2024 - Medieval architecture and painting

Medieval Architecture and Painting

Unit II: Medieval England

Medieval Architecture and Painting

In our previous lessons, we examined the economic, social, and political developments that took place in England in the Early and Late Middle Ages and how they were interrelated and connected to one another. Now, in this lesson, we will deal with the field of the arts.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Medieval Architecture and Painting

7. Medieval Painting: Activity

6. Medieval Painting

5. Medieval Architecture: Activities

4. The Gothic Style in England

3. The Gothic Style

2. The Norman Style

1. Medieval Architecture

Medieval Architecture

here.

As you go through this presentation, based on what you read and analyze, complete the chart on the right. You can download the chart by clicking

Watch the video below showing St. John's Chapel. What elements/characteristics of the Norman Style can you identify?

this article

Read and watch the video below (up to 7.15 min.). Based on the information provided, identify the period when Norman or Romanesque Style of architecture developed in England and the main traits that define this style.

The Norman Style

1. What is the Gothic Style?
2. When and where did the Gothic style develop?
3. Does the use of the rounded arch characterize this style? What inherent problem did this type of arches pose to architects? What was the solution to it?
4. What are buttresses and flying buttresses and why were they used?
5. What are the main traits that define the Gothic Style?

this article

Read and watch the video on the right. Based on the information provided, answer the questions below.

The Gothic Style

READ

READ

READ

The Gothic style in England developed in three stages.Read the information and analyze the pictures provided. Based on your readings and analyses, answer: To what extent were these styles similar?What is the building type associated with each stage? In what ways may the context of production have influenced on this?

Decorated Style 14th century

Perpendicular Style15th century

The Gothic Style in England

Early English Style13th century

Now we invite you to do the different activities proposed on the following slides so as to check your knowledge and understanding of the topics.

a timeline.

MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE:

true or false.

The Norman Style:

a tour through Salisbury Cathedral.

The Early English Style:

multiple choice.

The Decorated Style:

interactive image.

The Perpendicular Style:

here.

The two main artistic expressions in medieval painting were mural paintings and illuminated manuscripts. These compositions were not national in the modern sense and often enough there is no telling whether it was the work of a native or foreign artist even when produced in England (Gaunt, 1964, p. 9).Time has dealt harshly with wall painting, reduced to fragments by decay or mischance or deliberately defaced and covered over by Puritanical zeal (Gaunt, 1964, p. 12). Consequently, we will focus on the study of illuminated manuscripts.

this article

this excerpt

Medieval Painting

READ

An illuminated manuscript is a book written and decorated completely by hand. Such manuscripts were among the most precious objects in medieval monasteries and courts. Read from Plummer's Illuminated Manuscripts and by the University of Nottingham. Then answer the questions

here

interactive video.

Medieval Painting:

Now we invite you to watch the interactive video and discover how skilled artists and craftspeople created these beautifully illuminated masterpieces. The different interactive elements will guide you in the process. Click (you need to be logged to the virtual classroom).

Remember that the contents of this lesson will be discussed in the in-person session. See you then!

King's College Chapel

© by Alena Buis - License: CC BY-SA 4.0

and is more efficient at distributing the weight of stonework, making it possible to span higher and wider gaps using narrower columns. It also allows for much greater variation in proportions. Using the pointed arch, walls could become less massive and window openings could be larger and grouped more closely together, so architects could achieve more open, airy, and graceful buildings. At its purest, the style was simple and austere, emphasizing the height of the building, as if aspiring heavenward. In the late 12th century the Early English Gothic style superseded the Romanesque style, and during the late 13th century it developed into the Decorated Gothic style, which lasted until the mid 14th century.

Early English Style

13th century

The Early English Gothic period lasted from the late 12th century until midway through the 13th century, according to most modern scholars. By 1175, the Gothic style had been firmly established in England with the completion of the Choir at Canterbury Cathedral by William of Sens.The most significant characteristic development of the Early English period was the pointed arch known as the lancet. Compared with the rounded Romanesque style, the pointed arch of the Early English Gothic is aesthetically more elegant

The word ‘illumination’ was initially used to describe the light effects produced by the gold used by illuminators in their decoration, now it is taken more generally to refer to the ornamentation of a manuscript. Gold was in fact only one material employed by the illuminator, and his skills needed to be not only those of a metal worker, but also of a draughtsman and a painter. When his ink sketch had been finalised any metal work planned was begun, either laid on as leaf, or in a gum solution applied with a brush. The final stage of illumination was reached with the introduction of colour in opaque, egg-based paints worked up from dark through to light. Until the Thirteenth Century the monasteries were almost the sole producers of illuminated manuscripts. The majority of these works were large religious books such as Bibles and Bible commentaries intended for corporate use, either in the liturgy, or in monastic libraries. From the Thirteenth Century on, the rise in universities as centres of learning and an increased urbanisation led to a more diverse patronage, which in turn led to the production of a wider range of book types and subjects, both religious and secular. In addition, there was an increase in texts written in the vernacular and picture books began to be produced, in which the illustrations were granted primacy over the text. The unique selection of images from some of the world’s great libraries presented here explodes the myth of civilisation abandoned in the so-called ‘Dark Ages’. For it captures instead the vivacity of a medieval culture presented with astounding beauty in the intricate artistry of the illuminated manuscript.

Illuminated Manuscripts

Plummer, 1997, pp. 5-7

A great number of the most creative works of art to survive from the Middle Ages (c. A.D. 1000 - 1500) are found in illuminated manuscripts. In much the same way as today a poet and an artist might collaborate upon an illustrated volume of poetry, so in medieval times the illuminated manuscript was the product of a partnership, between a scribe (or scribes) -who wrote out the text- and the illuminator(s) -the craftsman who produced the images. However, as the printed press was not invented until the Fifteenth Century, the entire medieval project was manufactured by hand. The illuminated manuscript was an extremely costly commodity to produce. With paper only scarcely available until the Thirteenth Century, manuscripts were usually fashioned from sheets of animal hide, known as ‘vellum’. Vellum was produced through a process of soaking, stretching and scraping the skins of either a cow or a sheep. When these skins had been cut down and gathered together as pages for a book, the scribe was able to begin inking in the text. As he did this, he made sure to leave spaces at the points where the illuminator was planning to supply decoration. This could be in any of three places in the manuscript: in large initials beginning a passage of text; in the margin; or lastly, in partitioned partial or full-page picture spaces, called ‘miniatures’.

© by Alena Buis - License: CC BY-SA 4.0

moved away from the flamboyance and jubilation present in the Decorated style. Architects were also responding to labour shortages resulting from the plague and therefore relied on less elaborate designs. Perpendicular linearity is particularly obvious in the design of windows, which became immense, allowing greater scope for stained glass craftsmen. Some of the finest features of this period are the magnificent timber roofs: hammerbeam roofs, such as those of Westminster Hall (1395), Christ Church Hall, Oxford, and Crosby Hall, appeared for the first time. Gothic architecture continued to flourish in England for 100 years after the precepts of Renaissance architecture were formalized in Florence in the early 15th century.

Perpendicular Style

15th century

The Perpendicular Gothic period is the third historical division of English Gothic architecture and is characterized by an emphasis on vertical lines. The Perpendicular style grew out of the shadow of the Black Death, a disease that killed approximately half of England’s population in 18 months between June 1348 and December 1349 and returned in 1361–62 to kill another fifth of the population. This epidemic dramatically impacted every aspect of society, including arts and culture, and designers

© by Alena Buis - License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Decorated Style

14th century

The Decorated Period in architecture is traditionally broken into two periods: the Geometric style (1250–1290) and the Curvilinear style (1290–1350). Decorated architecture is characterized by its window tracery, which are elaborate patterns that fill the top portions of windows. The tracery style was geometric at first, and flowing in the later period during the 14th century. Vaulting also became more elaborate, with the use of increasing numbers of ribs, initially for structural and later for aesthetic reasons.

Salisbury Cathedral

Lady Chapel, Ely Cathedral

Exeter Cathedral

1. Why were they called “Illuminated Manuscripts”?
2. What was their purpose?
3. Who was in charge of their production?
4. What materials were used to produce them?
5. What areas of the Illuminated Manuscripts were usually decorated?

©British Library

Illuminated Manuscripts

The late Middle Ages and Renaissance witnessed an increase in the purchasing power of secular patrons. Elaborate copies of historical and literary texts joined devotional works, along with a rediscovery by the Italian humanists of the texts and artistic styles of Antiquity. In the southern Netherlands the so-called 'Northern Renaissance' flourished in the book arts, with artists whose work was closely related to the new genre of panel painting. Handmade books increasingly gave way to printed editions with the advent of moveable type from the 1450s, although manuscripts continued to be produced, particularly for wealthy patrons.