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 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, Example: NO PERSPECTIV E 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 Simone Martini

Byzantine Enthroned Madonna and Child, 13th century, tempera on panel Greek & Italian blend In Gothic art, the infants (usually Jesus) look like a shrunken version of an adult.

GIOTTO Madonna in Glory, c Tempera on panel suggestions of PERSPECTIVE in a GOTHIC ERA work; PERSPECTIVE is a major development of the RENAISSANCE

detail Shading gives volume

Late Gothic/ Early Renaissance from 1305 BOLD DIAGONAL Giotto, Pieta (Lamentation) fresco Gothic art also showcases a strong diagonal line.

GIOTTO The Presentation of the Virgin c 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,

Pope Innocent III, On the Misery of the Human Condition, c (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 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 than they would realistically 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 VERTICALITYVERTICALITY

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