Gothic Art and Architecture: 12th-15th Centuries
Gothic Art
Historical Context
Gothic art began in the mid-twelfth century on the Île-de-France and was the dominant style in Europe between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. These centuries coincided with a spectacular development of trade, both local and long-distance, which led to the growth and prosperity of cities. This process had begun in the eleventh century but reached its heyday in the thirteenth century. It was no accident that the most representative building of the Gothic era was the city’s cathedral, as in the Romanesque period, it was the rural monastery.
Faced with the easement that the feudal system imposed in the country, the climate of freedom of the city favored the emergence of a bourgeoisie of merchants and craftsmen. The urban attraction also affected the religious orders, and in the thirteenth century, the mendicant orders appeared. Their activities unfolded in the cities, boasting of poverty and transmitting a new spirituality. The first two were the most important: the Franciscan Friars Minor and the Dominican Preachers.
Culture, without becoming too widespread among the population, which remained largely illiterate, left the limited stronghold of the monasteries. Since the twelfth century, urban cathedrals played an important educational role through the so-called cathedral schools, which taught elementary instruction to the children of the bourgeoisie and the gentry, and even the clergy, whose ignorance was of concern to the church itself. In the thirteenth century, universities or general studies appeared. In universities, there was a profound renewal of philosophy and theology through the movement known as scholasticism.
From all these economic, social, and cultural circumstances derived a new optimistic view of the world, resulting in a change of attitudes that recovered a taste for life and its finer details. The situation changed with the crisis of the fourteenth century, which began with a succession of bad harvests and intensified following the deadly impact of the Black Death. The general malaise of society also contributed to serious political conflicts.
General Features of Gothic Art
Gothic art was primarily a reflection of the new mentality that emerged with the changes of late medieval European society. Essentially, it consisted of a different view of religion, with a more positive attitude toward the realities of this world:
- The goal remained the teaching of essential truths, but without sacrificing formal beauty.
- The artwork was conceived not only as a spiritual symbol but also as an expression of grandeur.
- The cathedral was the most significant building of Gothic art, and its tendency was to increase in size and height.
- Private civil architecture had great development.
- Sculpture and painting became independent.
Artists and Clients
In essence, there were no major changes from the Romanesque period. However, even though artists did not overcome their condition as artisans, they enjoyed a better economic position and increased their social prestige, especially the master builders.
Much of the improvement made by artists was due to their grouping in guilds, a phenomenon characteristic of the new urban bourgeoisie of the late Middle Ages. Guilds were associations of artisans of the same class. Within each union, there were three categories: masters, who were the only ones allowed to have their own workshop; officers, who worked with the former; and apprentices, who eventually became officers.
The inclusion of artists in guilds marked their settlement in a specific place, thereby greatly reducing the itinerant artist that had characterized the Romanesque period. Moreover, the spread of wealth to new social classes explains why new clients also appeared in new roles: works for the private use of the aristocracy and the nouveau riche.
Architecture
Cistercian Architecture
The Cistercian order was founded in 1098 in the French abbey of Cîteaux in response to the relaxation of the Cluniac order, which had left the primitive spirit of the Benedictine rule, based on prayer, work, and, above all, austerity. But the real thrust of this new order came from the hand of Saint Bernard.
Cistercian architecture is characterized, at least in the beginning, by the absolute lack of decorative elements, but also by the incorporation of technical advances of its day, particularly the pointed arch and ribbed vault.
For this reason, Cistercian architecture was long considered a transition style between Romanesque and Gothic, but this theory is now untenable for two main reasons:
The Gothic Church
The most representative building of Gothic architecture was the city cathedral. In the beginning, it did not entail a radical break with the Roman temple but rather a gradual evolution of it, starting from the addition of two elements: the pointed arch and the ribbed vault. These changed the entire system of thrusts and counter-thrusts of the building and eventually the whole structure.
But Gothic architecture should not be understood as the result of a mere technical development of the Romanesque. Quite the contrary, it was the new religious spirit and the attempt to build taller, lighter churches that prompted the search for new technical solutions.
The lateral thrust exerted by the pointed arch is smaller than that of the semicircular arch and, therefore, allows for an increase in the height of the building. For its part, the ribbed vault concentrates thrusts in the corners and can cover all kinds of spaces, even curved squares.
In the Gothic cathedral, the system of arches and vaults rests on tall pillars, with attached columns that continue in the nerves of the vaults.
Moreover, by moving the weight of the vaults to specific points along the nerves, part of the thrust can be derived through the flying buttresses, from that point to external buttresses topped with pinnacles.
In this way, the platform is obviated, and the weight of the deck does not rest wholly on the wall, making it possible to open it wide with large stained glass windows that flood the interior with an abundant, unreal light. The internal standard of a classic Gothic church was divided into three levels:
- Archery separating the aisles, supported by tall and thick pillars.
- The clerestory, a narrow gallery on the wall of the nave, not to be confused with the tribune, which in the Gothic tends to disappear since its function of buttressing is performed by the flying buttresses.
- The floor windows.
Another feature of Gothic architecture is the abundance of decorative elements that are distributed throughout the building:
- Geometric tracery in windows and doors, most notably the rosettes at the ends of the naves.
- Needles and pinnacles on the outside, richly decorated.
- Gargoyles: roof drainage channels to prevent water from deteriorating the wall, with disturbing human and animal forms.
- Monumental covers with abundant sculptural decoration, often finished with gables.
The differences between Romanesque and Gothic are notable:
- Faced with the horizontality of the Romanesque, the trend is toward the height of the Gothic.
- Faced with the static nature of Romanesque, Gothic dynamism.
- Facing the darkness of the Romanesque, the brightness of the Gothic.
Finally, the evolution of Gothic architecture tended everywhere toward a progressive complication of purely decorative elements, especially evident in its final stage.
Gothic Architecture in France
Gothic architecture was born in 1140 at the Abbey of Saint-Denis, where the pointed arch and ribbed vault were first used systematically. In its evolution, four periods are generally distinguished:
- Pre-classic Gothic: Fundamental Gothic elements were introduced.
- Classic Gothic: The era of building large models.
- Radiant Gothic: Represented the absolute triumph of the window over the wall.
- Flamboyant Gothic: The decor became increasingly plentiful and came to hide the architectural structure.
Gothic Architecture in Italy
In Italy, the strong roots of the classical tradition explain why the Gothic had a limited adoption. It was established late, and in the fifteenth century, while the rest of Europe continued to develop the final evolution of the style, it was abandoned due to the emergence of Renaissance art.
Moreover, Italian Gothic architecture differs markedly from the models of northern France and, together with several churches in southern France and the Crown of Aragon, configured the so-called horizontal Gothic, Mediterranean Gothic, or Southern Gothic, under the influence of the Cistercian and all of the new mendicant orders, which imposed a sober architecture.
In general, with the notable exception of the Cathedral of Milan, begun in the fourteenth century, Italian Gothic churches had the following characteristics:
- They are not very high, with one or three naves.
- The aisles tend to be equal in height to the central nave.
- The pointed arch and simple ribbed vault are used, but also wooden covers.
- Large windows with stained glass are not opened; the tradition of fresco painting is kept alive.
- Decorative elements are scarce.
- Marble coverings and mosaics are common on the facades.
More important was the development of civil architecture. In this regard, the government palaces stand out, whose best examples are consistent with two main models:
- A defensive-type palace.
- An open-type palace.