Gothic architecture flourished in France in the mid 1100s, and continued as late as the 1600s in some parts of Europe. You might be wondering why the Gothic style survived that long. It has to do with power.
The most important examples of Gothic architecture are the great cathedrals. They were a representation of the power of both the Catholic Church and the monarchy. The great cathedrals were designed to be churches that were gigantic in scale and excessively ornamented with decorative details. They were intended to inspire awe and make the visitor feel insignificant, compared to the greater powers that be.
St. Denis
To understand how cathedrals became a space not only for spirituality but also for politics, we must go back to the first Gothic cathedral ever: the Royal Abbey Church of St. Denis, just outside the city of Paris.
Between 1137 and 1144, Abbot Suger (1081-1151) rebuilt St. Denis to make it a focal point of religious as well as patriotic emotion. Suger forged an alliance between the French monarchy and the church, in order to invest the royal office with religious significance while the King supported the papacy in its struggle against the German emperors.
St. Denis was enlarged within this context so that it could become the visible embodiment of Louis VI's expanding power. The church, founded in the 8th century, already enjoyed a dual prestige that made it suitable for Suger's purpose; it was a shrine of the apostle of France who was the protector of the country, as well as the chief memorial of the Carolingian dynasty (both Charlemagne and his father, Pepin, had been consecrated kings there).
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Interior of St. Denis. Note the characteristic elements of Gothic architecture: ribbed vaults, large columnar supports (called piers), flying buttresses, pointed arches, and stained glass windows.
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The interior of St. Denis is characterized by its refinement and lightness. The architectural forms seem weightless and graceful in comparison to the darkness and solidity of Romanesque religious architecture.
The windows have been enlarged to the point that they are no longer an opening cut into the wall. They fill an entire wall area, so they become in effect a translucent wall. The different chapels are not separated, but conform to a whole that merges into the ambulatory (aisles) to create a series of spaces illuminated by the large windows.
Ribbed vaults supported by pointed arches covered the entire area. The arches, in turn, were supported by slender columns, which further enhanced the sense of lightness. On the exterior of the building, thick buttresses were placed between the chapels to strengthen the walls. This new arrangement gave the feeling of architectural unity that emphasized the strict geometrical planning in its creation.
Cathedrals Throughout Europe
The new style of Gothic cathedral was particularly popular in northern and central France, where the royal influence was the strongest. From the 1230s to 1250, French architects built over eighty Gothic cathedrals and the style migrated to England, Spain, Germany, and Austria. Italy was the least enthusiastic in adopting the Gothic style.
A cathedral, by definition, is the seat of a bishop (from the Greek kathedra, meaning seat or throne) and the building belongs to the city or town where it is located. In contrast to rural churches, cathedrals required an urban setting. The construction of a cathedral was the largest single economic enterprise of the Gothic era. Wealthy families and nobles often contributed to a cathedral's construction and their donations were recorded by depicting their coat of arms in stained glass.
Different towns competed in building cathedrals, as it generated jobs and when finished it attracted pilgrims and other visitors, and above all generated a sense of pride amongst the townspeople.
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Notre-Dame. Notre Dame is the French expression for Our Lady, the Virgin Mary. During the French Revolution, Notre Dame was damaged by mobs who regarded the church as a symbol of the hated monarchy. |
Famous Gothic cathedrals include Notre-Dame (1163-1200) in Paris; Chartres (1140-50), and Reims (1211-1290) in France; Salisbury (1263-1284), Gloucester (1332-1357) and King's College Chapel (founded 1441) in England; St. Sebald (1361-1372) in Germany; and Milan Cathedral (begun 1386) in Italy.
In the past lectures we learned how Renaissance artists revived the ideas of ancient Greece and revolutionized the arts by introducing the concept of perspective.
Renaissance courts throughout Europe were centers of artistic activity that competed with each other to attract prominent humanist scientists, architects, painters, and sculptors. Let's explore the political implications of that activity.
Florence and Mantua
As we know, the Renaissance flourished in the city of Florence in Italy. For most of the 1400s, Florence was the intellectual, financial, and artistic center of Italy in large part because it was a center of humanism.
The Medici, the dominant Florentine banking family, were among the leading supporters of humanism, the idea that every person should pursue knowledge of science and philosophy, and study the art of classical antiquity.
Except for brief periods, the Medici ruled Florence from the early 1400s to 1737. They encouraged the study of Plato and tried to reconcile Christianity with Platonic philosophy. They also collected Greek and Roman sculpture and gave contemporary artists access to it. The humanist interest in individual fame was not only associated with territorial, financial, and political power, but also with the arts. Renaissance patrons, like the Medici, understood the power of imagery and used it to extend their fame by commissioning the most important artists of their time to do portraits.
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Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici - Girolamo Macchicetti. During Lorenzo's rule, Florence achieved great splendor as a center for the arts. The patron was well educated and an excellent poet.
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Some of the artists patronized by the Medici were Brunelleschi, Donatello, Filipi Lippi, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The influence of the Medici extended to Rome when three members of the family became popes. Later, two Medici women would become Queens of France. Under the rule of the Medici family, Florence became the center of architecture, sculpture, and painting, dictating the trends that other courts in Italy and Europe were to follow.
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Portrait of Catherine de' Medici. Catherine was a Queen of King Henry II of France who continued to be a powerful woman during the reign of her three sons. |
In Mantua, the Gonzaga family reigned from 1328 to 1708. Mantegna was employed as a court painter, as were Alberti, Rubens, and Van Dyck at different times. During the period of Gonzaga influence, Mantua became one of the greatest centers of art collection and patronage.
The High Renaissance and Roman Politics
Under the control of ambitious popes, Rome succeeded Florence as the artistic center of Italy. Pope Julius II (papacy 1503-1513) was determined to expand his political and military power, and was an enlightened humanist.
In his patronage of the arts, Julius II made some of the greatest contributions to the High Renaissance (commissioning the Sistine chapel, is a good example). His successor Leo X (papacy 1513-1521) continued to employ major artists, but the artistic achievements of the period were not matched by political success. Leonardo, Michelangelo, Bramante, Raphael, and Titian were all artists
who worked for Rome's popes.
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Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. It took him four years (1508-1512) to finish the task. Michelangelo's figures emphasize the power of the human body, especially the torso.
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Most Renaissance artists were appointed to a court or to a powerful rich family, at least for a certain period of time. Though they enjoyed some freedom to create their work, they had to work under commission and sometimes follow specific instructions. They produced pieces that not only added fame to their patrons, but that also became tokens of power and wealth. Sometimes entire collections would be sold to save a fortune, or a single piece of art would be the cause of a complex
negotiation between families.
Within the art world there was also a power hierarchy. During the Renaissance, artists would jockey to obtain the best positions in colleges. There was a famous, long-running dispute between Michelangelo and Leonardo, regarding who was the leading genius of the time.
The higher ranked artists at the time would enjoy the kind of celebrity associated with pop stars today, in addition to commissions with high budgets, requests from many benefactors, and a whole team of apprentices to finish off their work.
The Reformation was the religious movement in the 16th century that led to Protestantism. It had a tremendous impact on social, political, and economic life at the time, and its influences are still felt today.
The movement began in 1517 when Martin Luther, a German monk, protested certain practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Luther's proclamation attracted many religious people who were dissatisfied with the church at the time, and within 40 years, variations of Protestantism has been established across nearly half of Europe.
Before the Reformation, Europe had been held together by the Catholic Church. After the Reformation, Europe had several large Protestant churches and some smaller Protestant religious groups. All of these churches competed with the Catholic Church—and with each other—for the faith and allegiance of the people.
This change influenced artists in numerous ways. First, the Reformation marked the beginning of a decline in the use of Christian imagery, which was sparsely used in Protestant churches. In response to the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church mounted a Counter-Reformation and tried to eliminate internal corruption. From 1545 to 1563 the Council of Trent restated the Roman Church's view that art should be didactic, ethically correct, decent, and accurate in its treatment of religious subjects. Parallels between the Old and New Testament were to be emphasized, rather than Classical events. The Council stated that art should appeal to emotion rather than reason—an anti-humanist stance, which increased the use of miraculous themes.
Counter-Reformation, Morality, and Censorship
The Counter-Reformation also brought about a reaction to certain artistic themes. The Roman Inquisition was granted power to censor works of art that failed to meet the requirements of the council.
In 1573, the Venetian painter Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) was tried for his painting The Last Supper (1573). The tribunal objected to the naturalism of the image and inclusion of servants, dwarfs, drunkards, soldiers, and buffoons in the scene. Veronese alleged that the last supper had taken place in a rich man's house, who might be expected to have visitors, servants, and entertainment. When he was found guilty and given three months to alter his picture, he merely changed the title to Christ In the House of Levi.
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Christ in the House of Levi (1573) - Paolo Veronese. Christ is at the very center of the picture; he becomes the vanishing point were all the architectural lines converge. However, his importance is reduced by the swirl of activity surrounding him. |
In Catholic countries the fervor of the Counter- Reformation led to intolerance, moralizing, and a taste for exaggerated religiosity. Michelangelo came under a particular attack in 1549 for a copy of his Pietá. Because of Mary's depiction as an attractive figure, barely older than Jesus himself, Michelangelo was called an "inventor of filth."
The impact of the Counter-Reformation on the visual arts is most evident in the second half of the 16th century. Tintoretto (1518-1594) was a leading Venetian painter who painted the Last Supper (1590s)
according to the requirements of the Counter-Reformation.
In contrast to Veronese, Tintoretto chose to represent the moment when Christ divided the bread and wine in communion, leading to a mystical interpretation of the event. Tintoretto divided the picture plane diagonally, instead of using the conventional horizontal approach, and avoided lighting the figures evenly from a single direction.
The humanist interest in observing nature is subordinated to mystical melodrama. Christ is at the center of the table, radiating light from his head, and a choir of angels glows in the upper right.
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Last Supper (1590-1594) - Tintoretto. Light radiates from Jesus' head so that he is depicted as "the light of the world." On the other side of the table sits Judas, isolated and in relative darkness, planning his treachery. |
El Greco (1541-1614) was even more directly a painter of the Counter-Reformation. We mentioned him in Lecture Three as an exponent of Mannerism.
In El Greco's paintings virtually all traces of High Renaissance style and classical subjects disappeared. Most of his work was executed for the Church rather than the court and had a strongly spiritual quality. In the Resurrection of Christ (1597-1610), Christ rises in light against a dark background, his halo forming a diamond shape. The surface is animated throughout by flickering flames of light, and three-dimensional space is radically decreased. Check out the following video tutorial to learn more:
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The Spoliation (1577-1579) - El Greco. Without any doubt, El Greco places Christ as the central figure in this painting, not only by positioning him at the very center, but also by clothing him in bright red. The red may signify the blood he shed on the cross. Try placing your eye anywhere in the picture but Christ—it will inevitably bounce back. |
Political art generally becomes most prominent at times of revolution, war, and protest, or another major social change such as the Counter-Reformation.
This is not always the case, however. Let's now look at Dada and Surrealism, two 20th century art movements that were responses to changes in the art world itself.
Dada As an Anti-Art Response
Dada (also known as Dadaism) was born in Zurich after World War I and flourished later in Paris and New York as a protest and anti-art movement.
Dada artists created a style in direct opposition to the art establishment, using creativity itself to create a lifestyle. In that sense, Dada artists stole the power of the art institutions and academies to define what was art and what was not. Dada artists were also pioneers in incorporating other disciplines such as theater, poetry, music, and dance, into art.
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| The Art Critic (1919) - Raoul Hausmann. |
During World War I, a group of artists and poets including Jean Arp, Tristan Tzara, Hugo Ball, and Marcel Janco gave new life to the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. The group reacted against established values, morals, and aesthetics, declaring them meaningless in the light of the catastrophe of the Great War. They shocked and provoked the public with outrageous demonstrations, cabaret performances, poetry recitals, and art exhibits.
Dada artists coined the term "dada" randomly from a dictionary, as an infantile nonsensical word that could be used for any purpose. Dada preached nonsense and anti-art, rejecting formal discipline in painting or sculpture and incorporating elements such as chance, randomness, and commonplace objects into their creative process. To create a Dada work of art, Jean Arp placed torn pieces of paper into a box. After shaking the box, he let the scraps spill out onto a fresh sheet of paper. He then pasted the pieces down according to the pattern in which they fell, allowing randomness and chance to dictate the final composition of the picture.
A later member of Dada, the German Kurt Schwitters, also adopted an unconventional approach to making art. Schwitters's work developed from the collage technique of the Synthetic Cubists, but he was even more aggressive in incorporating everyday objects into his work. Schwitters integrated actual trash, including buttons and used envelopes, into his compositions. By using identifiable rubbish, Schwitters raised questions about the difference between art and non-art.
Dadaism's most characteristic form was the "ready-made" art created by the French artist Marcel Duchamp. He took everyday objects such as a bottle rack, a snow shovel, and a bicycle wheel, and exhibited them as
art objects. His most infamous ready-made piece, Fountain, consisted of an upturned urinal signed with the name "R. Mutt." By playfully and spontaneously designating ordinary objects as works of art, he tested the audience's
standards of art.
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Fountain (1917) - Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp's simple gesture of upturning the urinal converts it literally into a fountain. By signing the work with another name he opens up a discussion about the importance of authorship in art.
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Dada destroyed preconceived ideas about what art should be through its self-imposed irrationality. It opened a new world of creative impulse and a journey into the unknown territories of the imagination, providing a basis for future movements that continues to influence artists today.
Surrealism: Super Realism
The appearance of Dada in Paris led to the development of another protest art movement founded by French poet Andre Breton called Surrealism.
Surrealism, an invented word meaning super realism, derived its theoretical basis from the psychology of the Austrian physician Sigmund Freud. Like Dadaists, Surrealists used art as a weapon against the evils and restrictions that the artists perceived in society. Unlike Dada, however, Surrealism tried to reveal a new and higher reality than that of daily life.
The Surrealists created forms and images not by reason, but by intuition, impulse, and blind feeling, or even by accident. They called this automatism. Using this method, and Freud's technique of free association, the Surrealists declared that alternative realities could be created in art and literature. These realities are as valid as conventional realities and sometimes more beautiful because of their unexpectedness.
Prominent Surrealists
Man Ray (1890-1976) was one of several Surrealists who made the transition from Dada into Surrealism. Man Ray was a painter, fashion and portrait photographer, and filmmaker. In the early 1920s, he developed a cameraless technique called the Rayograph, in which objects are placed on photographic paper and exposed to light.
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| Le Violon d'Ingres (1924) - Man Ray |
In Man Ray's famous photograph Le Violon d'Ingres (1924), he superimposed two violin sound holes on a female nude back. By doing this, he associated the female body with the instrument. He also played with the words, as he refers to Ingres' hobby of playing the violin, while recalling the curvy figure of Ingres' Odalisques.
Max Ernst (1891-1976) was also originally part of Dada. In 1924 he moved to Paris and helped to found the Surrealist group. He often combined collage with frottage (rubbing pencil on a paper placed over a relief surface). He also worked using the decalcomania technique, a process of transferring oil paint by pressure onto a canvas from some other surface. In Swamp Angel (1949), Ernst obtains fascinating textures and shapes with this technique. His imagery suggests mysterious settings, nightmares, and hallucinations. His ambiguous landscapes can be associated with unconscious activity, what I personally call brainscapes.
René Magritte (1898-1967) is one of my favorite Surrealist artists. His images are both disturbing and witty, with a touch of humor. His paintings are realistic, often to the point of creating an illusion. However, their context, their size and the juxtapositions of objects is unrealistic, or only possible in the world of dreams. His work is also known as magic surrealism.
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| Time Transfixed (1939) - René Magritte. |
In Time Transfixed (1938), Magritte depicts a fireplace. A watch and two empty candleholders crown the chimney. A steam engine bursts through the fireplace, but without disrupting the wall. The smoke coming out of the engine disappears into the chimney, however the train looks static. With this eerie combination of elements, Magritte talks about the quality of frozen time.
Surrealist Salvador Dalí (1904-89) was a controversial character. Called Doctor Dollar by his fellow Surrealists for his megalomaniac exhibitionism, Dalí lived in the limelight for most of his life. His public appearances were always outrageous and eccentric, starting with his pointy moustache, which he claimed he waxed with semen. He transformed the automatist method into what he named critical paranoia, and stated this should be used not only the arts, but in everyday life. In the Persistence of Memory (1931) Dalí depicts three melting watches, a dead fish, an egg, a dead tree, and a wobbly human profile. His technique was sometimes academic, but as Magritte, his images are often disturbing.
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The Accommodations (1929) - Salvador Dalí. Dalí's approach juxtaposed together odd and surprising objects. The effect suggested the workings of an unfettered imagination. |
Surrealists believed in the power of imagination. In their words, their aim was "pure psychic automatism...intended to express the true process of thought...free from the exercise of reason and from any aesthetic or moral purposes." In this sense they offered an alternative to traditional methods of creating art, and incited other artists to look deep into themselves. Other key Surrealists were Paul Klee (1879-1940), Joan Miró (1893-1983), Yves Tanguy (1900-1955), and Andre Mason (1896-1987).
Learn
how Gothic cathedrals were used as centers of religious and political power.
