Gothic Art
Time Period: 1140-1400
- Paris
- Era of peace and prosperity; centralised monarchy; peaceful succession of kings
- Increasing growth and wealth in cities and towns; agricultural products converted to goods and services
- Schools in Paris became intellectual centers; transformed western thinking; arguing using logic
- Major events:
- Hundred Years War between France and England; devastated both economically/socially
- Popes relocated; spiritual crisis; religion decayed
- Black Death; quarter of the world perished; punishment from God; painting became conservative and looked backward to earlier styles; Europe spent decades recovering
- Master builders coordinated hundreds of laborers in the building of a cathedral; public works project; artists needed everywhere
- Manuscripts; scribes; decorative touches such as borders, narrative scenes; embellishments
Architecture:
- Reinforces religious symbolism of the building
- Surrounded by other buildings; center of civic/religious pride; local competition
Sculpture:
- Sculptures prominent on church facades
- Stress the Last Judgement; focuses on possibility of salvation
- Figures flattened to the wall; figures defined their own space, humanising expressions, engaging in narratives
Painting:
- Stained glass became an industry
- Narratives; Illuminated manuscripts important, emulated luminous colors of stained glass windows
Jewish Art
- Jews ban images in temples today, ancestors didn't; wealthy patrons commissioned luxury artists like illuminated manuscripts; used Christian painters to decorate important sacred books
Summary:
- Century of peace and prosperity; architectural greatness; buildings built w/ verticality, pointed arches, stained glass windows; flying buttresses made taller/thinner buildings possible
- Sculpture stressed salvation/resurrection rather than judgement and fear; three dimensional figures; body revealed under drapery