Western Europe 1200-1500 Architecture & Renaissance Chapter 14

Gothic Cathedral Architectural Style Began in France in the 12c. Pointed arches replaced rounded Roman arches. Flying buttresses. Stained glass windows. Elaborate, ornate interior. Taller, more airy  lots of light. Lavish sculpture  larger-than-life.

The Gothic Cathedral

Gothic Floor Plans

Canterbury Cathedral, England

Interior of a Gothic Cathedral

Interior of a Gothic Cathedral

St. Etienne, Bourges, late 12c “Flying” Buttresses

Flying Buttress

Gothic “Filigree” Closeups

Cathedral Gargoyles

Stained Glass Windows For the glory of God. For religious instructions.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Rose Window Chartres Cathedral, Paris The good, of course, is always beautiful, and the beautiful never lacks proportion. --- Plato

The Renaissance Began mid-fourteenth century Began Northern Italy and spread to northern Europe Triggered by: After Southern Italy free of all foreign influence, Greek & Arabic manuscripts found & translated into Latin Works by Plato & Aristotle Works by Muslims Treatises on medicine, math, & geography

Focus on Learning Establishment of independent colleges & universities Modeled after Muslim madrasas 1300-1500 – 60 universities Courses taught in Latin Bologna – law Montpellier & Salerno – medicine Paris & Oxford - theology

Importance of Theology Seen as the central discipline Scholasticism – synthesize reason & faith Summa Theologica – Thomas Aquinas – intertwined Christian beliefs with Aristotelian principles

Literature Most used Greco-Roman themes and mythology Many wrote in vernacular languages instead of Latin Dante – Divine Comedy Dante’s trip through 9 circles of hell, purgatory, and paradise Chaucer – Canterbury Tales Pilgrims on their way to Canterbury

Humanists Interest in humanities, classical disciplines of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, & ethics Reformed secondary education curriculum which still dominates Europe and the Americas today Their influence was wide because of new printing technology Printing press (1450) – movable type that pressed inked type onto sheets of paper

Renaissance and the Church Pope Nicholas V created the Vatican Library Purchased Greco-Roman scrolls Dutch scholar Erasmus – retranslated the New Testament correcting errors & mistranslations in the Latin text Gutenberg – Gutenberg Bible (1454) was first book in the West printed Growing number of literate population

Art Patronage Italians willing to spend money on art Art in Florence supported by the guilds Consumption of art was used as a form of competition for social and political status

Art Focus Biblical subjects Greco-Roman deities Mythical tales Scenes of daily life Flemish painter Jan van Eyck introduced oil painting Characteristics Realism & expression Individualism Geometrical arrangement of figures Light and shadowing

Leonardo da Vinci Vitruvian Man 1492

Self-Portrait -- da Vinci, 1512 Artist Sculptor Architect Scientist Engineer Inventor 1452 - 1519

The Virgin of the Rocks 1483-1486

The Last Supper - da Vinci, 1498

David Michelangelo Bonarotti 1504 Marble

The Sistine Chapel Michelangelo 1508 - 1512

The Sistine Chapel Details

St. Peter’s Basilica