Gothic

Saint Denis

  • Birthplace of the Gothic

  • Burial place of royal families

  • Suger was the advisor to the royal family

    • There had been a 9th-century church here. Suger felt that it was inadequate as the burial place of the kings.

    • Suger wanted to create an architectural style that would express the growing power of the monarch

    • His idea was to open up the space and to allow light to flood in

      • Light could transport people to a more heavenly place

    • Figured out how to engineer this structure in stone so that it’s mostly filled with stained glass

      • Interlocking pointed vaulting → doesn’t push so much out as it does down

      • Architect didn’t need to build thick walls

      • Tends to take the weight of the vaulting and push it more straight down so that the weight doesn’t have to be buttressed from the side

      • All ribs in this vaulting rests on thin columns

  • Choir - space behind the altar of the church

  • Ambulatory - aisle that would take one behind the altar

Notre Dame de Chartres (Chartres Cathedral)

  • Has the tunic that the Virgin Mary wore when she gave birth to Christ and the head of Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary’s mother.

    • Church burned down → tunic of Virgin Mary was safe → interpreted as a miracle and Mary wanted an even more beautiful, grander church

  • Mary and the church’s importance grew during the medieval period, therefore, the relic grew important.

  • Once part of a complex of buildings that included a school, palace for the bishop, and a hospital.

    • Pursuit of knowledge was a pathway to understanding the divine

    • Studying texts of ancient Greeks and Roman → impact in the sculpture of the church’s doorway

  • First story of the towers were Romanesque

    • Architects still nervous about supporting the enormous weight that was to be piled above

    • Stone vaulting is enormously heavy

    • Solid limestone

    • Exert tremendous pressure downward and outward

  • From left to right, three parts: tower on the left, central area, and tower on the right.

  • From top to bottom, Kings Gallery, Old Testament royal figures → round rose window → three large lancets → three portals covered with sculpture

  • Round rose window

    • Plate tracery

    • Primarily a sense of the stone

    • Thin bars that separate panes of stained-glass windows

    • Portal

      • Sculptures within archivolts

      • Archway framed by archivolts is tympanum

      • Supporting each tympana is a lintel (crossbeam of stone)

      • Supported by small engaged columns (colonnettes)

      • Jamb figures attached to door jambs

        • Angled inward → inviting you to enter the church

        • Represent Old Testament prophets and kings and queens of France

        • Long, attenuated, solemn, and elegant.

        • Each figure attached to a column and each figure resembles a column

        • Heavenly, divine figures.

          • Not meant to look physical and on this earth, they’re meant to look transcendent.

          • Folds indicated by lines → Little sense of mass. Real emphasis on linear.

          • Each figure seems isolated from the figures beside it

      • More modest compared to what else happens in the Gothic

      • One of the most important and one of the earliest fully conceived sculptural programs

      • Left tympanum: depicts Christ before he takes on physical form (before Christ enters human time)

        • Four angels below

        • Angels try to reach below barrier that separates them from prophets

        • Prophets don’t have any idea there’s anything above them

        • Some cock their heads → prophets begin to see the future and understand God’s plan for mankind but can’t see it entirely

      • Right tympanum: devoted to Virgin Mary / when Jesus enters the world in order to save it (Christ enters human time)

        • Mary makes possible God taking on physical form and entering the world so that we can be saved

        • Lintel

          • Archangel Gabriel announcing to Mary she will bear Christ

          • The Visitation

          • Mary in the manger having just given birth to the Christ Child who’s swaddled just above her

          • The Adoration

          • The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

        • Tympanum → Virgin Mary enthroned with Christ Child on her lap with angels on either side

          • Represents Throne of Wisdom and the Church → Mary’s body

          • Personification of wisdom → Christ

    • Second Coming of Christ (end of time)

      • Jesus surrounded by symbols of Four Evangelists

      • Jesus shown in the center larger than any other figure

        • Hierarchy scale

        • Seated on the throne of heaven

        • Surrounded by a mandorla

      • Bellow are 12 apostles

    • Based on a basilica plan

    • North and south transept also have doorways that are sculpted

    • Three-part elevation

      • Nave arcade → very tall, pointed arches

      • Arcade standing in front of a wall → triforium

      • Tall clerestory windows

      • Each bay of the nave → two lancet windows topped by an oculus

      • Three segments of elevation are united by piers and colonnettes are attached to piers

    • Interest in linearity and lines that draw our eye upward

    • Divide into ribs that form the four-part ribbed groin vaults that constitute the ceiling, vaulting, and his church.

    • Pointed ribbon groin vault allowed for greater height than a round arch would

      • Pointed, ribbed, groin vault pushes its thrust more down than out, therefore, it can rest on smaller piers and not as much buttressing is required.

    • Flying buttress essentially supporting the building from the outside

    • Subservient to the idea of allowing the walls to open up, to allow for more glass, for more light to enter into the church.

      • Glass mostly deep blue (associated with Chartres) but reds and golds

      • Creating a space that makes you feel as though you’re almost inside of a jewel with light refracting in all different ways

      • Most people’s clothing was earth colors where painting was rare

      • Coming into the space was a transcendent experience

    • Ceiling

      • Stone covered with a thin layer of plaster

      • Painted onto that was this light ocher color with white lines painted on top of it to mimic the joinery of the stones below but not accurately’

    • Virgin of the Beautiful Window

      • Blue contrast against red

      • Window is made out of rubies and sapphires

      • Mary as the Throne of Wisdom

      • Mary is elongated → heavenly image; projection of the divine

    • Rose window on top of five lancets; much bigger rose than what we see outside

      • Fleur-de-lis throughout the window, a reference to the French monarchy

      • Center of the rose, we once again see Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child

      • We see doves and angels and then prophets and kings

      • Five lancets: Saint Anne holding infant Mary, King David, King Saul with a sword through his chest

    • West facade

      • Jamb figures have an independence from the architecture

      • Most famous figure: Saint Theodore

        • Almost looks like an ancient Greek or Roman figure

        • Body has movement

        • Right hip juts out and creates this Gothic sway

        • Feet firmly planted

        • Right hand carries a spear with a banner

        • 3D folds

        • Hilt of a sword, left hand rests on a shield

Notre Dame de Paris

  • Symbol of theological and worldly power

    • Protestant Reformation

    • Attacked during the French Revolution

    • Neglected until The Hunchback of Notre Dame

  • Tallest Gothic cathedral when it was built and largest church in the world at some point

    • Flying buttresses → can’t bring the weight straight down

  • Gothic architects wanted to open up the walls to windows

  • Long building campaign → unusual for a Gothic church

    • Nearly 100 years to complete

    • Gothic style → later Gothic style

  • Emphasis on verticality and line → soaring quality, lifting you up towards heaven

  • Many churches (including pagan) occupied this site before Notre Dame

    • “Notre Dame was not only a religious but also a royal monument that displayed the might of the church and the monarchy, each enhancing the power of the other.”

  • During the Romanesque and Gothic periods, there were two subjects which were popular for tympanum decoration: Maiestas Domini (Christ in His Majesty) and the Last Judgement

    • Last Judgement - more of a narrative

    • Maiestas Domini - more esoteric / mysterious concept of the Second Coming of Christ and the End of Time

  • Gargoyles = decorative and functional

Sainte Chappelle

  • Royal chapel

    • Attached to the royal palace for the use of the king and his household

    • Lower chapel: king’s household

    • Upper chapel: king, queen, and the court.

      • Niches on either side for the king and queen

      • Major relic → crown of thorns

        • Symbolic of royalty

        • Purchased from his cousin who was the Byzantine Emperor

    • Was the chapel of Saint Louis (King Louis IX)

      • Canonized upon his death (1297)

  • Collection of relics:

    • Crown of Thorns

    • Fragment of the True Cross

    • Relics of the Virgin Mary

    • Holy Lance (pierced Christ as he hung on the cross)

    • Holy Sponge and the Mandylion (Image of Edessa - a likeness of Christ)

  • Three quarters of this building is made of glass

  • Bundled colonnettes make the masonry feel more delicate

    • Reduced to almost nothing

  • Windows tell stories

    • Each refers to either Old or New Testament story or a story referring to the acquisition of the relic

    • One of them represents the moment when Christ has the crown of throns placed on his head

    • Dense with imagery

  • Sculptures of the apostles stand between the windows

  • Quatrefoils depics scenes of martyrdom

  • Angels in the spandrels

    • Holding crowns

    • Swiinging censers

  • Most of the surfaces are painted

  • Looks like there’s not enough stone to hold the cathedral up

    • Building stands alone

    • Tall and thin

    • Buttresses

      • Kept small in order to ensure the light can enter in the windows which creates another problem: lateral force of the roof is pushing outward

        • Buttresses wouldn’t be enough to support that weight

        • Iron rods act like a girdle to counter the thrust of the vaulting down and out

  • Exterior top looks like a crown

  • Gothic Court Style = Rayonnant Style

Pucelle, The Betrayal of Christ and the Annunciation from the Hours of Jeanne d’Evreaux

  • The Betrayal of Christ

    • Christ’s arrest

    • Judas approaches to kiss Jesus, identifying him to the guards.

    • Rendered in delicate grisaille

  • Annunciation

    • Angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary to announce that she will bear the Christ child

    • Vase with lilies symbolizing Mary’s purity

  • Juxtaposition of the two scenes

    • Links the beginning of the Incarnation with the beginning of Christ’s Passion

    • Underlining theological connection between Christ’s birth and his destiny to suffer and redeem humanity.

The Virgin of Jeanne d’Evreux

  • Made out of silver covered in gold

    • Made for someone very important and wealthy

    • Likely commissioned by King Charles IV for his wife Queen Jeanne d’Evreaux

  • Enamel, pearls, and crystals.

  • Originally wore a crown on her head.

  • Reliquary

    • Intended to hold sacred relics associated with the Virgin Mary

    • Given to the Abbey of Saint-Denis

  • Tenderness between the mother and child

    • Christ propped up on her hip in a way that seems very natural

    • Jesus tenderly touching her mouth with his hand

    • Mary gains increasing prominence in the medieval era → introduction of new ways of representing her

    • Mary’s long neck tilting gracefully towards Jesus

  • Jesus holds a pomegranate

    • Symbol of resurrection

    • Recalling the end of his life

    • Unusual in images of the Virgin and Child

  • Increasing interest in human emotion and interaction

  • Large sculpture in Notre Dame de Paris looks similar to this

  • Sway of the body gives the figure a sense of movement and animation that’s incredibly lifelike

    • Not contrapposto though

    • Very elongated

    • Not created to make body realistic but of the complicated curving of the drapery

  • Stands on a base that is itself a work of art

    • Carried by four lions

    • Figures in niches

    • Frame show moments from life of Christ

      • Annunciation

      • Crucifixion

      • Resurrection

Vocabulary

  • Lux nova

    • “New light”

    • Refers to the introduction of stained glass

    • Used by Abbot Suger to describe the heavenly atmosphere in Saint Denis

  • Ribbed vaults

    • Structural feature that consists of a framework of arched ribs that intersect to cover a large space

    • Transmit weight of ceiling downward and outward to specific points

    • Allowed to make higher and thinner walls and larger windows, creating a more open, spacious, and lighter interior.

  • Flying buttresses

    • Masonry structure that consists of an arch that extends from a wall to a pier

    • Transferring the weight of a roof or vault away from the wall

    • Part of the buttress is open to the ground

    • Allowed for the construction of taller buildings with larger windows

    • Helped move the drainage system away from the building, preventing water erosion and pooling.

    • Added beauty and harmony to the design

  • Humanism

    • Movement that sought to reconcile Church theology with Platonic ideals

    • Viewed humans as part of a complex hierarchy

    • Encourage the potential of humans

  • Book of Hours

    • Devotional prayer book

    • Used by the laity for private devotion

    • Arranged so that specific prayers were read at specific times of the day

    • Personal bibles that allow individuals to follow prayer and show their devotion without needing to go to church

    • Illuminated with miniature paintings that depicted lives of Jesus, Mary, and saints.

    • Illustrations of flowers, fruits, other creatures, depictions of activities for each month of the year.

    • Commissioned by kings and nobility

    • Personalized for individual patrons with owners writing in important dates and notes and localized saints and festivities

    • Luxury item mainly affordable by the wealthy

  • Grisaille

    • Painting technique that uses a limited range of colors to create the illusion of sculpture. orthree-dimensionality

    • gris → “gray”

    • Used as an underpainting or first layer of paint to establish form and value. Artists then build up layers of shadow, highlight, and contrast before adding color.

    • Used to imitate sculptures

    • Used in stained glass to add detail and create dramatic interplay of light

  • Triforium

    • Narrow passageway or gallery in a church that’s located between the name and clerestory

    • Middle height of the interior wall

    • Structural and aesthetic, contributing to the verticality and lightness of the design

    • Filled with stonework or sculptures

    • Originally used by workmen during construction as a passageway and platform for scaffolding

  • Clerestory

    • High section of a wall that contains windows and is located above the roofline of the lower aisles

    • Windowed wall located high on a building to allow light into large spaces

    • Admit light and fresh air

  • Stained glass

    • Large, colorful, and ornate windows

    • Illuminated the interiors of churches with vibrant colors

    • Depicted biblical stories and saints to help illiterate medieval citizens learn about the church’s teachings