Contenido

La arquitectura gótica nació en torno a 1140 en Francia: se considera que la primera construcción propiamente gótica es la basílica de la abadía real de Saint Denis, edificada por el abad Suger, consejero del rey Luis VII de Francia.[1]​[4]​.

También desde finales del siglo y comienzos del se divulga por los monasterios de la orden del Císter un estilo despojado de ornamentación y reducido a la pureza de los elementos estructurales, expresión de las concepciones estéticas y espirituales de Bernardo de Claraval, que se suele denominar arte cisterciense.[5]​.

La arquitectura gótica ha sido definida durante mucho tiempo de manera bastante superficial exclusivamente por la utilización de uno de sus elementos, el arco apuntado u ojival, del que se deriva la bóveda de crucería que permite desplazar los empujes a contrafuertes externos, que se alejan aún más de los muros mediante el uso de arbotantes. Eso permitió la construcción de edificios mucho más amplios y elevados, y el predominio de los vanos sobre los muros "Muro (arquitectura)"). Los elementos sustentantes (pilares de complicado diseño) quedan mucho más estilizados. Pero la utilización de un elemento no puede definir un estilo de forma global; se trata de un problema más amplio, de una nueva etapa histórica, una nueva concepción del arte y con él del mundo.

Pueden considerarse, principalmente, cinco características fundamentales en su programa de construcción: el arco apuntado, la bóveda de crucería, los arbotantes, los grandes vitrales (ventanales y rosetones) y la decoración de piedra ornamentada (estatuas, columnas, capiteles, pináculos o gárgolas).[6]​.

Frente a las iglesias y monasterios del románico, dicho esto de forma general, el gótico eleva, como su obra arquitectónica emblemática, prodigiosas catedrales llenas de luz así como con una gran altura, siendo estos sus principales aportes técnicos, los que se encuentran justificados en los escritos de Pseudo Dionisio Aeropagita, aunque también se desarrolló una importante arquitectura civil.

No obstante, hay también muchos elementos de continuidad: este sigue siendo un arte predominante religioso; el monasterio como institución apenas varía excepto en detalles formales y de adaptación a nuevos requerimientos, pero su disposición no presentó variantes, y la planta de las iglesias, mayoritariamente catedrales, siguió siendo predominantemente de cruz latina con cabecera en ábside orientada al este, aunque se complique o varíe (plantas basilicales, colocación del transepto en el centro, complicación de naves "Nave (arquitectura)"), capillas y girolas). Sin duda el principal elemento de continuidad es la concepción intemporal de la obra: en la mayor parte de las construcciones los estilos se suceden y funden al ritmo de los siglos, sabiendo los contemporáneos que hacen una obra que ellos no verían terminada, ni quizá sus hijos o nietos, sino que la construcción de estas edificaciones implica el trabajo de varias generaciones. En muchas de ellas, incluso se pone en valor el atrevimiento por comenzar un desafío técnico o económico, a veces por rivalidad política, que cuando se inicia no se ha planificado en su totalidad el proyecto por lo que no se sabe cómo culminarlo: es el caso de las catedrales de Siena y Florencia.

The light

The new religious buildings are characterized by the definition of a space that wants to bring the faithful closer, in an experiential and almost palpable way, to the religious and symbolic values ​​of the time. Incipient humanism freed man from the dark darkness and invited him to the light. This fact is related to the dissemination of Neoplatonic philosophical currents, which establish a link between the concept of God and the realm of light. As new construction techniques made walls virtually unnecessary in favor of openings, the interior of the churches was filled with light, and the light will shape the new Gothic space. It will be a physical light, not figured in paintings and mosaics; general and diffuse light, not concentrated in points and directed as if it were spotlights; At the same time, it is a transfigured and colored light through the play of stained glass and rose windows, which transforms the space into unreal and symbolic. Color will become crucially important.

Light is understood as the sublimation of divinity. Symbology dominates the artists of the time, the Chartres school considers light the noblest element of natural phenomena, the least material element, the closest approximation to pure form.

The Gothic architect organizes a structure that allows him, through the use of technique, to use light, transfigured light, which dematerializes the elements of the building, achieving clear sensations of elevation and weightlessness.[7]​.

In Gothic sculpture, stone carvings continue to be used for the decoration of architecture, in addition to fulfilling the evangelizing function (the catechism of the illiterate, the vast majority of the population) but they are increasingly emancipated (passage from the relief "Relief (art)") to the round shape). Gothic sculpture evolved from a long, rigid style, still partly Romanesque, toward a spatial and naturalistic feel at the end of the century and beginning of the century. The influence of surviving Greek and Roman sculptures were incorporated into the treatment of fabrics, facial expressions and poses.

Gothic sculptures were born on the walls of churches, in the middle of the century on the Ile-de-France, when Abbot Suger had the Abbey of Saint-Denis built (c. 1140), considered the first Gothic building, and the Chartres Cathedral (c. 1145) soon followed. Previously, there was no sculptural tradition on the Isle of France, so sculptors were brought from Burgundy and they were the ones who created the revolutionary figures that acted as columns in the Royal Portico (Chartres Cathedral) of Chartres. It was an entirely new invention and would provide the model for a generation of sculptors.

Gothic sculpture spread throughout Western Europe. In Spain, penetration is confirmed through masters and works that arrived from France; for example, the influence of the Rieux workshop")[8]​ is quite evident in the Virgen del Patrocinio de Cardona "Iglesia de San Miguel (Cardona)").

The influence of French sculpture spread throughout Germany beginning in 1225 with Bamberg Cathedral, which has the largest body of sculpture of the 19th century, culminating in 1240 with the Horseman of Bamberg (the first equestrian statue in Western art since the 19th century, and believed to have portrayed Conrad II).

In England sculpture was more limited to funerary monuments and non-figurative decorations, partly due to Cistercian limitations on the use of images.

In Italy the classical influence still persisted, highlighting works such as the pulpits of the Baptistery of Pisa (1269) and the cathedral of Siena. A late masterpiece of Italian Gothic sculpture is the Arche scaligere of Verona.

Wood carving techniques become increasingly sophisticated, reaching their maximum splendor in the integration of color and the architectural design of complex altarpieces. The recovery of the classical tradition of bronze casting would have to wait for the Italian Renaissance.

The Dutch sculptor Claus Sluter and his taste for naturalism marked the beginning of the end for Gothic sculpture, evolving towards Renaissance classicism at the end of the century.

Until around 1200, almost 50 years after the beginning of Gothic architecture and sculpture, a style of painting that could be called "Gothic" did not appear. The transition from Romanesque to Gothic is very imprecise and there is no clear cut, but we can see the beginnings of a style that is more sombre, dark and emotional than in the previous period. This transition occurs first in England and France around 1200, in Germany around 1220, and Italy around 1300.

While in the Romanesque the figurative representations are simplified and idealized, in the Gothic there is a tendency to increase realism and naturalism, approaching the imitation of nature that would be the ideal of the Renaissance, including the representation of landscapes, which, however, remains unusual.

In the Gothic, in correspondence with new philosophical and religious trends (recovery of Aristotle's philosophy through Averroism, humanism of Saint Francis of Assisi) there was a tendency to approach the representation of religious characters (saints, angels, the Virgin Mary, Christ) on a more human than divine level, allowing them to demonstrate emotions (pleasure, pain, tenderness, anger), breaking Romanesque hieraticism and formalism.

There are also slow advances in the use of perspective and other technical issues regarding the treatment of supports&action=edit&redlink=1 "Support (architecture) (not yet written)") (which allow the greater dissemination of a mobile art), pigments and binders.

Painting, that is, the representation of images on a surface, during the Gothic period, was practiced in four main techniques:

The decorative arts or sumptuary arts of the Gothic period had extensive development.

The flourishing of the wool and cloth business, linked to the fairs and trade routes that run through Europe from North to South (from Florence, Genoa and Venice to Champagne "Champagne (province)") and Flanders, without forgetting Medina del Campo), produced the birth of a singular art: tapestry weaving, which had a very important social prestige. Not for its authors, who never went beyond the consideration of mere artisans, but for its owners. There being no clear separation between the industrial arts and those that we consider fine arts today, the same could be said of master builders, painters and sculptors, who although we retain the names of many of them, did not go beyond also exercising one of the vile and mechanical trades, not even comparable to the liberal professions.

Gothic was born in the north of France and from there it spread to other territories in Europe, which adopted it more or less faithfully to the French model, adapting it to local material and social circumstances. In this way, French Gothic can be distinguished from Spanish Gothic, English Gothic, Flemish Gothic, Central European Gothic or Italian Gothic.

The label International Gothic does not refer to the entirety of Gothic, but to a specific phase or style of Gothic painting and decorative arts.

In the 19th century, the romantic enthusiasm for the medieval (as a reaction to academic neoclassicism) and historicism led to a revaluation of Gothic architecture. Extensive restorations of medieval buildings were carried out, often with new additions, leading to the establishment of the neo-Gothic style, architecture made in imitation of medieval Gothic. From this moment on, we dream of a renaissance of medieval art, filling the term "Gothic" with new content, which begins to be clearly distinguished and separated from Romanesque. Neo-Gothic architecture imitates the elements of the original Gothic with a fundamentally decorative spirit, although it takes advantage of and makes use of new construction techniques and new materials that were beginning to be widely used in the constructions of the 19th century.

Some of these neo-Gothic additions on buildings of Gothic origin are the western facades of the cathedrals of Barcelona "Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Barcelona)"), Milan and Florence (1876-1887).

The original design of the façade of the Florence Cathedral was only materialized in its lower part; Later, the construction was abandoned. At the end of the century, this half-built façade was demolished and several new designs were proposed, but none of them were accepted. The façade was, therefore, left uncovered until the 19th century. In 1864 a competition was opened to design a new façade and in 1876 work began. The resulting neo-Gothic façade, completed in 1887, was executed in white, green and pink marbles to harmonize with the rest of the temple, Giotto's bell tower and the baptistery "Baptistery of San Juan (Florence)").

Contenido

La arquitectura gótica nació en torno a 1140 en Francia: se considera que la primera construcción propiamente gótica es la basílica de la abadía real de Saint Denis, edificada por el abad Suger, consejero del rey Luis VII de Francia.[1]​[4]​.

También desde finales del siglo y comienzos del se divulga por los monasterios de la orden del Císter un estilo despojado de ornamentación y reducido a la pureza de los elementos estructurales, expresión de las concepciones estéticas y espirituales de Bernardo de Claraval, que se suele denominar arte cisterciense.[5]​.

La arquitectura gótica ha sido definida durante mucho tiempo de manera bastante superficial exclusivamente por la utilización de uno de sus elementos, el arco apuntado u ojival, del que se deriva la bóveda de crucería que permite desplazar los empujes a contrafuertes externos, que se alejan aún más de los muros mediante el uso de arbotantes. Eso permitió la construcción de edificios mucho más amplios y elevados, y el predominio de los vanos sobre los muros "Muro (arquitectura)"). Los elementos sustentantes (pilares de complicado diseño) quedan mucho más estilizados. Pero la utilización de un elemento no puede definir un estilo de forma global; se trata de un problema más amplio, de una nueva etapa histórica, una nueva concepción del arte y con él del mundo.

Pueden considerarse, principalmente, cinco características fundamentales en su programa de construcción: el arco apuntado, la bóveda de crucería, los arbotantes, los grandes vitrales (ventanales y rosetones) y la decoración de piedra ornamentada (estatuas, columnas, capiteles, pináculos o gárgolas).[6]​.

Frente a las iglesias y monasterios del románico, dicho esto de forma general, el gótico eleva, como su obra arquitectónica emblemática, prodigiosas catedrales llenas de luz así como con una gran altura, siendo estos sus principales aportes técnicos, los que se encuentran justificados en los escritos de Pseudo Dionisio Aeropagita, aunque también se desarrolló una importante arquitectura civil.

No obstante, hay también muchos elementos de continuidad: este sigue siendo un arte predominante religioso; el monasterio como institución apenas varía excepto en detalles formales y de adaptación a nuevos requerimientos, pero su disposición no presentó variantes, y la planta de las iglesias, mayoritariamente catedrales, siguió siendo predominantemente de cruz latina con cabecera en ábside orientada al este, aunque se complique o varíe (plantas basilicales, colocación del transepto en el centro, complicación de naves "Nave (arquitectura)"), capillas y girolas). Sin duda el principal elemento de continuidad es la concepción intemporal de la obra: en la mayor parte de las construcciones los estilos se suceden y funden al ritmo de los siglos, sabiendo los contemporáneos que hacen una obra que ellos no verían terminada, ni quizá sus hijos o nietos, sino que la construcción de estas edificaciones implica el trabajo de varias generaciones. En muchas de ellas, incluso se pone en valor el atrevimiento por comenzar un desafío técnico o económico, a veces por rivalidad política, que cuando se inicia no se ha planificado en su totalidad el proyecto por lo que no se sabe cómo culminarlo: es el caso de las catedrales de Siena y Florencia.

The light

The new religious buildings are characterized by the definition of a space that wants to bring the faithful closer, in an experiential and almost palpable way, to the religious and symbolic values ​​of the time. Incipient humanism freed man from the dark darkness and invited him to the light. This fact is related to the dissemination of Neoplatonic philosophical currents, which establish a link between the concept of God and the realm of light. As new construction techniques made walls virtually unnecessary in favor of openings, the interior of the churches was filled with light, and the light will shape the new Gothic space. It will be a physical light, not figured in paintings and mosaics; general and diffuse light, not concentrated in points and directed as if it were spotlights; At the same time, it is a transfigured and colored light through the play of stained glass and rose windows, which transforms the space into unreal and symbolic. Color will become crucially important.

Light is understood as the sublimation of divinity. Symbology dominates the artists of the time, the Chartres school considers light the noblest element of natural phenomena, the least material element, the closest approximation to pure form.

The Gothic architect organizes a structure that allows him, through the use of technique, to use light, transfigured light, which dematerializes the elements of the building, achieving clear sensations of elevation and weightlessness.[7]​.

In Gothic sculpture, stone carvings continue to be used for the decoration of architecture, in addition to fulfilling the evangelizing function (the catechism of the illiterate, the vast majority of the population) but they are increasingly emancipated (passage from the relief "Relief (art)") to the round shape). Gothic sculpture evolved from a long, rigid style, still partly Romanesque, toward a spatial and naturalistic feel at the end of the century and beginning of the century. The influence of surviving Greek and Roman sculptures were incorporated into the treatment of fabrics, facial expressions and poses.

Gothic sculptures were born on the walls of churches, in the middle of the century on the Ile-de-France, when Abbot Suger had the Abbey of Saint-Denis built (c. 1140), considered the first Gothic building, and the Chartres Cathedral (c. 1145) soon followed. Previously, there was no sculptural tradition on the Isle of France, so sculptors were brought from Burgundy and they were the ones who created the revolutionary figures that acted as columns in the Royal Portico (Chartres Cathedral) of Chartres. It was an entirely new invention and would provide the model for a generation of sculptors.

Gothic sculpture spread throughout Western Europe. In Spain, penetration is confirmed through masters and works that arrived from France; for example, the influence of the Rieux workshop")[8]​ is quite evident in the Virgen del Patrocinio de Cardona "Iglesia de San Miguel (Cardona)").

The influence of French sculpture spread throughout Germany beginning in 1225 with Bamberg Cathedral, which has the largest body of sculpture of the 19th century, culminating in 1240 with the Horseman of Bamberg (the first equestrian statue in Western art since the 19th century, and believed to have portrayed Conrad II).

In England sculpture was more limited to funerary monuments and non-figurative decorations, partly due to Cistercian limitations on the use of images.

In Italy the classical influence still persisted, highlighting works such as the pulpits of the Baptistery of Pisa (1269) and the cathedral of Siena. A late masterpiece of Italian Gothic sculpture is the Arche scaligere of Verona.

Wood carving techniques become increasingly sophisticated, reaching their maximum splendor in the integration of color and the architectural design of complex altarpieces. The recovery of the classical tradition of bronze casting would have to wait for the Italian Renaissance.

The Dutch sculptor Claus Sluter and his taste for naturalism marked the beginning of the end for Gothic sculpture, evolving towards Renaissance classicism at the end of the century.

Until around 1200, almost 50 years after the beginning of Gothic architecture and sculpture, a style of painting that could be called "Gothic" did not appear. The transition from Romanesque to Gothic is very imprecise and there is no clear cut, but we can see the beginnings of a style that is more sombre, dark and emotional than in the previous period. This transition occurs first in England and France around 1200, in Germany around 1220, and Italy around 1300.

While in the Romanesque the figurative representations are simplified and idealized, in the Gothic there is a tendency to increase realism and naturalism, approaching the imitation of nature that would be the ideal of the Renaissance, including the representation of landscapes, which, however, remains unusual.

In the Gothic, in correspondence with new philosophical and religious trends (recovery of Aristotle's philosophy through Averroism, humanism of Saint Francis of Assisi) there was a tendency to approach the representation of religious characters (saints, angels, the Virgin Mary, Christ) on a more human than divine level, allowing them to demonstrate emotions (pleasure, pain, tenderness, anger), breaking Romanesque hieraticism and formalism.

There are also slow advances in the use of perspective and other technical issues regarding the treatment of supports&action=edit&redlink=1 "Support (architecture) (not yet written)") (which allow the greater dissemination of a mobile art), pigments and binders.

Painting, that is, the representation of images on a surface, during the Gothic period, was practiced in four main techniques:

The decorative arts or sumptuary arts of the Gothic period had extensive development.

The flourishing of the wool and cloth business, linked to the fairs and trade routes that run through Europe from North to South (from Florence, Genoa and Venice to Champagne "Champagne (province)") and Flanders, without forgetting Medina del Campo), produced the birth of a singular art: tapestry weaving, which had a very important social prestige. Not for its authors, who never went beyond the consideration of mere artisans, but for its owners. There being no clear separation between the industrial arts and those that we consider fine arts today, the same could be said of master builders, painters and sculptors, who although we retain the names of many of them, did not go beyond also exercising one of the vile and mechanical trades, not even comparable to the liberal professions.

Gothic was born in the north of France and from there it spread to other territories in Europe, which adopted it more or less faithfully to the French model, adapting it to local material and social circumstances. In this way, French Gothic can be distinguished from Spanish Gothic, English Gothic, Flemish Gothic, Central European Gothic or Italian Gothic.

The label International Gothic does not refer to the entirety of Gothic, but to a specific phase or style of Gothic painting and decorative arts.

In the 19th century, the romantic enthusiasm for the medieval (as a reaction to academic neoclassicism) and historicism led to a revaluation of Gothic architecture. Extensive restorations of medieval buildings were carried out, often with new additions, leading to the establishment of the neo-Gothic style, architecture made in imitation of medieval Gothic. From this moment on, we dream of a renaissance of medieval art, filling the term "Gothic" with new content, which begins to be clearly distinguished and separated from Romanesque. Neo-Gothic architecture imitates the elements of the original Gothic with a fundamentally decorative spirit, although it takes advantage of and makes use of new construction techniques and new materials that were beginning to be widely used in the constructions of the 19th century.

Some of these neo-Gothic additions on buildings of Gothic origin are the western facades of the cathedrals of Barcelona "Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Barcelona)"), Milan and Florence (1876-1887).

The original design of the façade of the Florence Cathedral was only materialized in its lower part; Later, the construction was abandoned. At the end of the century, this half-built façade was demolished and several new designs were proposed, but none of them were accepted. The façade was, therefore, left uncovered until the 19th century. In 1864 a competition was opened to design a new façade and in 1876 work began. The resulting neo-Gothic façade, completed in 1887, was executed in white, green and pink marbles to harmonize with the rest of the temple, Giotto's bell tower and the baptistery "Baptistery of San Juan (Florence)").