1. Gothic
Art
1140-1400,
Up to 1500 in
some of Europe
(12th-15th century)
In one sentence, describe what the term “Gothic Art”
means to you.

3. STYLE
DATE
LOCATION
Early Gothic
1140-1194
France
High Gothic,
Rayonnant
Gothic
Late Gothic,
Flamboyant
Gothic
Perpendicular
Gothic
1194-1300
France
After 1300
France
After 1350
England

4. Some main ideas about GOTHIC art:
•Gothic architecture picks up where Romanesque
left off – rib vault, pointed arch, bay system of
construction
•Architecture gets higher than ever! FLYING
BUTTRESSES carry the weight of the roof to the walls
outside the building and deflect wind pressure
•Sculpture is more 3D than Romanesque (especially
on portals) – It emerges from the wall and
emphasizes the verticality of the structure
•Manuscript painting influenced by stained glass
(luminous and rich colors)

5. Gothic Cathedrals vs. Romanesque
•
•
•
•
•
Taller, more open structures
High use of stained glass windows
Rose windows
Smaller transepts
Use of Flying Buttresses vs. Salient (low relief)
Buttresses
• Much more decoration in terms of façade
sculpture
• Use of the Pointed Arch

6. So how did “GOTHIC” come about in Paris?
•Peace and prosperity in Paris – more
centralized monarchy, new definition of “king”,
peaceful succession of kings from 987 to 1328
•Cities and towns get wealthier and bigger
•Development of money economy- cities play a
role in converting agricultural products to goods
and services
•Schools in Paris- intellectual center of western
Europe – brought together teachers and
scholars who asked questions and argued using
logic

7. Late Gothic period marked by three big historical events:
1.Hundred Years War between France and England
(1337-1453) – devastated both countries socially
and economically – left huge regions of France in
ruin
2.The Babylonian Captivity (1304-1377) – spiritual
crisis when French popes move headquarters of
Christian church to Avignon, France – heavy effects
on Europe, especially Rome. Rome began to decay
(When the Pope’s away, Rome will decay!). Pope returns to
Rome in 1377, but rival popes claim authority –
schism develops. Rivalry resolved in 1409, but the
church’s authority was undermined by this point.

8. 3. The Black Death of 1348 – a misdiagnosed
pulmonary plague - a quarter to a third of the world
died! There weren’t enough living people to bury
the dead! Architecture came to a standstill. Artists
think the plague is God punishing them – their
painting became more conservative and reflected
earlier styles

9. Life as a patron or artist:
•Hundreds of laborers and artists work on cathedrals –
organized by master builders
•Cathedral = public works project – keeps local economy
strong
•Imported artists from all over the place (masons,
stonecutters, sculptors, haulers, carpenters)
•Manuscripts organized by a “chef d’atelier” – responsible for
establishing overall plan or vision of a book – workshop
executes the plan
•Scribes copy text, but left room for decorations (fanciful
initials, borders, illustrations)
•Artists could express themselves more fully than scribes
•Bookbinders bind the manuscripts

10. Features of GOTHIC architecture:
Improvements to
previous features:
New features:
•Rib Vault
•Flying buttress
•Choir
•Bays
•Rose Window •Pinnacles
•Pointed Arch

11. RIB VAULT
Invented at end of
Romanesque period
– became standard
vaulting practice of
Gothic period

12. BAYS
Romanesque use of repeated vertical elements in
bays became standard in the Gothic period

13. Rose Window
Elaborate circular
feature that opens
up wall space by
allowing more light
in through the
façade and transepts

14. Pointed
Arch
-First seen in Islamic Spain
-Directs thrusts down to the floor more efficiently
than rounded arches

15. Flying buttresses: Stone
arches that support a roof by
having the weight bypass the
walls and travel down to
piers outside the building
This allows for more open
space and bigger windows –
can display more stained glass
They help stabilize the
building – prevent wind
stresses from damaging these
vertical, narrow structures

16. APSE
CHEVET
East end = Chevet
--Increasingly
elaborate
ceremonies =
need more space
CHOIR introduced
(between apse
and transept)
Allows for more
clergy
participation
(side effect: public
is far from altar)

18. PINNACLES
Thought of as
decoration, but they
actually stabilize forces
in a wind storm

19. Gothic buildings are
tall and narrow –
causes worshipper to
look up upon entering
(religious symbolism)

20. FRENCH GOTHIC
•Buildings are typically nestled downtown,
surrounded by other buildings
•Rise above the city landscape = civic pride
•Towns try to outdo each other – try to
build taller
•Four major periods of French Gothic
architecture: Early, High, Rayonnant,
Late/Flamboyant

21. EARLY French Gothic:
-Characterized by rounded columns in the
interior
-Rib vaults start at the ceiling but travel
down only to the top of the column
capitals
Let’s see some examples of EARLY French
Gothic…

22. NOTRE DAME
(“Our Lady”)
Begun 1150’s
(12th century)
Paris, France

27. SMO CAM

28. •Flying buttresses
used on a large
scale here
Let’s explore the
exterior first…

29. Portal sculptures on first floor

31. Second floor: a gallery of 28
kings from the Old Testament

32. Rose window on
third floor is 30-feetplus across!

34. Fourth floor: hanging
space for cathedral bells

35. Gargoyles – for water runoff
Chimeras- statues for
decoration (no function)
All used to be vividly
painted

36. CHIMERAS

37. Early Gothic feature:
rib vaults start at the
ceiling and go down as
far as the capitals on
the columns

38. Sexpartite vaults (6-part) -- Vaults span TWO bays

41. Walkin’ around the ambulatory

42. Saint-Denis
1140-1144 (12th century)
Saint-Denis, France

45. •First Gothic building!
•Abbot Suger: the patron – wanted light filtered by
stained glass to saturate the inside of the building –
represents divine light of God’s presence inside the
church
•Check out the
pointed arches
•This is a burial
site of French
royalty

46. •Rib vaults start at the
ceiling and go down as
far as the capitals on the
columns – columns are
round

47. •Radiating chapels open up and one continuous space
is created – space in the chapels flow from one to the
other (not separated spaces like Romanesque)
•“Lightness” of interior (minimal visual mass and
weight)

48. HIGH French Gothic:
-Articulated columns in interior
-Rib vaults travel from ceiling down to floor
-Larger window spaces, choirs and chevets,
compound piers are common, more
sculpture on facade
Let’s see some examples of HIGH French
Gothic…

49. Chartres Cathedral
Begun 1134
(12th century)
Chartres, France

50. SMO CAM

51. From 1507-1513
From 1160

52. West façade: the Royal Portal

54. Legendary stained
glass
Very large windows

55. Incarnation
window (Life
of Christ)
1134
Detail:
Adoration of
the Magi,
1150

56. The Tree of Jesse

57. The Tree of Jesse
•Very complex design
•Jesse was the father of King David
and an ancestor of Mary
•Jesse lies at base of tree – trunk
grows out of his body
•This “family tree” connects Jesus
with the house of David
•Christ’s royal ancestors, Mary,
and Christ are in the tree branches
•Seven doves to symbolize the
seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

58. Charlemagne Window- Constantine
dreaming of Charlemagne

61. Chapel of the Virgin
Mary
(with Mary’s veil
behind glass)

62. Screen around the choir – scenes from Christ’s life

63. •High Gothic nave
•Each vault spans
one bay
•Large windows

66. The labyrinth- a spiritual
journey for reflection and
prayer

68. Amiens Cathedral
Begun 1220
(13th century)
Amiens, France

70. •High Gothic design
•Façade has
extravagant use of
sculpture
•High contrast
between light and
dark projections
•Sculpture above the
doors in the arches

73. •Four-part ribbed
vaults
•Vaults extremely high
– 148 feet above floor
•Large expanse of
windows
•Narrow nave – makes
interior look even
more vertical

76. Amiens has a labyrinth too!

77. Siena Cathedral, 1284-1299 (13th century),
Siena, Italy

78. •Designed by Giovanni
Pisano
•Gothic Gables with
classical columns and
mouldings
•Figural sculptures placed
high on the façade – big
gestures, expressive
•Highly detailed (it’s an
Italian thing)

79. Siena Cathedral, interior

80. •Interior – focus
on furnishings
(pulpits, tomb
monuments,
baptismal fonts,
etc.) and
decorative
accents.

81. Beauvais Cathedral, 1272 (13th century),
Beauvais, France

83. RAYONNANT French Gothic:
-”Radiating”
-Dissolution of a wall space with great
sheets of stained glass
-Thin groups of column shafts
-Refined tracery
Let’s see an example of RAYONNANT
French Gothic…

84. Saint-Chapelle, 1243-1248 (13th century) Paris, France

86. •¾ of the wall space is windows
•Sheets of glass
•1,113 scenes depicted in 15 stained glass windows telling the
Biblical stories from Genesis through Christ’s crucifixion

87. Symbolizes a giant reliquary, built to house sacred artifacts
collected by Louis IX, including Christ’s crown of thorns

88. •Slender columns
•Adjoins a Royal
Palace

89. Late/Flamboyant:
•Highly decorative (meaning
“flaming”)
•A mass of pinnacles and tracery
•Decoration acts as a see-through
screen in which forms are revealed
•OGEE arches are used
Let’s see an example…

90. OGEE arch
A pointed arch
composed of
reversed curves, the
lower concave and
the upper convex

91. Saint-Maclou
1500-1514
(16th century)
Rouen, France

92. •Skeletal gables
over arches
•Complex design,
rich ornamentation

93. •Five portals
•Two are “blind”
portals (they frame
blank spaces)

95. …and then there are ENGLISH GOTHIC buildings
•Constructed in a gardenlike setting (a “close”)
•Inspired by cloistered areas in a medieval monastery
•Extremely pronounced central spires
•Compared to French Gothic, English Gothic has:
-smaller flying buttresses
-diminutive portals
-lower façade towers
-wide screen-like facades containing sculpture
everywhere

96. ENGLISH GOTHIC
•Square rather than rounded apse (corners
have right angles)
•Two transepts instead of one – both
prominently stick out from the main body
of the building

97. •English developed “Perpendicular
Gothic” around 1350 (14th century)
-enormous window space interlaced with
elaborate decorative vertical patterns of
stone tracery
-Clusters of vertical shafts rise
dramatically and unimpeded to the ceiling
where they burst open in a wide pattern
called a “FAN VAULT”

98. Salisbury Cathedral
Begun 1220
(13th century)
Silisbury, England

99. Wide façade
with
sculptures
everywhere!

100. Situated in a “close”

101. Subdued flying buttresses

102. •Two transepts
•Square apse
•Long horizontal emphasis down the nave

103. Wide nave – more horizontal emphasis

104. Tall central spire rises
from crossing-added
in 19th century

105. King’s College Chapel, begun in 1446 (15th century),
Cambridge, England

107. It has the most
fan vaulting of
any building in
the world!

109. GOTHIC Painting
and a tie-in with stained glass

110. •Stained glass became an industry during Gothic
•Craftsmen made the glass, glaziers cut it and
wrapped the pieces in leading
•Details were painted on the glass before it was
refired and set into the window frame (facial
expressions, folds in drapery, etc.)
•Windows are sophisticated
•Illustrate religious stories
•Large images in clerestory could be read from floor
•Narratives on side aisle windows where they could
be read more clearly at a closer distance

111. •Illuminated manuscripts continue
to be important
•Similar to stained glass windows –
forms have borders and are painted
with vivid colors

112. Blanche of Castile
and Louis IX
1226-1234 (13th century)
manuscript

113. •Moralized Bible: Old and
New Testament stories are
paralleled with one another
in illustrations, text, and
commentary
•Blanche of Castile, mother
and regent
•Teenage king Louis IX
•Older monk dictates to
young scribe
•Luminous, like a stained
glass window – strong black
outlines around forms
•Minimal modeling (flat)
•Restricted colors

114. GOTHIC Sculpture
•Used intensely on architecture
•Much more rounded and 3-D looking
(not flat like the Romanesque sculptures)
•Gothic sculpture concentrates on the
possibility of salvation – the believer is
empowered with the choice of salvation
(Romanesque was about the Last
Judgment and threat of hell!)

115. •Statue columns progress away from the
wall – seem independent of the wall
surface
•Figures define their own space – turn to
one another with humanizing expressions
– engaged with one another
•By 14th century Gothic, figures develop
s-curves to their bodies

116. Royal Portals, 1145-1155 (12th century)
Chartres Cathedral, France

117. •Called the “Royal Portal”
because the jamb sculptures
are of kings and queens from
Old Testament
•Stand in front of the wall,
not flat like Romanesque
•Upright and rigid – reflect
vertical columns/cathedral
•Robes are very structured,
concentric compositions – no
nervous excitement like
Romanesque

118. •Heads lined up in a row, but
feet are at different lengths
•Figures are serene
•Slightly heavy eyes
•Humanized faces

119. Annunciation and Visitation, 13th cen., Reims, France

120. •Figures stand free
of the wall and
interact w/ each
other
•Two figures on left (Annunciation) not meant to be
placed together – they were arranged here as work on
the Reims cathedral progressed

121. •Annunciation
•Angel Gabriel (1255) –
missing a wing and hand
–smiles as he announces
that Mary will be the
mother of Christ relatively small head –
body sways in elegant scurve
•Mary (1245) is more
column-like
•She’s thinking deeply
about Gabriel’s news –
she appears courtly and
aristocratic in style

122. •Visitation
•Mary announces her
pregnancy to her cousin
Elizabeth (much older), and
surprise, she’s pregnant
too! (with John the Baptist)
•Classical influence in
drapery, stances,
contrapposto
•Heads look inspired by
Roman portraits
•Figures interact (narrative)
•Columns recede into
background behind the
figures

123. Death of the Virgin, 1230 (13th century), Strasbourg
Cathedral, Strasbourg, France

124. •Large heads
•Deeply chiseled in high relief – contrast of light/dark
•Mary dies in her sleep, Christ receives her soul
•Wide range of human emotion

126. Ekkehard and Uta
1294-1255 (13th cen.)
Naumburg Cathedral
Naumburg, Germany

127. •2 of 12 statues of
benefactors of an
11th century church
on this site
•Founder “portraits”
done for fundraising
for the current 13th
century building
•Much of the paint
still remains

128. •Bodies revealed
beneath drapery
•Lady picks up her
long elegant dress
(too long to walk in)
•Realistic looking
faces with definite
personalities
•Ekkehard is blunt
and efficient, Uta is
coy and retiring

129. RottgenPieta
(AKA: Vesperbild)
1300-1325 (14th century)
Wood
Germany

130. •Christ emaciated, drained
of all
blood, tissue, muscle, etc.
•Horror of the Crucifixion
•Humanizing of religious
themes
•Mary’s face is actively
mourning
•Germany faced
challenges in the 14th
century – this sculpture
reminded people of
ultimate suffering and
salvation

131. Virgin of Paris
Early 14th century
Stone
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

132. •Worldly queen, crown full
of “gems”
•S-curve of the body
common in 14th century
sculpture and painting
•Anatomy disguised under
the drapery
•Inorganic stance

133. Remember
Hermes and
Dionysos?

134. GOTH IC VOCABULARY:
•CHEVET: the east end of a Gothic church
•CHOIR: the space in a church between the transept and the
apse for a choir or clergymen
•CLOSE: an enclosed gardenlike area around a cathedral
•COMPOUND PIER: a pier that appears to be a group of
gathering of smaller piers put together
•FAN VAULT: a type of vault so-called because a fanlike shape
is created when the vaults spring from the floor to the ceiling,
nearly touching the space directly over the center of the nave.
They are usually highly decorated and filled with rib patterns
•FLYING BUTTRESS: a stone arch and its pier that supports a
roof from a pillar outside the building –also stabilize the
building and protect if from wind damage

135. GOTH IC VOCABULARY Continued:
•MORALIZED BIBLE: a Bible in which the Old Testament and
New Testament stories are paralleled with one another in
illustrations, text, and commentary
•OGEE ARCH: an arch formed by two S-shaped curves that
meet at the top
•PIETA: a painting or sculpture of a crucified Christ lying on
the lap of a grieving Mary
•PINNACLE: a pointed sculpture on piers or flying buttresses
•PORTAL: a doorway (can be significantly decorated)
•RIB VAULT: a vault in which diagonal arches form riblike
patterns – arches partially support a roof, in some cases
forming a weblike design
•ROSE WINDOW: a circular window, filled with stained glass,
placed at the end of a transept or on the façade of a church

136. FIN