[Gothic Art (2)(continued (9)):] Late Gothic Sculpture [14th March 1991]

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

19910314.1020

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‘In the years around 1400[ce], when International Gothic flourished, Italian and northern artists had achieved some sort of rapprochement. Under the renewed influence of antique art, Italy drew away again, and it was not until the 16^th century [ce] that the north showed any real disposition to follow suit in the imitation of Classical models. While painting and architecture of the 15^th century have reasonably well-defined development, sculptural development is harder to trace – partly because much crucial work (especially in the Low Countries) had been destroyed. It is clear, however, that elaboration rather than restraint was the rule – indeed the exceptions to the rule (mainly in France) stand out. This taste for the highly complicated and elaborate – especially in Spain and Germany – was encouraged by the dual influences of painting and architecture. Like the painters, the sculptors enjoyed giving extremely realistic detail and expression to their figures; and, like the architects, they enjoyed complicated tracing work, often encasing their compositions in tabernacle-like enclosures of brilliantly fantastic architecture. To 20th-century eyes, the result may seem overloaded, and the total impression exhausting; but in its time the work of, for example, Michael Pacher or Veit Stoss must have been admired precisely for the way in which the sculptor used every conceivable opportunity to display his virtuosity.’

– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 27]: 92

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