Unit V: Gothic Period

14.00 In 1137, the Abbot Suger decided to embark on a great rebuilding campaign for his Abbey Church of St. Denis. This spectacular renovation resulted in the first statement of the Gothic style. What Suger accomplished is difficult to see today because of later amendments to the design, but his desires are well-documented in his writings: to create a church with a new emphasis on light ("divine illumination") and on harmony (the mathematical relationship of parts). The means of attaining these goals included the hallmarks of the Gothic style: ribbed groin vaults, pointed arches, extensive walls of glass, external buttresses, a symbolic use of "magic" numbers (groupings of 12 columns, 7 radiating chapels, etc.), and a new integration of interior spaces.

15.00 Laon Cathedral (Notre Dame Cathedral at Laon) is a much better preserved example of the Early Gothic than the church which initiated the style. The exterior is vertically oriented, has 7 towers, and the west facade's centerpiece is a round "rose" window (a diagnostic feature of the Gothic style). Laon is also more typical of Gothic churches, as a whole, because it is a cathedral ("Bishop's Seat") rather than an abbey church, and it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. A veritable cult of the Virgin developed during this period; she became a symbol of a warmer, more human approach in Christianity, a kind of counterpoint to the harsh, avenging Romanesque Last Judgment Christ.

16.00 The nave interior of Laon Cathedral shows the usual features of an Early Gothic cathedral: a four-part elevation (nave arcade resting on the floor, a tribune gallery on the second level, a blind arcade called a triforium on the third level, and clerestory windows at the top), ribbed groin vaulting in the nave, sexpartite vaulting (6 sections to each vaulting module), and pointed arches. At the east end, you can see the rose window which was to grace all succeeding Gothic churches. The columns of the nave arcade, you will note, are rather heavy and undifferentiated...a striking contrast to High Gothic lean composite columns.

17.00 Notre Dame in Paris is another Early Gothic French Cathedral. The exterior shows a relative balance between horizontal and vertical forms and is rather plain-looking in comparison with the much more ornate exteriors of High Gothic cathedrals. As is usual, the west facade's focal point is the rose window, a perfect geometrical shape symbolizing the perfection of God.

18.00 The most important innovation at Notre Dame in Paris was a dramatic use of a new type of external buttressing system known as Flying Buttresses. These extravagant diagonal forms reach over from vertical towers to support the nave vaults FROM THE OUTSIDE. This strategy enables the walls of the nave to be pierced extensively by huge expanses of windows. The flying buttress was the structural breakthrough that made the shimmering, light-filled High Gothic interiors possible.

19.00 Chartres Cathedral (Notre Dame Cathedral at Chartres) has a truly remarkable story. Rebuilt in the 1140s in emulation of Suger's Early Gothic style, Chartres possesses the most characteristic extant examples of Early Gothic sculpture, those from its "Royal Portals" on the west facade (Slide 20). In 1194, the city of Chartres suffered a horrible tragedy when the Cathedral caught on fire. Everything but the west facade and, miraculously, the garment of the Virgin Mary held in the crypt, was destroyed. Soon after the disaster, the people of Chartres banded together and began construction on the new Chartres. It was to emerge as the first classic statement of the incredibly beautiful, ethereal, and soaring style we call High Gothic.

20.00 This is a detail of the Royal Portal at Chartres. The tympanum relief, nestled under a Gothic pointed arch, shows the old-fashioned Romanesque theme of Christ Enthroned with the Four Evangelical Symbols. Beneath Christ, however, are a series of uniquely Early Gothic jamb figures. Though from a distance they are almost indistinguishable from the rigid vertical columns on which they uneasily perch, as we approach more closely they begin to take on a warmly human feel (see Slide 21).

21.00 A close-up of the Kings and Queens reveals benign, gentle countenances atop the tall, thin, nearly Romanesque-appearing bodies. These royal ancestors of Christ, like the later depictions of the Virgin Mary herself, seem warm and approachable. In mood, if not in body, they are a giant step forward from the Romanesque marionettes we have seen from the previous century.

22.00 As we move from the 1145 A.D. west facade of Chartres (Slide 22) to the rebuilding of the structure after the 1194 fire (Slide 23), we pass from Early Gothic to High Gothic.

High Gothic cathedrals were intended to be visions of the Heavenly Jerusalem. To embody that mystical desire, architects of the late 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries created ever-higher, soaring structures suffused with illumination from what seems like entire walls of stained glass. The interior of Chartres (Slide 23) set the mold for all High Gothic cathedrals to follow. Constructed after the fire of 1194, the nave reveals quadripartite vaulting modules, a three-part elevation (nave arcade, triforium, and greatly lengthened clerestories), a new clerestory arrangement (composed of two vertical lancets with a small rose window above them), and composite columns whose shafts extend upward to become the ribs of the ceiling vaulting.

23.00 This is another view of the spectacular High Gothic interior of Chartres showing its quadripartite ribbed groin vaulting and three-part elevation.

24.00 Chartres Cathedral was blessed again, historically, in the 20th century when its stained glass windows escaped the ravages of near-by bombing attacks. The Belle Vierge ("Beautiful Virgin") window exemplifies the exquisite beauty of these art forms. Performing several functions simultaneously, such windows allowed light to flood the Gothic interior, transformed that light into something warmly colored and miraculous, and alluded to important Biblical personages and stories with its subject matter.

25.00 After Chartres, a succession of "imitators" cropped up throughout France. Amiens Cathedral, with its ornate, filigree external appearance (Slide 25) and its 140' high interior space (Slide 27) was one of the most successful in the quest for ever more verticality. Cities were now competing with one another to see which could erect the tallest, most spectacular cathedral.

26.00 This interior view of the nave shows a slight modification of the standard established at Chartres. More vertical in orientation than Chartres, Amiens imitated the latter's composite columns, quadripartite ribbed groin vaulting, and three-part elevation. However, the third portion of the elevation, the triforium, was given amended here (See Slide 26 for details).

27.00 In this spectacular view of Amiens Cathedral's ceiling, we can see that the wall behind the triforium arcade has been breached. Glazing (windows) now includes the triforium, as well as the usual clerestory level of the elevation, thus greatly expanding the area available for stained glass.

28.00 High Gothic sculpture, like High Gothic architecture, was initiated in the 1194 rebuilding of Chartres Cathedral. On the north transept (the transept is the short arm of the cross of cruciform churches), we see depictions of Melchizedek, Abraham with Isaac, and Moses.

These figures show much greater naturalism than the earlier Kings and Queens of Judah of Chartres' Royal Portals. The drapery falls more realistically over its wearers' bodies, the bodies themselves are less gauntly proportioned, and the feet seem much more firmly positioned on the columns' capitals. These figures now appear to turn on their axes and converse with one another.

29.00 St. Theodore, from the south transept of Chartres, is even more realistically rendered, down to the intricate design of his iron mail armor. In his idealized face and contrapposto-like stance, St. Theodore marks the beginning of a more "classicizing" phase of French Gothic sculpture.

30.00 Reims Cathedral, one of the many to follow on the heels of Chartres' 1194 rebuilding, is a mecca for Gothic sculpture enthusiasts. Several different sculpture workshops created imagery for the exterior of this great cathedral. The Presentation in the Temple scene alone shows two different stylistic approaches. The depiction of the Virgin (third from the right) is simple and idealized, revealing a rather strict classicizing approach. The angel (far left figure) and Joseph (on the far right) are much more animated. The exaggerated S-curve of their bodies (labeled the "Gothic sway" by the experts), full drapery pulled across their hips to emphasize body bulk and movement, and their rather prissy smiles are all characteristic of the "Elegant Style" variant of the High Gothic. This substyle was fostered by the French Court and can be seen in numerous manuscript illuminations and paintings of the time (see Slides 31 and 32).

31.00 The Visitation scene from Reims Cathedral (the Virgin and St. Elizabeth) is another excellent example of High Gothic sculpture. Both figures show the ample drapery and S-curve of the Elegant Style, while their faces reveal a calmer, less sophisticated classicism. You will notice that in both of these sculptural groups from Reims (Slide 29 and 30), there is a real sense of narrative drama linking the figures. The sculptors now are capable of creating convincing figures that interact with each other in space. This feature, the realism of features and drapery, and the near three-dimensionality of the characters makes them appear nearly alive. The Gothic viewer could indeed feel as though he could speak to his favorite Biblical characters, just as when he entered the interiors of the cathedrals, he found himself literally in a mystical, transcendental space. The layperson during the Gothic era could truly share the mystical experiences of the religion's visionary saints.

32.00 Manuscript illumination received a boost in the Gothic period, as the first universities began to take their place beside religious organizations and rulers as major patrons of this art form. We are looking at a page from the Psalter of St. Louis (King Louis IX) describing the scene of Abraham and the Three Angels. The background reveals Gothic architecture replete with rose windows and pointed arches. The foreground is populated by typical, courtly appearing, "elegant" figures dressed in beautifully detailed, brilliantly colored fabrics. The angel on the left stands in a modification of the same S-curve we saw in the previous two sculptural groups from Reims.

33.00 The "Gothic sway," the Virgin and Child theme, the intense colors, and incredible detail appear yet again in a marvelously rich painting called the Wilton Diptych (Slide 33 represents the right panel of this two-paneled work). Although this was made for an English patron, it was likely painted by a Frenchman familiar the French court's prefered art style.

34.00 As the Gothic style matured during the High Gothic period, churches became ever taller...until the vaulting of Beauvais Cathedral collapsed! This disaster may have prompted the final modifications we can see in French Late Gothic architecture. They are represented in Slide 33 by the small Sainte Chapelle. No longer reaching dramatically toward God, this structure is squat in comparison with Amiens and Reims. However, replacing the vertical thrusts of its predecessors, are glorious expanses of stained glass windows. Sainte Chapelle emerges as a jewel of Gothic architecture, a reliquary-shaped building whose walls are of glass rather than stone. This variant of Gothic is known as Rayonnant, after the radiating patterns that so often appear in its windows.

35.00 Because of the spirituality of the French Gothic architectural style, and the prestige of its culture and universities, the style rapidly spread throughout the rest of Europe. Each country put its own unique stamp on the French prototype. In England, at Salisbury Cathedral, we can see a more decorative and less vertical approach to the Gothic interior. The English frequently used a dark brown Purbeck marble to articulate details. At Salisbury, these dark accents create horizontal lines that lead our eyes to the east end of church. We can also see the penchant for decoration in the vaulting here: the number of ribs has been greatly expanded to create a magical web-like pattern.

36.00 The elevation of Salisbury reveals another consistent feature of English Gothic. Beside being more horizontally oriented than the French, there is considerably less illumination. The vaulting of the ceiling in the English version actually creates a membrane-like form as it connects in to the base of the clerestory level. This "membrane" impedes the flow of light from the windows into the nave.

37.00 The ultimate expression of the English love of ornate effects is seen in the Chapel of Henry VII at Westminster Abbey. The "fan vaulting" here looks like a gigantic lace doily.

38.00 This is a close-up of the vaulting seen in Slide

39.00 Italy is the home of one of the most beautifully delicate examples of secular architecture in the Gothic era. It is the Doge's Palace (the seat of government) in Venice. Springing upward from an airy loggia or arcade is a building whose grace of design and intricacy of surface texture have awed tourists for hundreds of years. The Palace, which included the law courts of Venice, is linked directly to the city's jail cells via the famous "Bridge of Sighs."

40.00 Of all the nations adopting the Gothic architectural style, Germany was the most "religious" in its imitation. Cologne Cathedral could easily be mistaken for a French High Gothic form, thanks to its stupendous verticality and "dematerialized," busy west facade.

41.00 In contrast to its architecture, German Gothic sculpture developed its own unique flavor. If French Gothic could be said to be "classicizing," German is positively "Hellenistic.' The tympanum relief from Strasbourg (a city now in France, but in past times part of Germany) depicts the Death of the Virgin. She is shown reclining on a bed enveloped by the mourning disciples of Christ. Their overwrought, emotive facial expressions and dramatic gestures seem to have been lifted straight out of the Hellenistic Altar of Zeus.

42.00 Two medieval patrons of Naumburg Cathedral, Ekkehard and Uta, are imaged here. Like the Hellenistic Greeks, the Gothic German sculptors were interested in individual physiognomy, including portrait-like realism in the faces. Ekkehard is a shrewd and slightly overweight aristocrat; his wife looks like the witch in Snow White! These are NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, relatives of the calm, idealized figures we saw on the French Gothic Cathedrals.

43.00 A final parallel with Hellenistic Greek sculpture, is the German penchant for scenes of agonized violence and pathos. In this wooden Crucifix, we see the riddled body of Christ suspended on the cross, a suitable heir to the Ottonian Gero crucifix.

44.00 This, the final slide of the review, shows Christ's ravaged body again. Here, it is supported in His mother's lap. The scene, called the pieta, is one of the most moving in Christendom.