Gothic Art Lecture Notes

Gothic Art

Light is often taken for granted in modern life.
Experiencing darkness can lead to feelings of anxiety and fear.
Light is a powerful source both literally and figuratively, calming fears and enabling progress.
Without light, many activities become difficult or impossible.

Rose windows are examples of Gothic architecture and stained glass work.
Churches before the Gothic period were generally dark due to architectural limitations.
Light is essential to appreciate the color and design of rose windows; without it, they blend into the background.
In Gothic architecture, light is used as a design element, unlike the utilitarian use of light in the Romanesque period.

Abbot Suger, an advisor to kings and a visionary of the Catholic Church, played a key role in developing the Gothic style.
He was inspired by the writings of Pseudo-Dionysus, a Greek philosopher who associated radiant light with divinity.
Pseudo-Dionysus equated light with divinity, suggesting that the more light, beauty, and openness in a space, the closer one is to God.

Gothic church walls appear almost transparent due to the extensive use of windows.
This contrasts with the small, rounded windows of the Romanesque style, which did not allow much light.
The walls are getting thinner and thinner allowing the cathedrals to increase in height.
Increased height brings us closer to the heavens, closer to divinity, closer to god.
The use of soaring stonework and ribbed vaults allowed for increased height.
The Gothic style features elegant lines, light, color, and a sense of transparency.
Rose windows are a typical feature of the Gothic style.

Master builders were not architects in the modern sense.
They designed structures, supervised construction, worked with their hands, and collaborated with the abbot.
Chartres Cathedral in France is an example of Gothic architecture.

Stained glass windows are a key characteristic of the Gothic period.
They illuminate the interior of the church and convey the knowledge of God.
The combination of color, design and story helped to illuminate the interior of the church.
Light in a figurative sense is associated with the knowledge of God.

Colored glass is made by adding a metallic oxide such as Cobalt (Co) to sand and ash or lime, then fusing at high temperature.
Clear glass is molten sand.
Cobalt oxide creates blue glass.

Artisans would draw a composition on a wooden panel to create a template.
Glass blowers would produce sheets of glass in the desired colors.
Artisans would cut individual pieces from the sheets to fill the template.
Painters would add details with an enamel emulsion and then reheat the glass to fuse the emulsion.
The glass is reheated to fuse that emulsion to the existing glass.
Pieces are joined together with lead strips called cams.
The assembled pieces are set into iron frames.
The process is complex, laborious, and expensive.

Abbot Suger's emphasis on light and the connection between the radiance of light and divinity sets the Gothic period apart from earlier periods.