GOTHIC SCULPTURE.........
What is Gothic Sculpture?
During the Gothic period, sculpture developed into an independent art form & was not simply for architectural decoration. Gothic cathedrals and churches provided an ideal opportunity for sculpture to develop. The function of sculpture was to instruct the illiterate, decorate cathedrals and increase the prestige of bishops.
How Gothic sculpture differs from Romanesque sculpture
- More realistic treatement or figures and natural forms
- More relaxed natural poses & gestures
- More expresseive faces with individual personalions
Locations for sculpture:
- Interior sculture mostly on capitals at top of columns
- Exterior sculpture on west façade and transept
- Sculpture on buttresses and upper facades in 13th & 14th centuries
Chartres Cathedral Sculpture:
The three portals on the west façade of Chartres Cathedral are known collectively as the royal portal. The main themes of the Royal portal are salvation and the glorification of Christ. On these portrals the transition from stiff Romansesque figures to the more natural figures of the gothic style are evident. The figures are more realistic and have more expressions and individual personalities.
The central section of the Royal portral of Chartres is organised around the tympanum of Christ in majesty seated in a dominated central position.
This dramatic tympanum shows the power & glory of Christ, who is surrounded by large symbols of the evangelists.
Column statues with figures carved out of the same stone as the column were a distinctively Gothic innovation. There are kinds, queens and prophets from the Old Testament on the statue columns of all three portals. They have naturalistic expressions but their extremely elongated bodies follow the vertical columns.
The portals on the north transept were carved with Old testament prophets. Abraham holds his son Isasc and turns his head towards John the Baptist. The figures are less elongated than the column-statue figures of the earlier section of the Royal portal. They have expressive gestures.
Saint Modeste was an early Christian Martyr whose body was thrown into the well in the underground crypt of Chartres Cathedral. Her facial expression is skilfully captured in this sculpture.
Christ Teaching:
The figure of a forgiving Christ is on the trumeau (a central pillar that supports the tympanum and divides the doorway). The gentle expression on his face is very different from the severe Christ in Romanesque Last judgement scenes.
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| Christ Teaching sculpture at Chartres Cathedral |
Characteristics of Gothic Sculpture:
- Forms of carved figures follow architectural elements
- Figures becoming more realistic from 12th - 14th centuries.
- Close relationships between sculpture and architecture
Gothic sculpture in fourteenth century (virgin of Notre Dame, Paris)
This large statue was origionally in a small parish church in Paris. It was moved to Notre-Dame to replace a statue destroyed during the French revolution.
The statue has an exaggerated contrapposto pose, typical of Late Gothic sculpture. All her weight rests on one leg. The elegant S-curve in which the Virgins body is posed gives a great sense of movement. The sculptor titled the Virgin's head towards Christ, giving a gentle, caring quality.
Reims Cathedral sculpture:
The west façade of Reims cathedral is famous for the quality of its sculpture. As in Chartres, sculpture follows architectural elements but is free - standing. The tympana at Reims have stained glass but have little sculpture. However, unlike the Early Gothic Portals of Reims cathedral have relief sculpture.
The group of four figures representing the annunciation and visitation are carved in a naturalistic style. The figures have contrapposto poses and follow the vertical architecture. However, they are no longer relief figures as in Chartres, but stand out from the columns behind them.
Contrapposto: In both painting & sculpture, contrapposto is a pose taken by a standing figure where one part of the body twists in the opposite direction from another. Generally the torso is tilted and the weight is carried on one leg.
The Annunciation & Visitation (west portal) at Reims Cathedral
The statue knows as the smiling angel has a very strong personality. She has a very broad smile and gestures upwards. The drapery is carved in a less stylised way than in Chartres Cathedral and it falls around her body in a natural way.
The Smiling Angel also known as the Smile of Reims is a stone sculpture of the cathedral of Reims which was carved between 1236 and 1245. This figure is in the north portal of the west facade of the cathedral.
The Angel statue was beheaded following a fire caused by a German shell on the cathedral of Reims, during World War I, on 19 September 1914, and the head broke into several pieces after falling from a height of four meters.
The head was collected by the abbot Thinot the day after the fire, and stored in the cellars of the Archbishop of Reims to be discovered by the architect Max Sainsaulieu on the 30 November 1915. It became an icon for the French wartime propaganda as a symbol of "French culture destroyed by German barbarity".
After the war, the original fragments were moulded and preserved in the Musée national des Monuments Français, the already famous sculpture was restored and put back in place 13 February 1926.
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| The Smiling Angel |
The Naumburg Master: Gothic Sculptor
The anonymous Naumburg Master is named after his masterpiece: a series of 12 portrait statues of lay donors in Naumburg Cathedral. Donors paid for the building of the cathedral. The purpose of the donor portrait series was to encourage donations from the wealthy. The donors Ekkehard & Uta lived in the 11th century. In these two statues, sculpted long after their deaths, the artist represented them dressed in the fashion of the mid 13th century. The life size, almost free standing statues are situated in a prominent elevated position in the cathedral choir. The statues have a very dramatic presence and an unprecedented realism. They still remain much of their original painted colouring.
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| Ekkehard & Ita sculptures at Naumburg Cathedral |
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