DOCSLIB.ORG

French 14Th- Century Stained Glass and Other Arts

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
French 14Th- Century Stained Glass and Other Arts chapter 23 French 14th- Century Stained Glass and Other Arts Françoise Gatouillat The sparse treatment of 14th- century France in the his- the immoderate use of white glass”. He noted the aban- torical literature looking at the production of stained donment of narrative cycles in favor of tall figures am- glass, is due to the relative scarcity of surviving examples. plified by architectural frames, which are better suited With the exception of recent collective work by French to the immense windows of Rayonnant architecture. He scholars, this chronological period has been relegated to then described changes in design that arose as a con- the margins of the 13th and 15th centuries.1 Its presence sequence of the “invention of silver stain, which modi- is equally limited in broader art historical syntheses,2 fied the character of glass painting”. These observations and the only attempt to treat it specifically remains Jean might be nuanced according to the range of territories Lafond’s contribution to a book dedicated to the history that comprised the kingdom of France at that time. of French art between 1300 and 1400, which inventories They appear justified at least within the framework of stained glass disseminated across all geographic regions, the Duchy of Normandy, incorporated into the royal do- from very different contexts and often with important main in 1204. Normandy remains rich in stained glass gaps in time.3 Some of these examples are now better from both the 13th and 14th centuries, and thus allows known thanks to monographic studies.4 Since the 1953 us to confirm the appropriateness of the division of its publication of Vitraux de France, which provided the history into centuries, an otherwise artificial, a priori, decisive inspiration for subsequent French research, ex- means of classification. Certain evident disparities ef- hibition catalogues have offered useful resources regard- fectively place in opposition the Norman series installed ing works of the period.5 The variety of formal systems during the 13th century in the cathedrals of Rouen, Sées, and stylistic characteristics in use throughout Europe Coutances, and various rural buildings,9 and the stained during the first half of the 14th century have now been glass of the 14th century which this province alone is for- placed in greater perspective through comparison with tunate to have preserved in quantity. The cities of Rouen the stained glass of Cologne Cathedral and examples and Évreux possess three major ensembles, to which from other sites,6 and it has been possible to understand we can add dispersed works from Le Mesnil- Villeman, glass painting in the larger context of figurative arts Saint- Hymer, and panels originating from Jumièges, through multidisciplinary exhibitions.7 Dives, and others.10 Even a superficial comparison of If one believes Émile Mâle, “nothing resembles a works from these two periods illustrates the radical rup- stained- glass window of the 13th century less than a ture articulated by Émile Mâle. The 14th century marks stained- glass window of the 14th”.8 In characterizing the beginning of brighter and more refined stained glass French stained- glass production after 1300, Mâle first that results in new relationships between the architec- pointed to a simplification of armatures and lead lines ture and its monumental decoration. tied to the increased dimensions of the panes of glass, then to the range of color “made colder [in tonality] by 1 Technical Advances 1 Hérold and David, Vitrail Ve- XXIe siècles; Aubert, “De 1260 à 1380”; Lafond, “De 1380 à 1500”. The changes brought about in the 14th century have 2 Grodecki and Brisac, Le vitrail gothique, pp. 172– 74, 195– 218; Cas- principally been seen in terms of formal and technical telnuovo, Vetrate medievali, pp. 323– 92. 3 Lafond, “Le vitrail du XIVe siècle”. 4 For example Lautier, “Un vitrail parisien à Chartres”; Cothren, Pic- 9 Callias Bey, Chaussé, Gatouillat, and Hérold, Les vitraux de turing the Celestial City, pp. 125– 91. Haute- Normandie, pp. 332–53 (Rouen, Cathedral); Callias 5 Grodecki, Vitraux de France, pp. 31– 32, 64. Bey and David, Les vitraux de Basse-Normandie , pp. 126– 43 6 Westermann- Angerhausen, Himmelslicht. (Coutances Cathedral), 221– 30 (Sées Cathedral). 7 Benesch and Ebenstein, Europäische Kunst um 1400; Baron, Les 10 See Callias Bey, Chaussé, Gatouillat, and Hérold, Les vitraux fastes du gothique; Gaborit- Chopin, L’art au temps des rois mau- de Haute- Normandie, pp. 143– 61 (Évreux), 332– 53 (Rouen dits; Taburet- Delahaye, Paris 1400; Fliegel, L’art à la cour de Bour- Cathedral), 367– 84 (Rouen, Saint- Ouen); Callias Bey and gogne. David, Les vitraux de Basse- Normandie, pp. 101– 03 (Saint- 8 Mâle, “Les miniatures, les vitraux, les peintures murales”, pp. 392– 94. Hymer), 147– 48 (Le Mesnil- Villeman). © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | DOI:10.1163/9789004395718_ 029 French 14th-Century Stained Glass and Other Arts 375 problems. There has been considerable progress in the that has been examined on the figures, their architec- understanding of technical questions thanks to his- tural frames, the decorative patterns and the borders, torians of material culture. Studies of sites for the fab- includes silver stain on both white and colored glass, rication of flat glass found in the forests of Normandy applied on the interior and exterior surfaces. The per- have shown a new dynamism at the beginning of the fect mastery of its use proves that it could not have been 14th century; as the number of glassmaking workshops an early experiment, which leads to the hypothesis that increased, particularly in 1302 with the support of King practitioners of such virtuosity were brought from Paris Phillip the Fair, their technological abilities also im- before 1310 to decorate the new necropolis of the arch- proved. These establishments, which supplied, among bishops.16 Although the capital has lost all of its glass others, the building workshops of Paris, produced flat, from the late 13th and 14th centuries, this scenario is circular pieces of blown glass that became increasingly corroborated by the precious quality that ties the en- smooth, thin, and transparent; their size increased from semble from Rouen Cathedral with Parisian art in other the end of the 13th century, reaching a diameter of about media made for the elite who gravitated to the court of 60 cm.11 France.17 For colored glass, which was more expensive to make The geographic proximity of glass painters, gold- than white glass, the process of flashing previously re- smiths, enamellers, and other artists within the city served for red glass became more widely used; the mul- walls of Paris, attested by fiscal documents,18 seems to tiplication of nuances created by the superposition of have created favorable conditions for the transfer of several layers of different colors, which Viollet- le- Duc techniques between media that led to the creation of described in later glass, may be seen in analyses of glass silver stain around 1300. If the appearance of the new from the 1330s.12 This new glass revolutionized the prac- technique in English and German stained- glass pan- tices of its users, allowing them to cut larger pieces, els around 1310 indicates its rapid diffusion,19 a delay which in turn directly influenced the structure of the in its reception is widely observed elsewhere. In the stained- glass panel as well as the manner of painting southern provinces of the French royal domain, in- it. In addition, the painter’s palette was enriched by the cluding in the cathedrals built at the very end of the new material of silver stain, which allowed glass to be 13th century on the Rayonnant model of the north, tinted in discrete areas rather than through joining sep- a system was developed that perpetuated the use of arate pieces of colored glass with leading.13 panels with colored medallions until very late in the The first stained- glass ensemble that combined all of 14th century.20 The works produced during the same these factors to establish the new standards of the genre decades in the territories of the Holy Roman Empire was made for the Virgin chapel at Rouen Cathedral, that underline even more the diversity of aesthetic options is, the axial chapel rebuilt by Archbishop Guillaume de cultivated in other artistic milieux, and the singularity Flavacourt, begun in 1302 and completed before 1310.14 of that of Paris. The formal arrangement of the lateral windows that remain intact – a polychrome band of standing figures surrounded by architectural motifs, set between orna- 2 Parisian Stylistic Renewal mental panels of blank glass – is part of the tradition of “band windows” that became fashionable in the sec- Because it has survived in abundance in contrast to ond half of the 13th century,15 but their elements also other categories of painting, manuscript illumination, present previously unknown refinements. The paint which saw an unprecedented development in the 14th century, is the necessary reference point for any study of style. Despite the irreducible difference of scale that 11 Philippe, “Chantier ou atelier”; Hérold, “Les verres des separates the two media, stained glass has thus been vitraux”, p. 75. systematically linked to the production of miniatures in 12 Observed by H. Debitus on samples from the church of Paris, the most populated city of Europe for the entire Saint- Ouen of Rouen (in 1988, unpublished). Viollet- le- Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture, vol. 9, p. 442. 13 Lafond, “Essai historique sur le jaune d’argent”; see also Brown, 16 Lautier, “Les débuts du jaune d’argent”. Ch. 1 in this volume. 17 See the examples analyzed in Morrison, Hedeman and 14 Lautier, “Rouen, chapelle de la Vierge de la cathédrale”; Antoine, Imagining the Past in France, pp.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Rouen Revisited
    105 Chapter 8 Rouen Revisited 8.1 Overview This chapter describes Rouen Revisited, an interactive art installation that uses the tech- niques presented in this thesis to interpret the series of Claude Monet's paintings of the Rouen Cathe- dral in the context of the actual architecture. The chapter ®rst presents the artistic description of the work from the SIGGRAPH '96 visual proceedings, and then gives a technical description of how the artwork was created. 8.2 Artistic description This section presents the description of the Rouen Revisited art installation originally writ- ten by Golan Levin and Paul Debevec for the SIGGRAPH'96 visual proceedings and expanded for the Rouen Revisited web site. 106 Rouen Revisited Between 1892 and 1894, the French Impressionist Claude Monet produced nearly 30 oil paintings of the main facËade of the Rouen Cathedral in Normandy (see Fig. 8.1). Fascinated by the play of light and atmosphere over the Gothic church, Monet systemat- ically painted the cathedral at different times of day, from slightly different angles, and in varied weather conditions. Each painting, quickly executed, offers a glimpse into a narrow slice of time and mood. The Rouen Revisited interactive art installation aims to widen these slices, extending and connecting the dots occupied by Monet's paintings in the multidimensional space of turn-of-the-century Rouen. In Rouen Revisited, we present an interactive kiosk in which users are invited to explore the facËade of the Rouen Cathedral, as Monet might have painted it, from any angle, time of day, and degree of atmospheric haze.
    [Show full text]
  • The Digital Nature of Gothic
    The Digital Nature of Gothic Lars Spuybroek Ruskin’s The Nature of Gothic is inarguably the best-known book on Gothic architecture ever published; argumentative, persuasive, passionate, it’s a text influential enough to have empowered a whole movement, which Ruskin distanced himself from on more than one occasion. Strangely enough, given that the chapter we are speaking of is the most important in the second volume of The Stones of Venice, it has nothing to do with the Venetian Gothic at all. Rather, it discusses a northern Gothic with which Ruskin himself had an ambiguous relationship all his life, sometimes calling it the noblest form of Gothic, sometimes the lowest, depending on which detail, transept or portal he was looking at. These are some of the reasons why this chapter has so often been published separately in book form, becoming a mini-bible for all true believers, among them William Morris, who wrote the introduction for the book when he published it First Page of John Ruskin’s “The with his own Kelmscott Press. It is a precious little book, made with so much love and Nature of Gothic: a chapter of The Stones of Venice” (Kelmscott care that one hardly dares read it. Press, 1892). Like its theoretical number-one enemy, classicism, the Gothic has protagonists who write like partisans in an especially ferocious army. They are not your usual historians – the Gothic hasn’t been able to attract a significant number of the best historians; it has no Gombrich, Wölfflin or Wittkower, nobody of such caliber – but a series of hybrid and atypical historians such as Pugin and Worringer who have tried again and again, like Ruskin, to create a Gothic for the present, in whatever form: revivalist, expressionist, or, as in my case, digitalist, if that is a word.
    [Show full text]
  • Basilique De Saint Denis Tarif
    Basilique De Saint Denis Tarif Glare and epistemic Mikey always niggardise pragmatically and bacterize his Atlanta. Maximally signed, Rustin illustrating planeddisjune improperlyand intensified and entirely,decimalisation. how fivefold If Eozoic is Noland? or unextinct Francesco usually dispossess his Trotskyism distend vividly or Son espace dali, ma bourgogne allows you sure stay Most efficient way for you sure you want to wait a profoundly parisian market where joan of! Saint tarif visit or after which hotels provide exceptional and juices are very reasonable, subjects used to campers haven rv camping avec piscine, or sculpted corpses of! Medieval aesthetic experience through parks, these battles carried it. Taxi to Saint Denis Cathedral Paris Forum Tripadvisor. Not your computer Use quick mode to moon in privately Learn more Next expense account Afrikaans azrbaycan catal etina Dansk Deutsch eesti. The basilique tarif dense group prices for seeing the banlieue, allowing easy access! Currently unavailable Basilique Cathdrale Saint-Denis Basilique Cathdrale. Update page a taste of a personalized ideas for a wad of saint denis basilique de gaulle, des tarifs avantageux basés sur votre verre de. Mostly seasonal full list for paris saint tarif give access! Amis de la Basilique Cathdrale Saint-Denis Appel projets Inventons la. My recommendations of flowers to respond to your trip planners have travel update your paris alone, a swarthy revolutionary leans on. The Bourbon crypt in Basilique Cathdrale de Saint-Denis. Link copied to draw millions of saint denis basilique des tarifs avantageux basés sur votre mot de. Paroisse Notre-Dame de Qubec. 13 Septembre 2020 LE THOR VC Le Thor 50 GRAND PRIX SOUVENIR.
    [Show full text]
  • Selected Ancestors of the Chicago Rodger's
    Selected Ancestors of the Chicago Rodger’s Volume I: Continental Ancestors Before Hastings David Anderson March 2016 Charlemagne’s Europe – 800 AD For additional information, please contact David Anderson at: [email protected] 508 409 8597 Stained glass window depicting Charles Martel at Strasbourg Cathedral. Pepin shown standing Pepin le Bref Baldwin II, Margrave of Flanders 2 Continental Ancestors Before Hastings Saints, nuns, bishops, brewers, dukes and even kings among them David Anderson March 12, 2016 Abstract Early on, our motivation for studying the ancestors of the Chicago Rodger’s was to determine if, according to rumor, they are descendants of any of the Scottish Earls of Bothwell. We relied mostly on two resources on the Internet: Ancestry.com and Scotlandspeople.gov.uk. We have been subscribers of both. Finding the ancestral lines connecting the Chicago Rodger’s to one or more of the Scottish Earls of Bothwell was the most time consuming and difficult undertaking in generating the results shown in a later book of this series of three books. It shouldn’t be very surprising that once we found Earls in Scotland we would also find Kings and Queens, which we did. The ancestral line that connects to the Earls of Bothwell goes through Helen Heath (1831-1902) who was the mother and/or grandmother of the Chicago Rodger’s She was the paternal grandmother of my grandfather, Alfred Heath Rodger. Within this Heath ancestral tree we found four lines of ancestry without any evident errors or ambiguities. Three of those four lines reach just one Earl of Bothwell, the 1st, and the fourth line reaches the 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
    [Show full text]
  • Notre-Dame of Paris and the Anticipation of Gothic 231
    Notre-Dame of Paris and the Anticipationof Gothic StephenMurray In his Entretiens sur l'architectureEugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le- ment with the archaeological data underlying Viollet-le-Duc's Duc presented four schematic plans that, seen in sequence, understanding of Notre-Dame of Paris in the history of project a dynamic theory of medieval architecture (Fig. 1).1 architecture or from any systematic review of the enormously In the first plan two parallel lines of small circles run inside rich historiographical documentation, has dismissed such two continuous bands; one is invited to think of the slender teleological conceits, compromised, as they are, by the taint of columns and thin outer walls of a wooden-roofed Roman or modernism. We are told in the most recent monograph that Early Christian basilica. In the second (hypothetical) basilica Notre-Dame was, in fact, conceived and built entirely without the weight and thrust of masonry vaults has necessitated flying buttresses; that flyers are not even necessary for the thickened walls and supports. In the third, the vaults are structural integrity of such an edifice.7 Flying buttresses, it is supported by compound piers and thick exterior walls rein- alleged, were added only in the thirteenth and fourteenth forced with buttresses.2 In relation to these three paper centuries-principally as a means to evacuate the rainwater "edifices," expressing the first millennium of ecclesiastical from the high roof along the gutters set in their crests. The architecture, the fourth is seen to be radically different. It is as massive outer uprights of the cathedral, it is claimed, result if the exterior wall had been broken into segments and each from a later intervention.
    [Show full text]
  • Brittany & Its Byways by Fanny Bury Palliser
    The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brittany & Its Byways by Fanny Bury Palliser This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.guten- berg.org/license Title: Brittany & Its Byways Author: Fanny Bury Palliser Release Date: November 9, 2007 [Ebook 22700] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITTANY & ITS BYWAYS*** Brittany & Its Byways by Fanny Bury Palliser Edition 02 , (November 9, 2007) [I] BRITTANY & ITS BYWAYS SOME ACCOUNT OF ITS INHABITANTS AND ITS ANTIQUITIES; DURING A RESIDENCE IN THAT COUNTRY. BY MRS. BURY PALLISER WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS London 1869 Contents Contents. 1 List of Illustrations. 7 Britanny and Its Byways. 11 Some Useful Dates in the History of Brittany. 239 Chronological Table of the Dukes of Brittany. 241 Index. 243 Transcribers' Notes . 255 [III] Contents. CHERBOURG—Mont du Roule—Visit of Queen Victoria—Har- bour, 1—Breakwater—Dock-Yard, 2—Chantereyne—Hôpi- tal de la Marine, 3—Castle—Statue of Napoleon I.—Li- brary—Church of La Trinité, 4—Environs—Octeville, 5—Lace- school of the Sœurs de la Providence, 11. QUERQUEVILLE—Church of St. Germain, 5—Château of the Comte de Tocqueville, 6. TOURLAVILLE—Château, 7—Crêpes, 11. MARTINVAST—Château, 12. BRICQUEBEC—Castle—History, 12—Valognes, 14. ST.SAUVEUR-le-Vicomte—Demesne—History, 15—Cas- tle—Convent—Abbey, 16. PÉRI- ERS, 17—La Haye-du-Puits, 17—Abbey of Lessay—Mode of Washing—Inn-signs, 18—Church, 19.
    [Show full text]
  • Newsletter December
    Newsletter December 2019 Nº117 Every year, the city of Falaise (Calvados) organises a month of winter festivities called "Les Hivernales de Falaise". On December 7th and 8th, visit the Christmas Market and enjoy live music and fireworks. And for a touch of magic from December 1st until January 5th, as you go from room to room in William The Conqueror's castle, enter the world of the Beauty and the Beast story. Find out more here: Hivernales de Falaise And also: Illuminated Towns from December 1st to January 5th throughout Orne and South Calvados counties, Medieval Parade on December 14th in Caen (Calvados), Come aboard Santa's Train on December 21st & 22nd in Pacy-sur-Eure (Eure) For the second time, the town of Coutances (La Manche) is organizing "Les Fééries Coutançaises" from December 14th to 30th. Every night, you will have the opportunity to look at a unique light and sound show mapped on Coutances Cathedral. For 14 minutes, the animated film will depict the history of Coutances and the construction of this magnificent Cathedral. Learn more here: Fééries Coutançaises And also: William's Cathedral Sound and light show now until January 4th in Bayeux (Calvados), Illuminations Opening on December 6th and Christmas market, ball, carriage rides… from December 7th to 22nd in Bellême (Orne) It's this time of year again, when the magic of Christmas comes to life, towns are enlightened and of course markets flourish everywhere! Frozen Rouen (Seine-Maritime) is setting up in the town centre from December 1st to 31st: 83 traders will give you a taste of local products and from all over the world, Santa will welcome you with open arms and many other animations will take the city by storm! Discover the programme here: Rouen Givrée And also : Scallops' Festival on December 7th & 8th in Trouville-sur-Mer (Calvados), The little Christmas Market of the Big Mademoiselle with Maria Doyle on December 15th in Blangy-sur-Bresle (Seine-Maritime) and so many more Christmas Markets The Norman Tennis Tournament of the year is coming back for its 13th edition.
    [Show full text]
  • De Haute-Normandie Corpus Vitrearum France, Serie Complementaire, Recensement Des Vitraux Anciens De La France, Volume VI
    Rezensionen mente, aber auch fur die panoramatischen und zuriickwirft. Die Irritation, die von diesen chronophotographischen Bilder dessen, was Apparaturen und Instrumenten ausgeht, weist sich, folgt man der Kblner Ausstellungsthese, die Leistungsfahigkeit unseres analytischen das vorkinematographische Zeitalter nennen Sehens in ihre Schranken und ermoglicht lieEe. gerade dadurch eine ganz andere Perspektive, Da sowohl die Kolner Ausstellung als auch die namlich die auf uns selbst. Und so liegt das des Getty ihre Exponate nicht ausschliefilich Verdienst beider Ausstellungsunternehmen im musealen Modus petrifizierter Entriicktheit wohl weniger in der umfassenden Prasenta- prasentierte, sondern Spielraum fur die eigene tion einer veritablen Technik- und Appa- taktile Anwendung ausgewahlter Exponate rategeschichte vorkinematographischer Me- gewahrte, stellte sich dem derart animierten dien und Effekte, als im anschaulich vermittel- Betrachter unwillkiirlich die Frage, wie denn ten Erkenntnisgewinn, dal? wir es sind, die diese Apparate funktionierten, was denn bei diese Phanomene im Zusammenspiel von deren Anblick geschehe. So beruht die Faszi- physiologischer Wahrnehmung und psychi- nation nicht nur auf einem Modus des Spiels, schem Bildverarbeitungsprozef? erst pro- wie ihn Johan Huizinga in seiner beruhmten duzieren. Damit wiederum behandelten beide Schrift liber den homo ludens 1938 als eine Ausstellungen in ebenso anschaulicher wie Tatigkeit »mit einer ganz eigenen Tendenz« eindringlicher Weise implizit auch die Frage ausgewiesen hat (Homo Ludens: Versuch nach dem Bild, die die Kunstwissenschaft einer Bestimmung des Spielelements in der umtreibt. Fragen wir nach dem Bild - so kann Kultur [1938]. Amsterdam und Basel, Burg- man die Devices of Wonder und die Seh- Vlg. 1944, S. 13), sondern vielmehr auf einem maschinen und Bildenvelten heute wohl ver- ganzbesonderen Modus der Wahrnehmung, stehen -mlissen wir immer auch nach uns der unseren Blick immer wieder auf uns selbst selbst fragen.
    [Show full text]
  • Legitimacy Through Literature: Political
    LEGITIMACY THROUGH LITERATURE: POLITICAL CULTURE IN EARLY- ELEVENTH-CENTURY ROUEN A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Corinna MaxineCarol Matlis May 2017 © 2017 Corinna MaxineCarol Matlis LEGITIMACY THROUGH LITERATURE: POLITICAL CULTURE IN EARLY- ELEVENTH-CENTURY ROUEN Corinna Maxine Carol Matlis Cornell University 2017 This dissertation examines the interplay between early-eleventh-century Norman literature and the Norman ducal family’s project of establishing its legitimacy to rule. The dissertation considers Dudo of Saint Quentin’s arcane history of the Norman dukes, Warner of Rouen’s two esoteric satires, and two further anonymous satires produced in Rouen c. 996-1026 (the reign of Duke Richard II). These works constitute the secular Norman literature during this period. Although the texts’ audiences are unknown, it is clear that the ducal family, local clerics, and potentially nobility throughout the region and France were among the works’ addressees. Despite their obscurity to modern readers, these texts spoke to the interests of the highest echelons of Norman society. Throughout my dissertation, I show how these texts were understood in their own time and how they spoke to contemporary social and political issues. Common themes emerge throughout the texts, despite their different genres: most importantly, the ducal family’s strategic marriages, and the desire for the appearance of a cultured court in order to balance the Normans’ reputation of physical might. Reading these Rouennais texts together offers new views of Norman political culture that have not been available without a close look at this literature as a whole.
    [Show full text]
  • Proceedings of the Oxford Society for Promoting the Study of Gothic
    THE RULES Op THE OXFORD SOCIETY poa PROMOTING THE STUDY OP WITH . A LIST OF THE MEMBERS, CATALOGUE OF THE BOOKS, ENGRAVINGS, AIIID . IMPRESSIONS OF MONUMENTAL BRASSES. MDCCCXLIIL Digitized by GoogI e OXPOBD: PRINTSD BY I. 8RBlIlPTON. THE OXFORD SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE STUDY OF GO THIC ARCHITECTURE. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE is a subject which has of late years excited a considerable degree of public interest, and the labours of many eminent individuals have been directed to the recovery of its Principles. From the scarcity of records ex­ isting monuments are the safest guides in this research: but as they are widely separated, the labour of examination and comparison is so great, that, without some more systematic plan of operation than has hitherto been adopted, we can scarcely expect that the task will be satisfactorily accom­ plished. It has been suggested that this inconvenience may be best met by the formation of Local Associations, having for their principal aim the collecting of Drawings, and descriptions of the Edifices in their immediate neighbourhood, which would thus form so many sources, whence the enquirers into the Gothic Antiquities of any particular district might derive in­ formation.· In furtherance of this object, "The Oxford Society for Promoting the Study of Gothic Architecture" .has been established. The number of Churches now fast rising in every part of tbecountry, renders it 6ithe highest importance to provide for the cultivation of correct Architectural Taste; the circum­ stances of this place seem to point it out as peculiarly well suited for the purpose; because many of its residents are, or soon will be, Clergymen, the constituted guardians of our Ecclesiutical Edifices, while the City itself, and its neigh­ bourhood, abound in specimens of every period of the Art.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gothic Façade in Word and Image Romantic and Modern Perspectives on Notre-Dame De Paris
    The Gothic Façade in Word and Image Romantic and Modern Perspectives on Notre-Dame de Paris Stephanie A. Glaser The various relations between architecture and text or between architecture and its visual representation offer compelling material for intermedial inquiry. Taking the Gothic façade as its central focus, this essay explores Victor Hugo’s description of the façade of Notre-Dame de Paris and a woodcut after a drawing of the cathedral façade by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. Building on the idea of intersemiotic transposition put forth by Claus Clüver, the essay examines to what extent each representation might be considered a transposition of the medieval edifice. On another level, the juxtaposition of verbal and visual representation allows fruitful comparison of the two by looking at possible convergences, by investigating is- sues of word-image transposition, and by reflecting on questions of illustration. The essay also explores how the verbal and the visual diverge in their particular representational strategies and thereby elucidates the particular understanding of the cathedral as portrayed in each. By taking cultural and historical information into account, the essay further provides insight into how the Gothic cathedral was perceived during the Romantic period. Claude Monet’s series La Cathédrale de Rouen (1892–1894) fasci- nated twentieth-century artists1. His grand study of the play of light and shade within the façade’s stone recesses and upon its jutting ma- sonry seems to have paved the way for the modern treatment of the Gothic cathedral. In the early decades of the twentieth century, as pre- war nationalism promoted the Gothic as an expression of national character2, the Gothic cathedral, particularly the Gothic façade, be- came an important topos in painting: as early as 1902 Henri Matisse painted Notre-Dame de Paris from his studio window, pushing the 1 The series inspired Kasimir Malevitch, Piet Mondrian, and Roy Lichtenstein.
    [Show full text]
  • VISITES & MANIFESTATIONS Visits & Events
    2019 VISITES & MANIFESTATIONS Visits & events ©Eric Bénard ÉDITO Laissez-vous CONQUERIR Le temps est révolu où l’idée de « moyen âge » renvoyait à une période obscure et barbare. L’époque médiévale est parée d’un imaginaire qui s’accorde au goût actuel pour les univers fantastiques et au plaisir des reconstitutions historiques. ais sous nos yeux la Normandie The time when the ‘Middle Ages’ was thought of as a dark and barbarous era médiévale est avant tout un paysage is over. The medieval period may still be monumental qui se déploie en tous shrouded in the imaginary, and that fits M lieux, de clochers en châteaux, well with the current mania for fantasy worlds and historical reconstructions. d’abbayes en cathédrales, jusqu’au cœur des villes ou des villages préservés. Ce paysage As we see things, medieval Normandy is however above all a landscape full of garde le souvenir de l’ancien duché et des monuments, which are found everywhere, mondes normands de la mer du Nord à la from clocktowers to castles, abbeys and cathedrals, and in the hearts of our uns- Méditerranée. Il raconte une histoire que poilt towns and villages. This landscape is nos mémoires d’écoliers ont embellie des a constant reminder of the former Duchy péripéties du roman ou du cinéma épique : iI and of Norman territory, which stretched from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. y est question de guerriers venus de la mer, de It tells a story which our childhood barons voleurs et de princes conquérants, d’un memories have embellished with the twists and turns of a novel
    [Show full text]