Gothic Architecture Images

Question 1

Title: View of Ambulatory and Apse Chapels of the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis
Location: France
Time Period: 1140-1144

Answer 1

1. Considered to be one of the first examples of gothic architecture
2. Ribbed vaulting indicated a shift in trends
   - Romanesque buildings more often used barrel or groin vaults but were now starting to use ribbed vaulting
3. More space on the exterior walls due to the use of flying buttresses
   - Allowed more space for windows
4. Developed a special royal significance early on
5. Due to the involvement of international artisans to work on the building, the site is a major centre of artistic exchange

Question 2

Answer 2

Rib vault with pointed
arches

1. Ribs
2. Web
   - A covering structure
3. Pointed Arch
   - Components include: the bay and the piers
4. Bay
   - The cavity/negative space that the arch forms

Question 3

What are buttresses? What is the significance of flying buttresses?

Answer 3

1. Buttresses are designed to hold a building in place through the displacement of weight
   - It is a complex structure developed with the intention of holding up the walls of a building
2. They became an architectural feat
   - They’re designed to appear light
   - Ornamental design being added to a structurally necessary support system

Question 4

How does gothic architecture become defined?

Answer 4

By its ornate and complex feats of engineering design

i.e. flying buttresses

Question 5

***Likely on Exam
Title: Chartres Cathedral (Cathedral of Notre-Dame)
Location: France
Time Period: c. 1134 (west facade begun),
- 1194 (fire resulted in the cathedral being rebuilt),
- building continued to 1260
- 1507-1513 (north spire)

Answer 5

1. One of the most replicable, iconic types of gothic churches
2. Gothic styles continue to be used into the renaissance
3. Built on a previous temple that was dedicated to a virgin which is why it became dedicated to the Virgin Mary
4. A blend of styles was created in the 12th century because of a fire
5. The money used mostly came from the bishops and their personal income, they also requested donations from clergymen
   - Also attempted to raise taxes but the public rioted and expelled the bishop and clergymen
6. Houses a contact relic, a linen thought to have come into contact with the Virgin Mary
   - Would be sent on tours to raise more funding

Question 6

***Likely on Exam
Title: Royal Portal, West Facade
Location: Chartres Cathedral (Cathedral of Notre-Dame)
Time Period: c. 1145-1155

Answer 6

1. Only used for ceremonial entrances
2. The lintel and tympanum are filled with sculptural figures, tells stories of religious importance
   - ex. a continuous narrative of Jesus’ life on earth, honoring Mary, dedication to Christ’s reincarnation, Christ enthroned on the center tympanum
   - Meant to depict a story as a whole, to be viewed like a movie
3. Kings, Queens, and Prophets from the Hebrew bible are sculpted to be the columns
   - This is done to evoke a lineage of succession, royal ancestry of Christ, linking the past to the present
   - Stressing that although the world will change, the present is still linked to the religious past of antiquity

Question 7

***Likely on Exam
Title: Rose Window and Lancets
Location: North Transept, Chartres Cathedral (Cathedral of Notre-Dame)
Time Period: c. 1230-1235
Medium: Stained and painted glass

Answer 7

1. The geometric unfurling shape draws a connection to a rose
2. Importance of stained glass medium:
   - Environmental consequences because of the use of wooden fires (large scale carbon emissions because of gothic demand)
3. Meant to be looked at and contemplated
4. Cartoons (sketches, the large plans and designs) are part of the process when creating large designs

Question 8

**Maybe on exam in relation to Chartres Cathedral?
Stained Glass Process:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Answer 8

1. Sand is fired with ash to create a molten state
   - metallic oxides are added to color the glass
2. The molten glass is blown and flattened into sheets
3. A cartoon is drawn on a whitewashed board
4. The glass above the cartoon and the shapes around the figures would be cut with a hot iron
   - could melt the definitions of the glass and cause clean cracks
5. Use of paint made from iron filings and ground glass suspended in wine or urine for defining features of the colored glass
6. The pieces would be fired in a kiln
   - the paint would fuse to the surface
7. Assembling each piece with strips of lead in between each one

Question 9

Title: Drawings of the Interior and Exterior Elevations of the Nave of Reims Cathedral
Location: Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Time Period: c. 1230
Medium: Ink on vellum
Artist: Villard de Honnecourt

Answer 9

1. Important because it is an album of drawings documenting the multiple stages of the building process
   - An artefact AND historical document
2. An example from the early 13th century of what will become common practice in the 16th century

Question 10

Title: St. Maurice
Location: Magdeburg Cathedral, Germany
Time Period: c. 1240-1250
Medium: Dark sandstone with traces of polychromy

Answer 10

1. A commander in the Roman army, the Egyptian Maurice, was martyred in 286 with his Christian battalion while they were stationed in Germany
   - He remained a favorite Saint of military aristocrats
2. This is the first surviving representation of Maurice as a black African
   - Represents an acknowledgement of Maurice’s Egyptian origins
   - Also an aspect of the growing German interest in realism
3. An example of Gothic style being associated with local and international use
4. Egyptianness is represented through iconography found and associated with Africa