05.01.09 and 05.04.09 – GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
ABBET SUGER: he was appointed to rule in the kings place for a while, etc. he is responsible somewhat for this gothic
style
NEOPLATONIC: we are material being we are tied down by our bodies, so when we try to understand god and reach for
him it is hard b/c he is not material – we use material things to understand – the idea here is that you need light to
understand god
STAIND GLASS:
ROSE WINDOW:
GARGOYLES:
ARISTOTLE:
NAVE ELEVATION: NAVE ARCADE - TRIFORIUM – CLERESTORY
SAINT LOUIS:
GUILDS: professional organization of people in a certain crafts
TROUBADOUR POETRY:



A groin vault is two barrel vaults that intersect – if you build it over a rectangle you end up having to warp the
arches so you end up with a pointed arch
Pointed arch – faster easier, cheaper
Pointed arches, rib vaults and flying buttresses are all aspects of Gothic Architecture
SAINT-DENIS, AMBULATORY AND RADIATING CHAPELS - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE

First place where the pointed arch is used

Only has one tower – originally it had two – after time they wanted to clean things up so they ended up cutting off of the tower
and a little too much got cut off and the tower collapsed

This is where the kings of France were traditionally buried

This church is associated with a very famous local martyr

Saint-Denis – Romans captured him he was an early Christian – his head was cut off – after that he picked up his head and
walked for five miles and then chose the site of this church to lay down and actually dies

There were a lot of these saints who when they died carried their heads somewhere else to lay down and die

This is a monastery – there is an abbot who in charge here – ABBOT SUGER – he was appointed to rule in the kings place for
a while, etc. he is responsible somewhat for this gothic style

NEOPLATONIC: we are material being we are tied down by our bodies, so when we try to understand god and reach for him it
is hard b/c he is not material – we use material things to understand – the idea here is that you need light to understand god

Lots of pilgrims came to this church – this is a Romanesque church that is small so they want to make this a bigger better
church

The story says that god himself came down and blessed this church so you can’t take it down – so he keeps the nave and
expands by adding a choir at the east end

The way they build this new choir – they first build like a skeleton with a rib vault - now you have a larger space for people to
stand

The wall can now be filled with stained glass instead of stone – this is now a light and beautiful open space instead of a very
dark smaller space

The stained glass is made with sand – the stained glass are all hand made and the pieces of glass are irregular and oddly
shaped and so they sparkle – these can never be duplicated

So this light coming from the windows is colored and the floors were polished and the alter in the middle was encased in gold
– so everything sparkled and shined

ABBOT SUGER knows he has to be able justify these luxurious materials – so he uses neoplatonic theory to justify that this all
spiritual aid for his monks – but the truth is that this is all for traveling monks

Later they dedicate this choir and then many people go back to their heavy dingy churches and say they need a new one
NOTRE DAME, PARIS - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 This is associated with the hunchback of notre dame
 The front of this church in a way has the same features as a Romanesque church
 The new element is in the center – a stained glass window – called a ROSE WINDOW- on a lot of gothic
cathedrals
 The inside is open and there are pointed arches, rib vaults, there is a gallery, there are windows along the top
 This is the building where things change – the circular window is on the bottom and the top has the elongated
window
 This where we see FLYING BUTTRESSES first used: have portions of arches that essentially fly through the air
and connect to the building at the weak points
 GARGOYLE: means the throat of an animal – and gargling- this is one of the things that Notre dame is famous for
– this is part of the gutter system this is what helps get the water away from the building and the water flows
through the mouth of the gargoyle but here the gargoyles are nonfunctional meaning water doesn’t flow through
the mouth
 What are these gargoyles doing on this church?
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL, BEGUN 1134, REBUILT AFTER 1194 - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 It takes two days from Paris to walk here
 In the middle ages there was a small city here – it has over 4,000 figures carved on it
 How did they finance this – with pilgrim donations b/c there is an important relic here
 This is almost like a 12 story building
 Here is where they had the tunic of a virgin – they claim she wore this while she was giving birth to Christ
 The church is dedicated to the virgin
 It has two towers which don’t match at all – originally they were they same – later one was hit by lightening and
had to be rebuilt and was rebuilt differently
 The transept is almost in the middle
 There are three radiating chapels
 The tunic of the virgin is behind the alter
 The inside is really pretty and light
 There is rib vaulting
 There are three stories – the change here is the third story is much more narrow and not made for people only
enough room for like workmen = the TRIFORIUM = this is also the only part of the wall that is solid – this part is
right under the roof that is why you can’t have stained glass here
 Half the height of the wall is now filled with stained glass whereas before this would never have been the layout of
the church
 It seems like it was a miracle that this building survived world war I, b/c they took the windows out and then put
them back after world war II
 The rose window is beautiful – the rose of France – it looks like they tried to fill the wall with the window or as
much as they could possibly fill
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL – ROYAL PORTAL, JAMB STATUES OF TESTAMENT KING AND QUEENS - GOTHIC
EUROPE FRANCE
 There are three doorways for people to enter the church
 Above the doorways there are carvings the central doorway has a carving on it – there are 12 disciples and there
is Christ in the middle – very much like the last judgment but the scene here is a lot more friendly and the Christ is
even making a gesture with his hand that welcomes everyone into the church
 Christ in this image is much more natural  ARISTOTLE – this where people start studying Aristotle – he studies the idea that our bodies are a reflection of
our souls – people then connect this to the bible – “Man is created in Christ’s image”
 So now art starts looking like people and more natural
 The kings and queens – the faces have personalities – these are holy figures that people can identify with – the
royal portals
 This is like a starting point for this growing naturalism in sculpture
 The
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL – SAINT THEODORE, JAMB STATUE - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 This is later built jamb figure than the ones on the front of the cathedral
 There are big porches at the transepts
 Saint Theodore was a roman soldier and he was martyred for his Christian beliefs
 He looks like a knight - wearing chain metal armor – he has a hood that is down – looks like a handsome young
man
 Has a long tunic over the armor and a sword wrapped around his hips and a spear in the other
 He looks like a real person – he has a personality and is standing in a correct matter
REIMS CATHEDRAL - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 Originally there was a pagan temple here and then that was knocked down and replaced with a Christian church
and then that burned down and they then build a gothic church here dedicated to the Virgin Mary
 The front here is completely covered in sculpture
 Up at the top there are statues of all the kings of France because this is the spot where all the kings of France
came to be crowned
 The towers – you can see through them the sky on the other side
 In the front there is a huge rose window that covers a lot of that front wall
 The doorways – (portals) – there are porches that project forward over the doors covered in sculpture – they have
gotten rid of the tempena and replaced with window
 On the main doorway is the virgin Mary
REIMS CATHEDRAL JAMB STATUES ANNUNCIATION AND VISITATION - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 These are carved way later and are more 3D and natural- they are actually starting to tell stories with the figures
now
 ANNUNCIATION - The hands of the angels were broken – they look elegant
 This is the angel of Mary – MARY has a cousin and the cousin can’t have children. – the cousin (Elizabeth) is now
pregnant – her child will be john the Baptist –
 VISITATION - this is Elizabeth and Mary when Mary is visiting her and it is said that john the Baptist jumps in
here stomach These also look like they are really standing – the drapery looks very heavy, they are standing in
controposto – you can see the knee sticking out – they twist and turn toward each other – this looks like a roman
statue – the faces here
 Elizabeth here looks old and Mary looks young
 The artist whpcarved the figures on the left is different from the artist who carved the figures on the right
SAINTE-CHAPELLE, PARIS - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 Sainte-chapelle = the holy chapel
 This chapel was built by the king of France – Saint Louis – he was a pias man – he went on 2 crusade to liberate
the holy land – he died on the second crusade – just before he left on the first crusade he dedicated this chapel
and originally this was part of his palace
 On the bottom floor normal people could come and worship
 The top was for the king and the people of the palace to come and worship
 It houses a collection of relics – one in particular – the crown of Thorns that was placed on Jesus’s head –
 Saint Louis also has monks buy the a lot more of relics – many of the original Christ’s relics and the head of John
the Baptist
 Saint Louis spends more than half of his budget on these relics – this church was built to house these relics and
was not made especially for viewing them –
 The windows on the inside fill the entire wall almost from near the floor to the top with stained glass
 The ceiling has rib vaulting and are made of gold and there are blue in between them painted with stars
 This building is a reliquary
 Up toward the front is a raised canopy and was originally where the relics were displayed – this was all attacked
during the French revolution and the relics were ruined – some of the most important relics hung out
 The majority of the windows were biblical scenes from the old testament – there is a recurring themes of the kings
of Israel and coronations –
 The windows directly behind the relics told the story of Jesus and his crowning with the crown of thorns
 The very last window is from contemporary history and how Saint Louis acquires the crown of thorns
 The crown of thorns identifies Christ as a king and here in this window he is showing that he is gods
representative here “like Saint Louis was being crowned with Christ’s throne crown by Christ himself”
 The throne crown here is depicted looking like a victory crown instead something dried out and covered with
thorns as it should
BLANCHE OF CASTILE, LOUIS IX AND TWO MONKS - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 The production of books is now becoming more sophisticated
 Louis the ninth, blanche, and a scribe and a monk are on here
 This page is about 15 x 10 inches high
 This is a moralized bible: passages from the bible and then a sort of explanation – this is like an encyclopedia of
the bible – literally like hundreds and hundreds of illustrations
 Along the top the architecture above the figures – is th palace in Paris – under each figure is an elaborate thrown
 Blanche ran things until Louis the ninth grew up a little bit
 Louis here is holding the septer
 The background behind the figures is gold – it is glued to the page and then they painted over it.
 Below them there is the same type of architectural work – on the left is a monk who has a book and is dictating
and on the right figure is a scribe who is not a member of the church

VIRGIN OF JEANNE D’EVREUX, SILVER GIFT - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 This is silver and guilded
 This was replicated a lot of times so that lots of people could have this figure in their home – there were ivory
ones and then even more affordable ones made of wood, etc.
 This is the Virgin of Jeanne D’ Evreux and she was the queen of France
 virgin Mary is depicted as a very beautiful young woman
 This is very small scale
 You can almost see the shape of her body under the drapery – the line of her breasts, etc.
 In her right hand is a tiny little reliquary (supposedly held some of the hairs of the virgin)
 Artists aren’t good at depicting babies – they kind of look like shrunken adults – this one kind of does look like a
child with the rounded face, etc.
 The Christ child here is holding a apple – virgin Mary is sometimes viewed as the second eve – she redeems eve
of her evil by giving birth to the Christ child
 The virgin Mary gives a more positive view towards women
 She is a figure that people identify with and you can pray to her and she listens, etc.
CARCASSONNE, FRANCE - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 This is up on a hill and is close to the mountains
 There was a roman city and then the Goths took it over and made there city here
 The outer wall has 20 towers in it
 The second higher wall on the inside has 25 towers in it
 Extremely expensive to circle the city twice
 The king of France paid for this _ king Louis the ninth
 There are very powerful dukes here and he wants to extend his power here
 The two building that stand out – the church and then there is also a castle inside the walls
 Between the two walls there is a walkway for soldiers to patrol – these walls are built so you can stand behind and
be protected but also shoot from them as well
 Some of the towers are actually completely self contained and they have wells
 The images here have been restored – most of the tops of the towers have been restored
 The problem of walling the city is that you cant really expand and so people are crowded
 People start building up - really bad if there were a fire here because people are all right next to each other
 The mortality rate here is higher because the trash is here and the sest pit in the seller of your house builds uo
over years, etc.

THE CASTLE OF LOVE AND KNIGHTS JOUSTING, IVORY JEWELRY CASKET - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
 The knights – live by fighting
 In most of France if you pass away all of your possessions go to the oldest son – the rest of the son’s get nothing
– a lot of them became knights – they would go to some court and offer their services
 Their only hope of settling down is that they might prove themselves so well that the king might give them land –
hormonally challenged men, no land, angry they fight all the time – this becomes a problem
 Shivelry – this idea comes along and the church tries to calm down these men – also women try to help by
calming down these men
 TROUBADOR POETRY – Troubadors are performers and they go around in these courts and they entertain and
then hope to get paid – so they need to be good – designed to appeal to women’s tastes – a very strong theme of
love – stories of doomed love (ex. King Arthur and Queen Genaveer – she falls in love with Lancelot) – in these
poems they dwell on people’s emotions
 Medieval marriage – women were basically property and they were married off by their fathers – marriage was not
romantic at all
 The women in these courts often had a lot of power








This is an ivory box – the title is one of the scenes on the box – very expensive – 9 x 4 inches
The metal mounts are a later addition to the piece of art – this might have been a wedding gift – some sort of
special gift for the woman
The picture here is the lid – there are three scenes here and the title comes from the left scene – there are knights
here and there is a catapult and someone on a latter – there is a cross bow – this is a battle scene
But the people in the tower – cupid and he is shooting the knights who will fall in love and the women in the castle
are holding flowers – the catapult is being loaded with flowers
They are comparing love to warfare
The second scene is a jousting tournament – these knights are on horse trying to knock each other off – this was
an attempt to sort of get knights under control – they are fighting for the love of a beautiful women they is probably
unattainable
Far right scene – there is a pair of lovers – some towers on the bottom there is a women on a horse and a knight
with flowers
The front has a Troubadour legend on it – involves Aristotle – he was a tutor of Alexander the great – in legend
Alex had a girlfriend and Aristotle didn’t like this b/c he was too distracted with this – the mistress started to not
like Aristotle and she tried to make him fall in love with her – he did and he would do anything she wanted – she
made him play horsey and she would ride on his back – this becomes a popular theme during this time – shows
the power of love and the power of women
HALL OF THE CLOTH GUILD, BRUGES, BEGUN 1230 - GOTHIC EUROPE FRANCE
NOT ON TEST



In Belgium – this is not a church
This was built by the producers and merchants of cloth
They are competing with the church here