Chapter 13: Gothic Europe
Chapter Sheet
Preview: “Gothic” was originally a disparaging term applied to medieval art and architecture by
Italians in the 16th century, who considered it crude. In actuality, the art produced in the high middle
ages, between 1140 and 1500, is highly original, expressive and technically innovative. The finest
achievement of the era is the Gothic cathedral, epitomized by the Cathedral of Notre Dame in
Chartres, France. Here we find the characteristic features that set Gothic cathedrals apart from earlier
buildings: pointed arches, masonry rib vaults, flying buttresses, and brilliant colored-glass windows.
The Gothic cathedrals in England are less vertical than their French counterparts, but English builders
pursued unique decorative features such as fan vaults and pendants. In the Holy Roman Empire,
German sculptors continued to employ the heightened emotionalism that had been established in
Ottonian art. Throughout Europe, artists in the Gothic era also produced remarkable examples of
metalwork, relief sculptures, and manuscript illumination that illustrate Christian themes and
increasingly include representations of secular figures.
List of Artworks (7 Cards Total):
1. Gothic Context Card
2. Diagram and drawings of rib vaults with semicircular and pointed arches—Pg.368
3. Aerial view of Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France, as rebuilt after 1194—Pg. 364
o West façade, Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France, ca. 1145-1155—Pg. 369
4. Royal Portal, west façade, Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France, ca. 1145-1155—Pg. 369
o Old Testament kings and queen, jamb statues, right side of the central doorway of the
Royal Portal, Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France, ca. 1145-1155—Pg.370
5. Plan of Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France, as rebuilt after the 1194 fire—Pg. 374
o Interior of Chartres Cathedral (looking east), Chartres, France, begun 1194—Pg. 374
6. Cutaway view of a typical French Gothic cathedral—Pg. 373
7. Blanche of Castile, Louis IX, and two monks, dedication page (folio 8 recto) of a moralized
Bible, from Paris, France, 1226-1234—Pg. 385
Key Figures: Abbot Suger, Peter Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, Robert de Luzarches, Thomas de
Cormont, Renaud de Cormont, Gaucher de Reims, Bernard de Soissons, Villard de Honnecourt, King
Louis IX, Blanche of Castile, Nicholas of Verdun, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, Master Honoré, Robert and
William Vertue, Naumburg Master, Heinrich and Peter Parler, Gerhard of Cologne
Key Cultural & Religious Terms: Scholasticism, disputatio, indulgences, lux nova, Annunciation,
Visitation, opere francigeno, opus modernum
Key Art Terms: stained glass, glazier, flashing, cames, leading, plate tracery, bar tracery, fleur-de-lis,
Rayonnant, Flamboyant, mullions, moralized Bible, breviary, Perpendicular style, ambo, altarpiece,
triptych, pieta
Key Architectural Terms: altar frontal, rib vault, armature, webs, pointed arch, jamb figures,
trumeau, triforium, oculus, flying buttress, pinnacle, vaulting web, diagonal rib, transverse rib,
springing, clerestory, lancet, nave arcade, compound pier (cluster pier), shafts (responds), ramparts,
battlements, crenellations, merlons, crenels, fan vaults, pendants, Gothic Revival, Hallenkirche (hall
church)
Study Questions
1. Explain how the term "Gothic" became used to describe this type of Art.
2. Why did arches change from rounded in Romanesque and earlier styles to pointed in the Gothic?
3. Why did buttresses become increasingly emphasized, finally leading to the flying buttresses observed
in Gothic architecture?
4. Explain why Suger chose large stained glass windows for Gothic interiors over Romanesque masonry.
5. What are some characteristics about Chartres Cathedral that make it special?
6. How is the three-part elevation of a Gothic cathedral different than that of a Romanesque?