France 1339. Silver gilt and enamel

Italy

Gothic and Non Gothic

Lorenzo Maitani, Orvieto Cathedral,Orvieto Italy 1310

• Regional Diversity

• Gothic façade over E. Christian church

• What is Gothic?– Pointed

gables– Rose

window– 4 pinnacles

Orvieto, 1310; Miniato al Monte1062; Pisa cathedral 1063

Milan Cathedral, Milan Italy 1386Waning of the Gothic style

• Built by committee; Italian proportion, Gothic décor, new Renaissance style