Reference:

Introduction…………2
History…………………2
Art……………………3,5
Sculpture………………6
Architecture…………7,11
Reference………… 12

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 GOTHIC

Introduction
The gothic architecture is an architectural style that flourished in
Europe during the High and Late Middle Ages. It evolved from
Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance
architecture. Originating in 12th century France and lasting into
the 16th century

HISTORY
The Gothic style originated in the Ile-de-France region of France at
the Romanesque era in the first half of the 12th century,
By the 12th century, Romanesque architecture, termed Norman
Gothic in England, was established throughout Europe and
provided the basic architectural forms and units that were to
remain in evolution throughout the Medieval period
The word "Gothic" for art was initially used as a synonym for
"Barbaric", and was therefore used pejoratively.Its critics saw this
type of Medieval art as unrefined and too remote from the
aesthetic proportions and shapes of Classical art

ART
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Painting in a style that can be called Gothic did not appear until
about 1200, nearly 50 years after the origins of Gothic architecture
and sculpture. The transition from Romanesque to Gothic is very
imprecise and not at all a clear break, and Gothic ornamental
detailing is often introduced before much change is seen in the
style of figures or compositions themselves. Then figures become
more animated in pose and facial expression, tend to be smaller in
relation to the background of scenes, and are arranged more freely
in the pictorial space, where there is room. This transition occurs
first in England and France around 1200, in Germany around 1220
and Italy around 1300. Painting during the Gothic period was
practiced in four primary media: frescos, panel paintings,
manuscript illumination and stained glass.

Frescoes
Frescoes continued to be used as the main pictorial narrative craft
on church walls in southern Europe as a continuation of early
Christian and Romanesque traditions. An accident of survival has
given Denmark and Sweden the largest groups of surviving
church wall paintings in the Biblia pauperum style, usually
extending up to recently constructed cross vaults. In both
Denmark and Sweden, they were almost all covered with
limewash after the Reformation which has preserved them, but
some have also remained untouched since their creation

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Stained glass
In northern Europe, stained glass was an important and
prestigious form of painting until the 15th century, when it became
supplanted by panel painting. Gothic architecture greatly
increased the amount of glass in large buildings, partly to allow
for wide expanses of glass, as in rose windows. In the early part of
the period mainly black paint and clear or brightly coloured glass
was used, but in the early 14th century the use of compounds of
silver, painted on glass which was then fired, allowed a number of
variations of colour, centred on yellows, to be used with clear glass
in a single piece. By the end of the period designs increasingly
used large pieces of glass which were painted, with yellows as the
dominant colours, and relatively few smaller pieces of glass in
other colours

Manuscripts and printmaking

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Illuminated manuscripts represent the
most complete record of Gothic
painting, providing a record of styles
in places where no monumental works
have otherwise survived. The earliest
full manuscripts with French Gothic
illustrations date to the middle of the
13th century. Many such illuminated
manuscripts were royal bibles,
although psalters also included
illustrations; the Parisian Psalter of Saint Louis, dating from 1253
to 1270, features 78 full-page illuminations in tempera paint and
gold leaf.

During the late 13th century, scribes began to create prayer books
for the laity, often known as books of hours due to their use at
prescribed times of the day.

Altarpiece and panel painting

Painting with oil on canvas did not become popular until the 15th
and 16th centuries and was a hallmark of Renaissance art. In
Northern Europe the important and innovative school of Early
Netherlandish painting is in an essentially Gothic style, but can
also be regarded as part of the Northern Renaissance, as there was
a long delay before the Italian revival of interest in classicism had a
great impact in the north.

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Sculpture
Monumental sculpture

The Gothic period is essentially defined by

Gothic architecture, and does not entirely fit with
the development of style in sculpture in either its
start or finish. The facades of large churches,
especially around doors, continued to have large
tympanums, but also rows of sculpted figures
spreading around them.

French ivory Virgin and Child, end of the 13th century, 25 cm

high, curving to fit the shape of the ivory tusk.

Portable sculpture

Small carvings, for a mainly lay and often female market, became a
considerable industry in Paris and some other centres. Types of
ivories included small devotional polyptychs, single figures,
especially of the Virgin, mirror-cases, combs, and elaborate caskets
with scenes from Romances, used as engagement presents. The
very wealthy collected
extravagantly elaborate jewelled
and enamelled metalwork, both
secular and religious, like the Duc
de Berry's Holy Thorn Reliquary,
until they ran short of money,
when they were melted down
again for cash.

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ARCHITECTURE

Spires
These are tapering
architectural elements that
often replaced the steeple to
lend an impression of
loftiness. Gothic cathedrals
often feature profuse spiring,
giving the impression of
battlements - symbolic of a religious fortress protecting the faith.
Openwork spires are perhaps the most common; this elaborate
spire consisted of stone tracery held together by metal clamps. It
had the ability to achieve radical heights while lending a feeling of
lightness through its skeletal structure.

Flying Buttress
Spider-leg like in appearance, a flying buttress was originally
instated as an aesthetic device.
Later, they were converted into
ingenious structural devices
that transferred the dead-load
of the vaulted roof to the
ground. To add a degree of
stiffness to the structure, they
were stepped back from the
main wall and connected to the
roof via arching supports. The
buttress now ‘carried’ the vault, freeing the walls of their load-

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bearing function. This allowed the walls to become thinner or
almost completely replaced by glass windows, unlike in the
Romanesque where walls were massive affairs with very less
glazing. The buttresses enabled Gothic architecture to become
lighter, taller and afford a greater aesthetic experience than before.

Gargoyles

The gargoyle is a sculptural waterspout,

placed to prevent rainwater from running
down masonry walls. These numerous
grimacing sculptures divided the flow
among them, minimizing potential water
damage. Gargoyles were sculpted on the
ground and placed as the building neared
completion. St. Romanus is often
associated with the gargoyle; legend speaks of him saving Rouen
from a snarling dragon that struck terror even in the heart of
spirits.. While the gargoyle has been around since Egyptian times,
prolific use of the element in Europe is attributed to the Gothic era.
Profusely grouped upon several cathedrals, it heightens a sense of
allegory and the fantastic.

Pinnacles
Unlike the flying buttress, the
pinnacle started out as a structural
element meant to deflect the
pressures of the vaulted roof
downward. They were imbued with
lead, literally ‘pinning down’ the
sideways pressures of the vault,
served as counterweights to
extended gargoyles and overhanging corbels and stabilized flying
buttresses. As their aesthetic possibilities began to be known,

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pinnacles were lightened and the flying buttress was structurally
developed to handle the vaulted roof.

Pointed Arch
the pointed arch was used to
direct the weight of the vaulted
roof downward along its ribs.
Unlike the earlier Romanesque
churches which depended solely
on the walls to carry the immense
weight of the roof, the pointed
arches helped restrict and
selectively transfer the load onto
columns and other load-bearing supports, thereby freeing up the
walls.

Tracery
Tracery refers to a series of thin stone frames, inlaid in window
openings to support the glass. Bar tracery found expression in the
Gothic period, with its lancet-and-
oculus pattern that aimed at
conveying a slenderness of design,
and increasing the amount of glass
paneling. These delicate web-like
tracings helped increase the glass-to-
stone ratio and grew into florid detail
as Gothic architecture developed
further.

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The Oculus
Two specific window designs were
established during the Gothic period - the
narrowly pointed lancet reinforced height,
while the circular oculus held stained-
glass.

Ribbed Vault
Gothic architecture replaced
Romanesque groin vaults with
ribbed vaults to counteract
complexities of construction and
limitations that allowed it to only
span square rooms. Also known
as ogival vaulting, ribbed vaulting
developed with the need to
transfer roof-loads better, while
freeing up inner walls for tracery and glass. More ribs were added
to the basic Romanesque barrel vault to increase the transfer of
loads to the ground. As the Gothic era achieved its zenith, complex
vaulting systems such as the quadripartite and sexpartite vaulting
techniques were developed. The development of ribbed vaulting
reduced the need for inner load-bearing walls, thereby opening up
the inner space and providing visual and aesthetic unity.

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Fan Vault

One of the most obvious

distinctions between the
English and French Gothic
styles, fan vaulting was
used exclusively in English
cathedrals. The ribs of the
fan vault are curved
equally and equidistantly
spaced, giving it the
appearance of an open fan.

Statue Column
The Early Gothic era showcases some
of the most detailed sculpture of the
period. It was not uncommon to find
statues that were of ‘structural’
nature, carved from the same stone as
the column that held up the roof.
Often depicting patriarchs, prophets,
and kings, they were placed in the
porches of later Gothic churches to
lend an element of verticality. These
larger-than-life depictions may also
be spotted in the embrasures on either
side of cathedral entrances. In France, column-statues often depicted rows of
finely-dressed courtiers, reflecting the prosperity of the kingdom.

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References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture
http://historylists.org/architecture/10-defining-characteristics-of-gothic-
architecture.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-world/gothic1/a/gothic-
architecture-an-introduction

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