[Gothic Art (2)(continued (16)):] High Gothic [14th March 1991]

[Redbook8:326-327][19910314:1020j][Gothic Art (2)(continued (16)):] High Gothic [14th March 1991]

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[continued]

‘High Gothic. During the period c[irca] 1250-1300 European art was dominated for the first time by the art and architecture of France. The reasons for this are not clear, although it seems certain that they are connected with the influence of the court of King Louis IX* (1226-70).

‘By c[irca] 1220-1230it must have been clear that engineering expertise had pushed building sizes to limits beyond which it was unsafe to go. The last of these gigantic buildings, Beauvais, had a disastrous history, which included the collapse of its vaults, and it was never completed. Around 1230 architects became less interested in size and more interested in decoration. The result was the birth of what is known as the Rayonnant style (from the radiating style of the rose windows, which were one of its most prominent features), The earliest moves in this direction were at Amiens cathedral, where the choir triforium and clerestory were begun after 1236[ce] (Figure 38), and at Saint-Denis, where transepts and nave were begun after 1231[ce]. Architects opened up as much of the wall surface as possible, producing areas of glazing that run from the top of the main arcade to the apex of the vault (Figure 39). The combination of the triforium gallery and clerestory into one large glazed area had, of course, a unifying effect on the elevations. It produced an intricate play of tracery patterns and instantly unleashed an era of intense experiment into the form that these patterns should take. Many of the achievements of the Rayonnant architects are extremely fine – for instance, the two transept facades, begun during the 1250’s, of Notre dame, Paris. The decorative effect of this architecture depends not only on the tracery of the windows but also the spread of tracery patterns over areas of stonework and on architectural features such as gables.

**

***

*’Saint’ Louis --

{See VI.[[Redbook6:3-6][19881008:1400b]{Raymond}[8th October 1988] ] 3ff ‘Raymond’

& [[Redbook8:332][19910315:1000g][Gothic Art (2)(continued (26))][15th March 1991],] 332,

[[Redbook8:338][19910315:1000y]{[Gothic Art (3)] Saintly Kings}[15th March 1991],] 338}

↓

**-- ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:] 992

***(& see following para[graph] in E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] on Louis IX’s Sainte-Chapelle.

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[Gothic Art (2)(continued (15)):] [Gothic Architecture [continued][14th March 1991]

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‘The decorative features of these great churches were, on the whole, simple.’*

**

‘Again, as at Laon, much of the elaborate figured carving of Romanesque building was abandoned in favour of a highly simplified version of the classical Corinthian capital – usually called a “crocket” capital.

**

*(cf eg [?[Redbook8:322-323][19910314:1020c]][Gothic Art (2)(continued (9)):] Late Gothic Sculpture [14th March 1991];

or ?[Redbook8:324]***[19910314:1020f][Gothic Art (2)(continued (12)):][Gothic into Renaissance [continued (3)]][14th March 1991],]

322)

**-- ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13:991]

***[Page renumbered from 322 to 324 (subsequent to fn?)]

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[Gothic Art (2)(continued (14)):][Gothic Architecture] [14th March 1991]

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‘The conception that the content of a great church should be dominated by large areas of glazing * ** set in the upper parts was influential in the 13^th century.’

***

cf ‘Raquel,**** one of the holy angels, who <takes vengeance on># the world of the luminaries.’#*

#**

*{↑

BUT

↑}

**{cf [[Redbook8:315][19910307:1718b]{[Gothic Art [continued]:] The Discovery of Light (1)}[7th March 1991],] 315,

[[Redbook8:317-318][19910313:1000]{[Gothic Art (2):] The Discovery of Light (2), Space and Expression}[13th March 1991],] 317}

*** -- ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 13]: 991

****R~

#{<corrupt text>}

#*(Luminary (n) = Pertaining to light (O[xford] E[nglish] D[ictionary]

#** -- I. Enoch (tr[anslated] R. H. Charles), 20:4

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[Gothic Art (2)(continued (13)):] Early Gothic Architecture [14th March 1991]

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‘The architecture of the twelfth century was dominated from first to last by engineers. The technical features of the ribbed vault (a vault in which stone ribs carried the vaulted surface), the pointed arch, the flying buttress (normally a half arch carrying the thrust of a roof or vault across an aisle to an outer pier or buttress) are all present in a number of earlier, Romanesque buildings, and one of the major 12th- and earlier 13th-century achievements was to use this engineering expertise to create major buildings that became, in succession, broader and taller. How their visual appearance changed is easy to see if one compares, for example, the early 13th century Reims cathedral, in France, with the late 11^th century Durham cathedral, in England. A broad comparison of this sort also brings out the artistic ends to which the new engineering means were applied. Skilled use of the pointed arch and the ribbed vault made it possible to cover far more elaborate and complicated ground plans than hitherto. Skilled use of buttressing, especially of flying buttresses, made it possible both to build taller buildings and to open up the intervening wall spaces to create larger windows. In the 12^th century, larger windows produced novel lighting effects, not lighter churches.* **The stained glass of this period was heavily coloured*** and remained so – for example, at Chartres cathedral – well into the 13^th century.’

****

*{NB}

{↑

(But see [[Redbook8:328][19910314:1020#]][Gothic Art (2)(continued (#)):] High Gothic [continued (#)] [14th March 1991],] 328)}

**{cf IX. [] 140 (Islam)}

***cf Soul-colours

(earlier Vol[ume]s)

****– E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 13: 990-991

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[Gothic Art (2)(continued (12)):][Gothic into Renaissance [continued (3)]][14th March 1991]

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‘But it is possible to suggest a more profound character to the change. Late Gothic has a peculiar aura of finality about it. From about 1470 to 1520,* one gets the impression that the combination of decorative richness and realistic detail was being worked virtually to death. Classical antiquity at least provided an alternative form of art. It is arguable that change would have come in the north anyway and that adoption of Renaissance forms was a matter of coincidence and convenience. They were there at hand, for experiment.

‘Their use was certainly encouraged, however, by the general admiration for classical antiquity. They had a claim to “rightness” that led ultimately to the abandonment of all Gothic forms as being “barbarous”. This development belongs to the history of the Italian Renaissance….’

**

*2048G~|512C1536

**[– ibid (Encyclopaedia Britannica) 27: 93-94 (continued from last previous ts entry]

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[Gothic Art (2)(continued (11)):][Gothic into Renaissance [continued]][14th March 1991]

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‘Architecturally, as well, the initial changes involved decorative material. For this reason, the early stages of Renaissance art outside Italy are hard to disentangle from late Gothic.... In fact, throughout Europe the “Italian Renaissance” meant, for artists between about 1500 to 1530, the “enjolivement”, or embellishment, of an already rich decorative repertoire with shapes, motifs, and figures adapted from, another canon of taste. The history of the northern artistic Renaissance is in part the story of the process by which artists gradually realised that Classicism represented another canon of taste and treated it accordingly.

*

*[– ibid (Encyclopaedia Britannica) 27: 93-94 (continued from last previous ts entry]

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[Gothic Art (2)(continued (10)):][Gothic into Renaissance][14th March 1991]

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‘The change from late Gothic to * Renaissance was superficially far less cataclysmic than the change from Romanesque to Gothic.** ***|In the figurative arts, it was not the great shift from symbolism**** to realistic representation|*** but a change from one sort of realism to another.#

#*

*{cf [[Redbook8:280][19910221:1142i]{Byzantine Art [continued (5):] The 12^th century Byzantine “Renaissance”}[21st February 1991],] 280 (Byzantine ‘Renaissance’ 0f 12^th c[entury])}

**Romanesque c[irca]1000 – c[irca]1150 ([[Redbook8:306-314][19910306:0930c]{Romanesque Art}[6th March 1991,]] 306↑)

Gothic c[irca]12th c[entury] – c[irca]1400/1500 ([?[Redbook8:328-329][19910315:1000][Gothic Art (2)(continued (20))][15th March 1991&f?,]]329↓)

([[Redbook8:314][19910307:1718]{Gothic Art}[7th March 1991],]314?)

<910328>

(See also IX;[[Redbook9:187[19910424:0902c/d]{The Renaissance}[24th April 1991],]187 <910511>

***NB!

[***|Marginal emphasis|***]

****{(ie in Romanesque art, presumably)}

#Hmm.... See [[Redbook8:333][19910315:1000j][Gothic Art (2)(continued (28))][15th March 1991],] 333([para]2)↓

#*[– ibid (Encyclopaedia Britannica) 27: 93-94]

cf XI:[]72

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