Gothic in art. The role of Gothic culture in medieval Europe. Sculpture, painting and applied arts

The period, which received the name Gothic in the history of European art, is associated with the growth of trade and craft cities and the strengthening of feudal monarchies in some countries.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, medieval art in Western and Central Europe, especially church and civil architecture, reached its highest point. Slender, upward-looking huge Gothic cathedrals, uniting large masses of people in their premises, and proudly festive city halls affirmed the greatness of the feudal city - a large trade and craft center.

The problems of the synthesis of architecture, sculpture and painting were developed extremely widely and deeply in Western European art. Images of the majestic architecture of the Gothic cathedral, full of dramatic expressiveness, received their development and further plot concretization in a complex chain of monumental sculptural compositions and stained glass windows that filled the openings of huge windows. Stained glass painting, enchanting with the shimmering radiance of colors, and especially Gothic sculpture imbued with high spirituality, most clearly characterize the flourishing of the fine arts of medieval Western Europe.

In Gothic art, along with purely feudal ones, new, more progressive ideas, reflecting the growth of the medieval burghers and the emergence of a centralized feudal monarchy, acquired great importance. Monasteries were losing their role as leading centers of medieval culture. The importance of cities, merchants, craft guilds, as well as royal power increased as the main builders-customers, as organizers artistic life countries.

Gothic masters widely turned to vivid images and ideas generated by folk imagination. At the same time, their art, more than Romanesque art, was influenced by a more rational perception of the world and the progressive tendencies of the ideology of that time.

In general, Gothic art, reflecting the deep and acute contradictions of the era, was internally contradictory: it intricately intertwined the features of realism, deep and simple humanity of feeling with pious tenderness, and upsurges of religious ecstasy.

In Gothic art grew specific gravity secular architecture; it became more diverse in purpose, richer in forms. In addition to town halls and large premises for merchant guilds, stone houses were built for wealthy citizens, and a type of urban multi-story building was emerging. The construction of city fortifications, fortresses and castles was improved.

Nevertheless, the new, Gothic style of art received its classical expression in church architecture. The most typical Gothic church building was the city cathedral. Its grandiose dimensions, perfect design, and abundance of sculptural decoration were perceived not only as an affirmation of the greatness of religion, but also as a symbol of the wealth and power of the townspeople.

The organization of the construction business also changed - urban lay craftsmen, organized into workshops, built. Here, technical skills were usually passed down from father to son. However, there were important differences between masons and all other artisans. Every artisan - gunsmith, shoemaker, weaver, etc. - worked in his own workshop in a certain city. Artels of masons worked where large buildings were erected, where they were invited and where they were needed. They moved from city to city and even from country to country; A commonality arose between construction associations of different cities, and there was an intensive exchange of skills and knowledge. Therefore, Gothic no longer has the abundance of sharply different local schools that is characteristic of the Romanesque style. Gothic art, especially architecture, is distinguished by great stylistic unity. However, significant features and differences historical development Each of the European countries determined significant originality in the artistic culture of individual peoples. It is enough to compare French and English cathedrals to feel the great difference between the external forms and the general spirit of French and English Gothic architecture.

The surviving plans and working drawings of the grandiose cathedrals of the Middle Ages (Cologne, Vienna, Strasbourg) are such that only well-trained craftsmen could not only draw them up, but also use them. In the 12th-14th centuries. A cadre of professional architects was created, whose training was at a very high theoretical and practical level for that time. Such are, for example, Villars de Honnencourt (the author of surviving notes, equipped with abundant diagrams and drawings), the builder of a number of Czech cathedrals, Petr Parler, and many others. The building experience accumulated by previous generations allowed Gothic architects to solve bold design problems and create a fundamentally new design. Gothic architects also found new means to enrich the artistic expressiveness of architecture.

Sometimes it is believed that hallmark Gothic design is a pointed arch. This0 is incorrect: it occurs already in romanesque architecture. Its advantage, known, for example, to the architects of the Burgundian school, was its smaller lateral expansion. Gothic masters only took this advantage into account and made wide use of it.

Layout of the Gothic vault frame

the seams then had a purely decorative meaning; the vault still remained heavy and massive. Gothic architects made these ribs (otherwise known as ribs, or edges) the basis of a vaulted structure. The construction of the cross vault began by laying out ribs from well-hewn and fitted wedge stones - diagonal (the so-called ogives) and end ribs (the so-called cheek arches) (Fig. on p. 239). They created a kind of skeleton of the vault. The resulting strippings were filled with thin cut stones using circles.

Such a vault was much lighter than the Romanesque one: both the vertical pressure and lateral thrust were reduced. The ribbed vault rested with its heels on pillars-abutments, and not on the walls; its thrust was clearly identified and strictly localized, and it was clear to the builder where and how this thrust should be “extinguished.” In addition, the rib vault had a certain flexibility. The shrinkage of the soil, catastrophic for Romanesque vaults, was relatively safe for it. Finally, the rib vault also had the advantage that it made it possible to cover irregularly shaped spaces.

Having appreciated the merits of such a vault, the Gothic architects showed great ingenuity in its development, and also used it design features V decorative purposes. So, sometimes they installed additional ribs running from the intersection point of the ogive to the arrow of the cheek arches - the so-called piers (see figure on page 240 - EO, 60, RO, HO). Then they installed intermediate ribs supporting the rails in the middle - the so-called tiercerons. In addition, they sometimes connected the main ribs together with transverse ribs, the so-called counter-ribs. English architects began to use this technique especially early and widely.

Since there were several ribs for each abutment pillar, following the Romanesque principle, a special capital or console, or column, adjacent directly to the abutment, was placed under the heel of each rib. So the abutment turned into a bunch of columns. As in the Romanesque style, this technique clearly and logically expressed the main features of the design through artistic means. Later, however, Gothic architects laid out the stones of the abutments in such a way that the capitals of the columns were completely abolished, and the supporting column from the base of the abutment continued without interruption of the masonry to the very top of the vault.

The lateral thrust of the ribbed vault, strictly localized, in contrast to the heavy Romanesque vault, did not require massive support in the form of thickening the wall in dangerous places, but could be neutralized by special pillars-pylons - buttresses. The Gothic buttress is a technical development and further improvement of the Romanesque buttress. The buttress, as established by the Gothic architects, worked the more successfully the wider it was at the bottom. Therefore, they began to give the buttresses a stepped shape, relatively narrow at the top and wider at the bottom.

It was not difficult to neutralize the lateral thrust of the vault in the side naves, since their height and width were relatively small, and the buttress could be placed directly at the outer abutment pillar. The problem of lateral expansion of the vaults in the middle nave had to be solved completely differently.

Gothic architects used in such cases a special arch made of wedge stones, the so-called flying buttress; one end of this arch, spanned across the side naves, rested on the axles of the vault, and the other on the buttress. The place of its support on the buttress was strengthened by a turret, the so-called shshakl. Initially, the flying buttress adjoined the sinuses of the vault at a right angle and, therefore, perceived only the lateral thrust of the vault. Later, the flying buttress began to be placed at an acute angle to the sinuses of the arch, and thus it partially took on the vertical pressure of the arch (fig. on page 242).

With the help of the Gothic frame system, great savings in material were achieved. The wall as a structural part of the building became redundant; it either turned into a light wall or was filled with huge windows. It became possible to build buildings of unprecedented height (under arches - up to 40 m and above) and to cover spans of great width. The pace of construction also increased. If there were no obstacles (lack of funds or political complications), then even grandiose structures were erected in a relatively short time; Thus, Amiens Cathedral was basically built in less than 40 years.

Construction material The stone used was local mountain stone, which was carefully cut. Particular care was taken to fit the beds, that is, the horizontal edges of the stones, since they had to bear a large load. The Gothic architects used the binding mortar very skillfully, using it to achieve uniform load distribution. For greater strength, iron brackets reinforced with soft lead were installed in some places of the masonry. In some countries, such as Northern and Eastern Germany, where there was no suitable building stone, buildings were erected from well-shaped and fired bricks. At the same time, the masters masterfully created textured and rhythmic Effects using brick various shapes and sizes and a variety of laying methods.

The masters of Gothic architecture introduced a lot of new things into the layout of the cathedral interior. Initially, one span of the middle nave corresponded to two links - the spans of the side naves. In this case, the main load fell on the abutments АВСБ, while the intermediate abutments E and P performed secondary tasks, supporting the heels of the vaults of the side naves (Fig. on page 2M). The intermediate abutments were accordingly given a smaller cross-section. But from the beginning of the 13th century. Another solution became common: all the abutments were made identical, the square of the middle nave was divided into two rectangles, and each link of the side naves corresponded to one link of the middle nave. Thus, the entire longitudinal room of the Gothic cathedral (and often also the transept) consisted of a number of uniform cells, or herbs.

Gothic cathedrals were built at the expense of the townspeople, they served as a place for city meetings, and mystery plays were given in them; University lectures were given at Notre Dame Cathedral. Thus, the importance of the townspeople increased and the importance of the clergy (which, by the way, was not as numerous in cities as in monasteries) fell.

This phenomenon was also reflected in the plans of large cathedrals. In Notre Dame Cathedral, the transept is not outlined as sharply as in most Romanesque cathedrals, as a result of which the boundary between the choir sanctuary, intended for the clergy, and the main longitudinal part, accessible to everyone, is somewhat softened. In Bourges Cathedral there is no transept at all.

But such a layout is found only in early Gothic works. In the middle of the 13th century. In a number of states, a church reaction began. It especially intensified when new mendicant orders settled in universities. Marx notes that they “lowered the scientific level of the universities, scholastic theology again occupied a primary position”: At that time, at the request of the church, a partition was installed in already built cathedrals, separating the choir from the public part of the building, and in newly built cathedrals a different layout was provided. In the main - longitudinal - part of the interior, instead of five, they began to build three naves; the transept is developing again, mostly three-aisled. The eastern part of the cathedral - the choir - began to be increased to five naves. Large chapels surrounded the eastern apse with a wreath; the middle chapel was usually larger than the others. However, in the architecture of Gothic cathedrals of that time, there was another trend, which ultimately reflected the growth of craft and trade guilds, the development of the secular principle, and a more complex and broader worldview. Thus, Gothic cathedrals became characterized by a great richness of decoration, an increase in the features of realism, and at times, genre features in monumental sculpture.

Cross section of a Gothic cathedral

At the same time, the initial harmonious balance of horizontal and vertical divisions by the 14th century. It is increasingly giving way to the upward thrust of the building, the rapid dynamics of architectural forms and rhythms.

The interiors of Gothic cathedrals are not only grander and more dynamic than the interiors of the Romanesque style - they indicate a different understanding of space. In Romanesque churches there was a clear distinction between the narthex, the longitudinal body, and the choir. In Gothic cathedrals, the boundaries between these zones lose their rigid definition. The space of the middle and side naves almost merges; the side naves are raised, the abutments occupy a relatively small space. The windows become larger, the spaces between them are filled with a frieze of arches. The tendency to merge internal space was most strongly manifested in the architecture of Germany, where many cathedrals were built according to the hall system, that is, the side naves were made the same height as the main one.

Has changed a lot and appearance Gothic cathedrals. The massive towers above the middle cross, characteristic of most Romanesque churches, have disappeared. But powerful and slender towers often flank the western facade, richly decorated with sculpture. The size of the portal has increased significantly.

Gothic cathedrals seem to grow before the eyes of the viewer. The tower of the Cathedral in Freiburg is very indicative in this regard. Massive and heavy at its base, it covers the entire western façade; but, rushing upward, it becomes more and more slender, gradually thins out and ends with a stone openwork tent.

Romanesque churches were clearly isolated from the surrounding space by the smooth walls. Gothic cathedrals, on the contrary, provide an example of complex interaction, the interpenetration of internal space and external natural environment. THIS is facilitated by the huge window openings, the through carving of the tower tents, and the forest of buttresses topped with shshaks. Great importance they also had carved stone decorations: cruciferous fleurons; stone thorns growing like flowers and leaves on the branches of a stone forest of buttresses, flying buttresses and tower spiers.

The ornament decorating the capitals has also undergone great changes. The geometric forms of the ornament of the capitals, dating back to the “barbarian” wickerwork, and the acanthus, which is ancient in origin, almost completely disappear. Gothic masters boldly turn to the motifs of their native nature: the capitals of Gothic pillars are decorated with lushly modeled leaves of ivy, oak, beech and ash.

The replacement of blank walls with huge windows led to the almost universal disappearance of monumental paintings, which played such a large role in Romanesque art of the 11th and 12th centuries. The fresco was replaced by stained glass - a unique type of painting in which the image is made up of pieces of colored painted glass, connected to each other by narrow lead strips and covered with iron fittings. Stained glass appeared, apparently, in the Carolingian era, but it only fully developed and spread during the transition from Romanesque to Gothic art.

Stained glass windows placed in window openings, filled the interior space of the cathedral with light, painted in soft and sonorous colors, which created an extraordinary artistic effect. The late Gothic pictorial compositions made using the tempera technique or colored reliefs decorating the altar and altar surrounds were also distinguished by the brightness of their colors.

Transparent stained glass windows, shining colors of altar painting, the shine of gold and silver of church utensils, contrasting with the restrained severity of color stone walls and pillars, gave the interior of the Gothic cathedral an extraordinary festive solemnity.

Both in the internal and especially in the external decoration of cathedrals, a significant place belonged to plastic arts. Hundreds, thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands of sculptural compositions, individual statues and decorations on portals, cornices, gutters and capitals directly merge with the structure of the building and enrich its artistic image.

The transition from the Romanesque style to the Gothic style in sculpture occurred somewhat later than in architecture, but then development occurred at an unusually rapid pace, and Gothic sculpture reached its highest peak within one century.

Although Gothic knew relief and constantly turned to it, the main type of Gothic sculpture was the statue.

True, Gothic figures are perceived, especially on facades, as elements of a single giant decorative and monumental composition. Individual statues or statuary groups inextricably linked with façade wall or with the pillars of the portal, are, as it were, parts of a large multi-figured relief. Nevertheless, when a city dweller on his way to the temple approached close to the portal, the overall decorative integrity of the composition disappeared from his field of vision, and his attention was attracted by the plastic and psychological expressiveness of the individual statues framing the portal and the gate reliefs, telling in detail about a biblical or evangelical event. In the interior, sculptural figures, if they were placed on consoles protruding from the pillars, were visible from several sides. Full movements, they differed in rhythm from the slender pillars directed upward and asserted their special plastic expressiveness.

Compared to Romanesque, Gothic sculptural compositions are distinguished by a clearer and more realistic presentation of the plot, a more narrative and edifying character and, most importantly, greater richness and direct humanity in conveying the internal state. Improving specific artistic means the language of medieval sculpture (expression in the sculpting of forms, in the transmission of spiritual impulses and experiences, the sharp dynamics of the restless folds of draperies, strong light and shadow modeling, the sense of expressiveness of a complex silhouette covered in intense movement) contributed to the creation of images of great psychological persuasiveness and enormous emotional power.

In terms of the choice of subjects, as well as in the distribution of images, the giant Gothic sculptural complexes were subject to the rules established by the church. The compositions on the facades of cathedrals in their totality gave a picture of the universe according to religious ideas. It is no coincidence that the heyday of Gothic was the time when Catholic theology developed into a strict dogmatic system, expressed in the generalizing codes of medieval scholasticism - “Summa Theology” by Thomas Aquinas and “The Great Mirror” by Vincent of Beauvais.

The central portal of the western facade, as a rule, was dedicated to Christ, sometimes to the Madonna; the right portal is usually to the Madonna, the left - to a saint, especially revered in a given diocese. On the pillar dividing the doors of the central portal into two halves and supporting the architrave, there was a large statue of Christ, Madonna or saint. On the base of the portal, “months”, seasons, etc. were often depicted. On the sides, on the slopes of the walls of the portal, monumental figures of the apostles, prophets, saints, Old Testament characters, and angels were placed. Sometimes subjects of a narrative or allegorical nature were presented here: the Annunciation, the Visit of Mary to Elizabeth, the Reasonable and Foolish Virgins, the Church and the Synagogue, etc.

The field of the gate tympanum was filled with high relief. If the portal was dedicated to Christ, the Last Judgment was depicted in the following iconographic version: Christ sits at the top, pointing to his wounds, on the sides are the Madonna and the Evangelist John (in some places he was replaced by John the Baptist), around are angels with the instruments of Christ’s torment and the apostles; in a separate zone, below them, an angel is depicted weighing souls; to the left (from the viewer) are the righteous entering heaven; on the right are demons capturing the souls of sinners and scenes of torment in hell; even lower - the opening of coffins and the resurrection of the dead.

When depicting the Madonna, the tympanum was filled with scenes: the Assumption, the Taking of the Madonna into heaven by angels and her heavenly coronation. In the portals dedicated to the saints, episodes from their lives unfold on the tympanums. On the archivolts of the portal, covering the tympanum, were placed figures that developed the main theme given in the tympanum, or images that were in one way or another ideologically related to the main theme of the portal.

The cathedral as a whole was like a religiously transformed image of the world collected in a single focus. But interest in reality and its contradictions imperceptibly invaded religious subjects. True, life conflicts, struggle, suffering and grief of people, love and sympathy, anger and hatred appeared in the transformed images of the gospel legends: the persecution of the great martyr by cruel pagans, the misfortunes of the patriarch Job and the sympathy of his friends, the cry of the Mother of God for her crucified son, etc.

And the motives for turning to everyday life were mixed with abstract symbols and allegories. Thus, the theme of labor is embodied in a series of months of the year, given both in the form of zodiac signs dating back to antiquity, and through the depiction of labors characteristic of each month. Labor is the basis real life people, and these scenes gave the Gothic artist the opportunity to go beyond religious symbolism. Allegorical images of the so-called Liberal Arts, already widespread since the late Romanesque period, are also associated with ideas about labor.

T*os.t interest and human personality, “. her moral character and the main features of her character were increasingly reflected in the individualized interpretation of biblical characters. The sculptural portrait also originated in Gothic sculpture, although these portraits were only rarely made from life. Thus, to some extent, the memorial sculptures of church and secular rulers placed in the temple were of a portrait nature.

In late Gothic book miniatures, realistic tendencies were expressed with particular spontaneity, and the first successes were achieved in depicting landscapes and everyday scenes. It would, however, be wrong to reduce all the aesthetic value, all the originality of the realistic basis of Gothic sculpture only to the features of a realistically accurate and concrete depiction of life phenomena. True, Gothic sculptors, embodying images of biblical characters in their statues, conveyed that feeling of mystical ecstasy and excitement that was not alien to them. Their feelings had a religious overtone and were closely connected with false religious ideas. And yet, deep spirituality, extraordinary intensity and strength of manifestations of human moral life, passionate emotion and poetic sincerity of feeling largely determine the artistic truthfulness, value and unique aesthetic originality of Gothic sculptural images.

As new bourgeois relations grew and the centralized state developed and strengthened, humanistic, secular, and realistic tendencies grew and became stronger. By the 15th century In most countries of Western and Central Europe, progressive forces entered into an open struggle against the foundations of feudal society and its ideology. From that time on, the great Gothic art, gradually exhausting its progressive role, lost its artistic merit and creative originality. A historically inevitable turning point was approaching in the development of European art - a turning point associated with overcoming the religious and conventionally symbolic framework that constrained further development realism, with the affirmation of secular art, consciously realistic in its method. In a number of regions of Italy, where cities were able to achieve a relatively early and relatively complete victory over feudalism, Gothic did not fully develop, and the crisis of the medieval worldview and medieval art forms occurred much earlier than in other European countries. Already from the end of the 13th century. Italian art entered the phase of its development that directly prepared for a new artistic era - the Renaissance.

In the middle of the 16th century, the famous Italian artist, architect and writer Giorgio Vasari introduced the concept of “Gothic”. He uses the term in his work “Lives of Famous Painters, Sculptors and Architects.” This book can be considered the first history of art. The word Gothic comes from the Italian concept Goten - barbarian. With this term he separated the art of the Renaissance from the Middle Ages.

The main idea of Gothic is upward movement. Examples of Gothic architecture are cathedrals, monasteries, and churches. Having developed after the Romanesque style, which is distinguished by its powerful walls with round arches and tiny windows, Gothic rushes into the sky with its:

tall thin towers;
sharp high arches;
stained glass windows;
many carved details on the facades.

The colored glass created a stunning effect. Stained glass windows, created from glass of different thicknesses and colors, added extraordinary beauty to the atmosphere of the temples. The shimmer of light on the floor and walls deepened the perspective.

Gothic painting appears on church windows. Religious subjects created from colored and painted glass, which was inserted into narrow lead strips, were pictures of unusual beauty. Each window presented a thematic composition in which great attention was paid to detail. Rich, bright, contrasting colors were like a scattering of gems and replaced traditional frescoes.

The features of Gothic painting can be seen in the example of book miniatures. In the 14th century, a new design for manuscripts appeared. The illustrations include stories on everyday topics. Particular attention is paid to details and color scheme. These are bright and rich paintings in which a variety of colors are present:

blue;
green;
red;
pink;
black;
white;
ocher shades.

Sheets with manuscripts receive beautiful borders created from various curls and floral patterns.

Artists of the Gothic period

After the manifestation of the Gothic style in architecture, it penetrates into painting. Gothic art is characterized by two-dimensional, flat space in paintings. They often feature stories on everyday topics. The compositions are decorated with leaves, flowers and images of animals. In all the pictures Special attention pays attention to details.

Among the representatives of Gothic painting the most famous are:

Master of San Martino.

The most famous of these artists is the German painter Master Bertram. He not only painted pictures, but was also a master of wooden sculpture, and also made illustrations for books. He had at his disposal a workshop in which his students and apprentices worked. Master Bertram lived and worked in Hamburg. The workshop carried out various orders that came from the city and from private individuals. The most famous work is the Grabow Altarpiece, created in 1383 for St. Peter's Cathedral in Hamburg.

The representative of the Gothic style in painting was born in Artois and was of French origin. The works of Jacquemart de Esden are book miniatures. The artist’s customer was a relative of King Charles V of France, Jean of Berry. The master spent most of his time in Bourges, where he dealt with the Duke’s orders. From 1384 to 1414 he received a regular salary from the treasury. The artist's most famous works are miniatures:

"Small Book of Hours".
"Brussels Book of Hours".
"The Great Book of Hours".

The master's main work is the "Great Book of Hours".

Master of San Martino

Master who was the author of the image of the "Madonna and Child Enthroned" for the Church of San Martino. Now this work is kept in Italy, in the San Matteo Museum, in the city of Pisa. In the central part of the picture is the Madonna, and along the edges are scenes from the lives of Saints Joachim and Anne. Despite the fact that the artist is considered the most prominent representative of the Pisan school of painting of the Gothic period, the name of the master has been lost.

There is no information left about when the artist was born and died. There is a version that in the second half of the 14th century two artists with the name Donato lived in Venice. One was a parishioner of St. Luke's Church and the other was a parishioner of St. Vidal's Church. According to another version, it was the same person who simply changed parish. There are documents left about him working together with other painters. One of these works is the painting “The Coronation of Mary”, which was created in 1372 together with Catarino di Marco.

Three brothers, Paul, Erman and Jeannequin, were born in the Netherlands. Their father was a master of wooden sculpture, and on their mother’s side their relative was the painter Jean Maluel, who worked at the court of the Burgundian dukes. For some time the brothers studied jewelry making, and in 1410 they began work, which consisted of creating paintings for the Bible. The order came from Philip the Bold, for which he assigned the brothers maintenance for four years. Most main job Gothic painting of the Limburg brothers is “The Magnificent Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry”. The work remained unfinished, since both the customer, Jean of Berry, and the artists died in 1416.

Masterpieces created during the Gothic period of art can still be admired today:

St. Stephen's Cathedral, Austria.
Mir Castle, Belarus.
Antwerp Cathedral, Belgium.
Cologne Cathedral, Germany.
Burgos Cathedral, Spain.
Cathedral of St. Vitus, Czech Republic.
Westminster Abbey, England.
Chartres Cathedral, France.
Rheinshain Castle, Germany.
Notre Dame Cathedral, France.

Notre Dame de Paris is one of the first cathedrals designed in the Gothic style. It was built from 1163 to 1345.

There is no clear chronological boundary between the Romanesque style and the Gothic. Gothic was the highest level of medieval art and the first pan-European art in history. artistic style. The French called this style “French manner”, “music frozen in stone”; “Maniera Gothic” - the Italians contemptuously dubbed it, hinting at the barbarian tribe of the Goths, in the 3rd-5th centuries. invading the Roman Empire, although by the time the Gothic style emerged, they were almost forgotten in Europe.

France is considered the birthplace of the Gothic style, and its basis is church architecture. In 1137, Suger, abbot of the Saint-Denis monastery, began rebuilding the abbey church, which had served as the tomb of kings since the time of the Merovingians, due to the need to increase its internal space. To lighten the vaults and reducing the load on the walls in the bypass and chapels, the builders erected frame arches- ribs (from French. nervur - edge). This design consists of two protruding, diagonally intersecting arches and four side ones.

Instead of the previously dominant semicircular arch, they began to use a pointed arch, which made it possible to cover any span in plan. The use of a ribbed pointed vault made it possible to make the walls extremely light and almost

Rib ceilings of the Church of Saint-Denis. Paris

Gothic temple. Incision

displace them, replacing them with tall windows, separated from one another only by narrow spandrels of supports. According to Suger's plan, the bright light in the altar was supposed to symbolize the “sacred light of religion.” The windows of the chapels were decorated with colored stained glass windows, through which the sun's rays filled the choir with rainbow shimmer. “The entire sanctuary is flooded with a wondrous and unfading light penetrating through the sacred windows,” said Suger, describing the eastern part of the temple.

To remove the load from the wall, the lateral thrust of the vaults was “extinguished” by “blades” protruding from the walls or by a retaining ledge pillar placed outside the walls - buttress. Since Gothic religious architecture preserved the basilica form of the building, where the middle nave rose above the side ones, a special connecting arch was used - flying buttress, which was thrown from the heel of the arch of the main nave to the side buttress. Thus, the facade was divided vertically into three parts by means of buttresses or protruding “blades”, which symbolically correlated with the idea of the Trinity.

Such architectural techniques made it possible to increase the cathedral in height to 154 m, which was higher even than the Egyptian pyramids. The wall is no longer load-bearing structure, was replaced by windows with colored inserts - stained glass.

If the choir of the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis marked the beginning of the spread of a new design of vaults, then its western facade became the prototype of the facades of Gothic cathedrals.

The western façade was also divided into three parts, but this time horizontally. The lower part was entrance doors - portals. They were designed either in the form of porches (Reims Cathedral) or as an interior pa-

Chapter "Gothic Art". General history of art. Volume II. Art of the Middle Ages. Book I. Europe. Authors: A.A. Guber, Yu.D. Kolpinsky; under the general editorship of Yu.D. Kolpinsky (Moscow, State Publishing House "Art", 1960)

The period, which received the name Gothic in the history of European art, is associated with the growth of trade and craft cities and the strengthening of feudal monarchies in some countries.

In Gothic art, along with purely feudal ones, new, more progressive ideas, reflecting the growth of the medieval burghers and the emergence of a centralized feudal monarchy, acquired great importance. Monasteries were losing their role as leading centers of medieval culture. The importance of cities, merchants, craft guilds, as well as royal power as the main builders-customers and organizers of the country's artistic life increased.

In general, Gothic art, reflecting the deep and acute contradictions of the Epoch, was internally contradictory: it intricately intertwined the features of realism, deep and simple humanity of feeling with pious tenderness, and upsurges of religious ecstasy.

In Gothic art the share of secular architecture increased; it became more diverse in purpose, richer in forms. In addition to town halls and large premises for merchant guilds, stone houses were built for wealthy citizens, and a type of urban multi-story building was emerging. The construction of city fortifications, fortresses and castles was improved.

The organization of the construction business also changed - urban lay craftsmen, organized into workshops, built. Here, technical skills were usually passed down from father to son. However, there were important differences between masons and all other artisans. Every artisan - gunsmith, shoemaker, weaver, etc. - worked in his own workshop in a certain city. Artels of masons worked where large buildings were erected, where they were invited and where they were needed. They moved from city to city and even from country to country; A commonality arose between construction associations in different cities, and there was an intensive exchange of skills and knowledge. Therefore, Gothic no longer has the abundance of sharply different local schools that is characteristic of the Romanesque style. Gothic art, especially architecture, is distinguished by great stylistic unity. However, the significant features and differences in the historical development of each of the European countries determined significant originality in the artistic culture of individual peoples. It is enough to compare French and English cathedrals to feel the great difference between the external forms and the general spirit of French and English Gothic architecture.

It is sometimes considered that the distinctive feature of a Gothic design is the pointed arch. This is incorrect: it is already found in Romanesque architecture. Its advantage, known, for example, to the architects of the Burgundian school, was its smaller lateral expansion. Gothic masters only took this advantage into account and made wide use of it.

The main innovation introduced by the Gothic style architects is the frame system. Historically, this constructive technique arose from the improvement of the Romanesque cross vault. Already Romanesque architects in some cases laid out the seams between the formwork of the cross vaults with protruding stones. However, such seams then had a purely decorative meaning; the vault still remained heavy and massive. Gothic architects made these ribs (otherwise called ribs, or edges) the basis of a vaulted structure. The construction of the cross vault began by laying ribs from well-hewn and fitted wedge stones - diagonal (the so-called ogives) and end ribs (the so-called cheek arches). They created a kind of skeleton of the vault. The resulting strippings were filled with thin cut stones using circles.

Having appreciated the merits of such a vault, Gothic architects showed great ingenuity in its development, and also used its design features for decorative purposes. So, sometimes they installed additional ribs running from the intersection point of the ogive to the arrow of the cheek arches - the so-called piers (EO, GO, FO, HO). Then they installed intermediate ribs supporting the rails in the middle - the so-called tiercerons. In addition, they sometimes connected the main ribs together with transverse ribs, the so-called counter-ribs. English architects began to use this technique especially early and widely.

The lateral thrust of the ribbed vault, strictly lacquered, in contrast to the heavy Romanesque vault, did not require massive support in the form of thickening the wall in dangerous places, but could be neutralized by special pillars-pylons - buttresses. The Gothic buttress is technical development and further improvement of the Romanesque buttress. The buttress, as established by the Gothic architects, worked the more successfully the wider it was at the bottom. Therefore, they began to give the buttresses a stepped shape, relatively narrow at the top and wider at the bottom.

Gothic architects used in such cases a special arch made of wedge stones, the so-called flying buttress; one end of this arch, spanned across the side naves, rested on the axles of the vault, and the other on the buttress. The place of its support on the buttress was strengthened by a turret, the so-called pinnacle. Initially, the flying buttress adjoined the sinuses of the vault at a right angle and, therefore, perceived only the lateral thrust of the vault. Later, the flying buttress began to be placed at an acute angle to the sinuses of the arch, and thus it partially took on the vertical pressure of the arch.

The building material was local mountain stone, which was carefully cut. Particular care was taken to fit the beds, that is, the horizontal edges of the stones, since they had to bear a large load. The Gothic architects used the binding mortar very skillfully, using it to achieve uniform load distribution. For greater strength, iron brackets reinforced with soft lead were installed in some places of the masonry. In some countries, such as Northern and Eastern Germany, where there was no suitable building stone, buildings were erected from well-shaped and fired bricks. At the same time, the masters masterfully created textured and rhythmic Effects, using bricks of various shapes and sizes and various masonry methods.

The masters of Gothic architecture introduced a lot of new things into the layout of the cathedral interior. Initially, one span of the middle nave corresponded to two links - the spans of the side naves. In this case, the main load fell on the abutments ABCD, while the intermediate abutments E and F performed secondary tasks, supporting the heels of the vaults of the side naves. The intermediate abutments were accordingly given a smaller cross-section. But from the beginning of the 13th century. Another solution became common: all the abutments were made identical, the square of the middle nave was divided into two rectangles, and each link of the side naves corresponded to one link of the middle nave. Thus, the entire longitudinal room of the Gothic cathedral (and often also the transept) consisted of a number of uniform cells, or herbs.

But such a layout is found only in early Gothic works. In the middle of the 13th century. In a number of states, a church reaction began. It especially intensified when new mendicant orders settled in universities. Marx notes that they “lowered the scientific level of the universities, scholastic theology again took a leading position” (K. Marx, Abstract of Green’s “History of the English People”, “Marx and Engels Archive”, vol. VIII, p. 344.). At that time, at the request of the church, a partition was installed in already built cathedrals, separating the choir from the public part of the building, and in newly built cathedrals a different layout was provided. In the main - longitudinal - part of the interior, instead of five, they began to build three naves; the transept is developing again, mostly three-aisled. The eastern part of the cathedral - the choir - began to be increased to five naves. Large chapels surrounded the eastern apse with a wreath; the middle chapel was usually larger than the others. However, in the architecture of Gothic cathedrals of that time, there was another trend, which ultimately reflected the growth of craft and trade guilds, the development of the secular principle, and a more complex and broader worldview. Thus, Gothic cathedrals became characterized by a great richness of decoration, an increase in the features of realism, and at times, genre features in monumental sculpture.

The appearance of Gothic cathedrals also changed greatly. The massive towers above the middle cross, characteristic of most Romanesque churches, have disappeared. But powerful and slender towers often flank the western facade, richly decorated with sculpture. The size of the portal has increased significantly.

Romanesque churches were clearly isolated from the surrounding space by the smooth walls. Gothic cathedrals, on the contrary, provide an example of complex interaction, the interpenetration of internal space and the external natural environment. This is facilitated by the huge window openings, the through carving of the tower tents, and the forest of buttresses topped with pinnacles. Carved stone decorations were also of great importance: cruciferous fleurons; stone thorns growing like flowers and leaves on the branches of a stone forest of buttresses, flying buttresses and tower spiers.

The replacement of blank walls with huge windows led to the almost universal disappearance of monumental paintings, which played such a large role in Romanesque art of the 11th and 12th centuries. The fresco was replaced by stained glass - a unique type of painting in which the image is made up of pieces of colored painted glass, connected to each other by narrow lead strips and covered with iron fittings. Stained glass appeared, apparently, in the Carolingian era, but they received full development and distribution only during the transition from Romanesque to Gothic art.

Stained glass windows placed in the window openings filled the interior space of the cathedral with light, painted in soft and sonorous colors, which created an extraordinary artistic effect. The late Gothic pictorial compositions made using the tempera technique or colored reliefs decorating the altar and altar surrounds were also distinguished by the brightness of their colors.

Transparent stained glass windows, shining colors of altar painting, the shine of gold and silver of church utensils, contrasting with the restrained severity of the color of stone walls and pillars, gave the interior of the Gothic cathedral an extraordinary festive solemnity.

Although Gothic knew relief and constantly turned to it, the main type of Gothic sculpture was the statue.

True, Gothic figures are perceived, especially on facades, as elements of a single giant decorative and monumental composition. Individual statues or groups of statues, inextricably linked with the facade wall or with the pillars of the portal, are, as it were, parts of a large multi-figured relief. Nevertheless, when a city dweller on his way to the temple approached close to the portal, the overall decorative integrity of the composition disappeared from his field of vision, and his attention was attracted by the plastic and psychological expressiveness of the individual statues framing the portal and the gate reliefs, telling in detail about a biblical or evangelical event. In the interior, sculptural figures, if they were placed on consoles protruding from the pillars, were visible from several sides. Full movements, they differed in rhythm from the slender pillars directed upward and asserted their special plastic expressiveness.

Compared to Romanesque, Gothic sculptural compositions are distinguished by a clearer and more realistic presentation of the plot, a more narrative and edifying character and, most importantly, greater richness and direct humanity in conveying the inner state. The improvement of the specific artistic means of the language of medieval sculpture (expression in the sculpting of forms, in the transmission of spiritual impulses and experiences, the acute dynamics of the restless folds of draperies, strong light and shadow modeling, a sense of expressiveness of a complex silhouette covered in intense movement) contributed to the creation of images of great psychological persuasiveness and enormous emotional power.

And the motives for turning to everyday life were mixed with abstract symbols and allegories. Thus, the theme of labor is embodied in a series of months of the year, given both in the form of zodiac signs dating back to antiquity, and through the depiction of labors characteristic of each month. Labor is the basis of people's real lives, and these scenes gave the Gothic artist the opportunity to go beyond religious symbolism. Allegorical images of the so-called Liberal Arts, already widespread since the late Romanesque period, are also associated with ideas about labor.

The growing interest in the human personality, in its moral world, in the main features of its character was increasingly reflected in the individualized interpretation of biblical characters. The sculptural portrait also originated in Gothic sculpture, although these portraits were only rarely made from life. Thus, to some extent, the memorial sculptures of church and secular rulers placed in the temple were of a portrait nature.

As new bourgeois relations grew and the centralized state developed and strengthened, humanistic, secular, and realistic tendencies grew and became stronger. By the 15th century In most countries of Western and Central Europe, progressive forces entered into an open struggle against the foundations of feudal society and its ideology. From that time on, the great Gothic art, gradually exhausting its progressive role, lost its artistic merit and creative originality. A historically inevitable turning point was approaching in the development of European art - a turning point associated with overcoming the religious and conventionally symbolic framework that constrained the further development of realism, with the establishment of secular art, consciously realistic in its method. In a number of regions of Italy, where cities were able to achieve a relatively early and relatively complete victory over feudalism, Gothic did not fully develop, and the crisis of the medieval worldview and medieval art forms occurred much earlier than in other European countries. Already from the end of the 13th century. Italian art entered the phase of its development that directly prepared for a new artistic era - the Renaissance.

Gotica- a period in the development of medieval art in Western, Central and partly Eastern Europe.

The word comes from Italian. gotico - unusual, barbaric - (Goten - barbarians; this style has nothing to do with the historical Goths), and was first used as an expletive. For the first time, the concept in the modern sense was used by Giorgio Vasari in order to separate the Renaissance from the Middle Ages.

Origin of the term

However, there was nothing barbaric in this style: on the contrary, it is distinguished by great grace, harmony and observance of logical laws. A more correct name would be “lancet”, because. The pointed form of the arc is an essential feature of Gothic art. And, indeed, in France, the birthplace of this style, the French gave it a completely appropriate name - “ogive style” (from ogive - arrow).

Three main periods:
— Early Gothic XII-XIII centuries.
— High Gothic — 1300-1420. (conditional)
- Late Gothic - XV century (1420-1500) is often called “Flaming”

Architecture

The Gothic style mainly manifested itself in the architecture of temples, cathedrals, churches, and monasteries. It developed on the basis of Romanesque, or more precisely, Burgundian architecture. In contrast to the Romanesque style, with its round arches, massive walls and small windows, the Gothic style is characterized by pointed arches, narrow and tall towers and columns, a richly decorated facade with carved details (vimpergi, tympanums, archivolts) and multi-colored stained glass lancet windows . All style elements emphasize verticality.

art

Sculpture played a huge role in creating the image of the Gothic cathedral. In France, she designed mainly its external walls. Tens of thousands of sculptures, from plinth to pinnacles, populate the mature Gothic cathedral.

Round monumental sculpture is actively developing in Gothic. But at the same time, Gothic sculpture is an integral part of the cathedral ensemble, it is part architectural form, since, together with architectural elements, it expresses the upward movement of the building, its tectonic meaning. And, creating an impulsive play of light and shadow, it, in turn, enlivens, spiritualizes the architectural masses and promotes their interaction with the air environment.

Painting. One of the main directions of Gothic painting was stained glass, which gradually replaced fresco painting. The technique of stained glass remained the same as in the previous era, but color palette became much richer and more colorful, and the plots were more complex - along with images of religious subjects, stained glass windows on everyday themes appeared. In addition, not only colored glass, but also colorless glass began to be used in stained glass.

The Gothic period saw the heyday of book miniatures. With the advent of secular literature (chivalrous novels, etc.), the range of illustrated manuscripts expanded, and richly illustrated books of hours and psalms were also created for home use. Artists began to strive for a more authentic and detailed reproduction of nature. Prominent representatives of Gothic book miniatures are the Limburg brothers, court miniaturists of the Duke of Berry, who created the famous “The Magnificent Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry” (circa 1411-1416).

Ornament

Fashion

Interior

Dressoir is a china cabinet, a piece of late Gothic furniture. Often covered with painting.

The furniture of the Gothic era is simple and heavy in the truest sense of the word. For example, for the first time, clothes and household items are beginning to be stored in closets (in antiquity, only chests were used for these purposes). Thus, by the end of the Middle Ages, prototypes of basic modern pieces of furniture appeared: a wardrobe, a bed, an armchair. One of the most common methods of making furniture was frame-panel knitting. The materials used in the north and west of Europe were mainly local wood species - oak, walnut, and in the south (Tyrol) and east - spruce and pine, as well as larch, European cedar, juniper.

Artists of the Gothic period

Master of San Martino

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