Late Medieval Art…
and a little bit of architecture
(Romanesque & Gothic)
Romanesque and Gothic art
get lumped together into
Medieval art principles while
architecture is divided into
specifically Romanesque and
Gothic
Pope Innocent III, On the Misery of the Human Condition, c. 1200
Man is conceived of blood made rotten by the
heat of lust; and in the end worms, like
mourners, stand about his corpse. In life he
produced lice and tapeworms; in death he will
produce worms and flies. In life he produced
dung and vomit; in death he produces
rottenness and stench. In life he fattened one
man; in death he fattens a multitude of
worms….
Thus humans are horrible sinners, life is
deservedly hard, and only God is good.
Medieval Art
Scene of
Martyrdom
French Romanesque
Fresco
Coming out of
the Dark Ages,
artists had yet
to figure out
how to capture
painted imagery
naturalistically
or realistically.
They look
childlike or
cartoony.
Human faces in paintings throughout the era were
very flat, unrealistic and looked alike.
Human and
animal body
parts are
disproportionate
and usually
elongated.
Romanesque =
elongated in
painting.
Gothic=
elongated in
sculpture.
Medieval painters
had not yet
learned how to
handle
perspective, so
architecture and
landscapes are
awkward.
Up to this point, we’ve been
looking at Romanesque art. Know
as we move into Gothic art that
there are some principles that are
true of Romanesque as well as
Gothic art. Such as elongation and
missing perspective or depth.
Cimabue,
Madonna
Enthroned,
1280-90
Example: NO
PERSPECTIVE
Flat pictorial space
similar to Ancient &
Byzantine works
detail
Dematerialization– the
realities and structures of
reality are absent, like it’s
occurring in a vacuum.
There is no tangible
background, or
perspective, Madonna
and child have no clarity
of bone. They are soft
and ungrounded.
Madonna and Child,
ca. 1326
Simone Martini
Greek & Italian blend
Byzantine
Enthroned Madonna and Child,
13th century, tempera on panel
In Gothic art, the
infants (usually Jesus)
look like a shrunken
version of an adult.
GIOTTO
Madonna in Glory, c. 1311
Tempera on panel
suggestions of
PERSPECTIVE in a
GOTHIC ERA work;
PERSPECTIVE is a major
development of the
RENAISSANCE
detail
Shading gives
volume
Giotto,
Pieta
(Lamentation)
fresco
Gothic art
also
showcases
a strong
diagonal
line.
Late Gothic/ Early Renaissance
from 1305
GIOTTO
The
Presentation of
the Virgin
c. 1305
Fresco.
Cappella
dell'Arena,
Padua
Is there a
diagonal in this
composition?
In the Frick panel, a
majestically towering Christ
is shown rejecting the devil,
who offers Him “all the
kingdoms of the world” if
Christ will worship him
(Matthew 4:8–11). Duccio
retains medieval
conventions in depicting
the figures as large and the
spurned kingdoms as
small, thus suggesting a
scale of values rather than
naturalistic proportions. Yet
the story is presented in
terms that are immediately
meaningful. Christ
expresses a sorrowful
solemnity, and the cities in
the foreground — packed
with turrets, domes, and
crenellations — vividly
evoke the festive colors
and crowded hill-sites of
Siena.
Duccio di Buoninsegna
The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain,
1308-1311
Pope Innocent III, On the Misery of the Human Condition, c. 1200 (1)
. . . man was formed of dust, slime, and ashes: what is even more
vile, of the filthiest seed. He was conceived from the itch of the
flesh, in the heat of passion and the stench of lust, and worse yet,
with the stain of sin. He was born to toil, dread, and trouble; and
more wretched still, was born only to die. He commits depraved
acts by which he offends God, his neighbor, and himself; shameful
acts by which he defiles his name, his person, and his conscience;
and vain acts by which he ignores all things important, useful, and
necessary. He will become fuel for those fires which are forever
hot and burn forever bright; food for the worm which forever
nibbles and digests; a mass of rottenness which will forever stink
and reek.
Cimabue
The Flagellation of
Christ, c. 1280
Martyrdom?
Softness of bone?
Awkward landscape
or background?
.
The earliest Gothic art was
monumental sculpture, on
the walls of Cathedrals
and abbeys. Christian art
was often typological in
nature, showing the
stories of the New
Testament and the Old
Testament side by side.
Saints' lives were often
depicted.
Figures were
elongated
…from Chartres Cathedral
Chartres Cathedral
detail
Unnatural
proportions—
heads way bigger
han they would
ealistically be.
Images of the Virgin
Mary changed from the
Byzantine iconic form to
a more human and
affectionate mother,
cuddling her infant,
swaying from her hip,
and showing the refined
manners of a well-born
aristocratic courtly lady.
Romanesque, because of the funny
proportions—big head, kind of
cartoony.
Gothic—child looks like shrunken adult, elongated,
but elegant body
Recap of Medieval Art Principles
Romanesque: Not naturalistic or realistic of body
Romanesque: look cartoony or flat
Romanesque: Awkward landscapes or architecture
Romanesque and Gothic: elongated bodies
Romanesque and Gothic: sculpture disproportionate body (big heads)
Romanesque and Gothic: Affectionate mother and child
Gothic: No background at all, just colored space
Gothic: No perspective
Gothic: The stuff that is most important is largest
Gothic: Look soft or boneless
Gothic: infants look like shrunken adults
Gothic: Strong diagonal line
Gothic: Stained glass
The Gothic's
were known
for their
stained glass
Kylemore Abbey, Galway, Ireland
Principles of Gothic architecture
Pointed arches
Flying buttresses
Emphasis on the vertical
Stained glass (lots of light)
Ornate decoration
Elongated sculpture
Ribbed vaulting
Notre Dame Cathedral
begun in 1163
Notre Dame
Cathedral
flying
buttresses
c. 1175
Chartres Cathedral buttresses
Flying
Buttress
diagram
Abbey Church of
Saint Denis
ribbed vaulting
Chartres
Cathedral
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SUMMARY – Late Medieval art &
Gothic architecture
• ARCHITECTURE – arches get the point;
buttresses fly & glass is stained – emphasis on
VERTICAL
• ART – dematerialized human figures moving
towards realistic pictorial space
• IDEAS – life is bad, humans worse, God is great
• EVENTS – plague, weakening of Church authority