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A Description of Gothic Architecture

A style featuring pointed arches and vaults in windows or doors, steeply pitched gables, and balanced thrusts in stone masonry. Stone sinews are visible in the structure. Stone curtain walls achieve great height. This is achieved with flying buttresses which direct the thrust of the heavy stone walls to prevent collapse. This style flourished in the 1200s thrugh 1400s. Gothic Revival architecture peaked from the 1750s to about 1900. It became one of the preferred styles for church achitecture in the United States. The style is elaborate and decorative. Some decorative elements include: tracery, gargoyles, pinnacles, and stained glass windows.

Vocabulary

boss - a decoration (wood or stone) over the intersection of ribs or in the center of a panel or coffer.

clerestory - an upward expansion of an interior space created by many vertical windows in a wall.

crocket - a decorative ornament to a decrative design, usually stylized foliage, and is often found on spires.

finial - the terminal point of a spire, pinnacle, or gable.

flying buttress - a buttress (a pier that supports a wall) with a rampant arch which supports the masonry curtain walls of Gothic construction.

parapet - a low retaining wall at the edge of a roof, proch, or terrace.

pier - an upright support.

pinnacle - a terminal ornament found on roofs, buttresses, or other high points.

rib - a transverse or diagonal member of a vault.

tracery - decorative, curving mullions of a window.

triforium - a gallery of arches above the longitudinal arches along the nave of a church.

vault - part of a structure roofed by arched masonry.

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE AND ITS REVIVAL

Copyright ?1999 by David H. Fox.  All Rights Reserved

The invention of the Gothic style is generally accepted to have taken place with the construction of the new choir for the Saint Denis Abbey near Paris, France, 1140-1144.  The style was characterized by the use of the pointed arch, flying buttresses, and the rib vault---none of which were Gothic innovations. .        Nikolas Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture (Harmondsworth, England: Pelican Books, 1964), 89-92.

Gothic had been preceded by the Romanesque style, the descendant of the architecture of ancient Rome.  The arches and vaultings used in Romanesque were of semicircular profile, and thus limited by geometry to being not more than half their width in height.  The semi-cylindrical vaultings were either of the "tunnel" ("barrel") type or a series of forms created when one tunnel vault crosses another creating diagonal edges ("groins").  Groin vaults could be visually successful only when constructed over square sections ("bays").  The load-bearing stone walls tended to be relatively uniform in thickness and could not be pierced for large windows.

The pointed arch, the most characteristic Gothic form, had previously appeared in the architecture of ancient Rome and in that of the Middle East.  Whether it was introduced to Europe by pilgrims returning from the Holy Land, or invented anew is not known.  Its chief advantage over the round arch is that it may be varied in height relative to its width.  In terms of structural stability, a high pointed arch is to be preferred to a nearly flat one.

A basic change occurred in the design of stone buildings during the Gothic period.  Certain portions of the walls and ceilings were designated as structural supports and made correspondingly thicker, while the remaining portions were treated as mere filling or entirely removed for large windows.  In vaultings, these load bearing parts were called "ribs" and were the first portions erected during construction.  In the case of walls, the structural portions were often placed outside in the form of buttresses.  Flying buttresses were essentially half arches which conveyed the thrust of the upper stories safely to the ground.

The results were light filled interiors which appeared to rise up to heaven.  The effect was enhanced by carvings on the masonry supports which gave the illusion that the structure was upheld by slender columns.

While it was preferred to have stone vaulting, many Gothic structures had wooden ceilings, or none at all, which allowed the beams supporting the roof to be visible.  In England, exposed timber trusses were often subject to highly decorative treatment.

The Gothic style was spread by French architects to various parts of Europe where local architectural variants eventually arose.  English Gothic architecture is generally divided into three broad periods: Early English (1190-1280), Decorated or Flamboyant (1280-1380), and Perpendicular (1380-1550).  Owing to the length of time required for construction, and subsequent renovations, it is often possible to find elements of all three styles in a single major cathedral.

The Early English style is noted for its relative simplicity and use of narrow lancet windows.  

In Decorated Style, ceiling ribs and the stone mullions of windows ("tracery") were arranged in highly decorative patterns.  The ogee arch consisting of a convex and concave curve in each half was popular as was the extensive use of carved surface ornament.

The Perpendicular Style ("Tudor Gothic") was a reaction against the Decorated Style.  Interior ornament tended to be geometric, repetitive, and above all, more restrained.  This style was readily identifiable by its use of flatten arches and fan vaulting.

The decline of Gothic architecture in England was due to the belated influence of the Italian Renaissance in the early seventeenth century.  Architects such as Inigo Jones (1573-1652) began to design buildings in the Neo-classic style which displaced Gothic as the popular style by the 1650s.

It is often not recognized that the historic period of Gothic architecture continued long enough to reach the United States.  Saint Luke's Anglican Church of Smithfield, Virginia, was constructed 1632-1638 in brick with lancet windows and an open timber-truss ceiling. It survives as the oldest church building in the original thirteen colonies. .        Roger G. Kennedy, American Churches (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1982), 164.

Following the disastrous London Fire of 1666, Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1693) was called upon to design replacements for a number Anglican parish churches, as well as, Saint Paul's Cathedral, his magnum opus.  When designing the Church of Saint Mary Aldermary on Queen Victoria Street, he was instructed to follow the style of the burnt Gothic building .        David Piper, World Culture Guides: London (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1971), 105..  When finished in 1682, it stood as perhaps the earliest example of the Gothic Revival in England.  The portentous nature of this building was that the Gothic style was treated as a system of surface decoration rather than one of structure.  The most visually striking feature of the interior, the fan vaulted ceiling, was constructed of plaster.  The use of plaster imitations of stone vaulting would appear in Gothic Revival buildings for the next two-hundred-fifty years.

From 1600 to 1800 perhaps no year passed which did not see the building of some pointed arch and gabled roof, or the restoration of some crumbling tracery. .        Kenneth Clark, The Gothic Revival (London: Constable & Co., 1928), 1.

A notable example of Sir Kenneth Clark's foregoing statement was the 1735-1740 construction of towers on the incomplete facade of Westminster Abbey by Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661-1736).  Though an attempt was made to harmonize with the medieval structure, Hawksmoor could not prevent himself from introducing Neo-classical scrolls above the clock dials.  His All Souls College, Oxford, project of 1716-1735 featured Gothic exteriors and Neo-classical interiors. .        Kerry Downes, Hawksmoor (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1969), 168, 208.

The aristocratic writer, Horace Walpole (1717-1797), is often credited with originating the fashion of Gothic Revival country houses in England.  For a period of twenty years, beginning about 1750, he decorated and enlarged his Strawberry Hill cottage near London using a bewildering assortment of Gothic motifs rendered mostly in plaster.  More substantial constructions would be found in Gothic Revival houses of the late eighteenth century. .        Nikolas Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture (Harmondsworth, England: Pelican Books, 1964), 358.

Americans were likewise attracted to Gothic residences.  An early example was Sedgely, the home of the Philadelphia merchant William Crammond, designed in 1799 by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect of the United States Capitol. .        Wayne Andrews, "American Gothic," American Heritage (Oct. 1971): 31.  As had earlier occurred with the Neo-classic style, the Gothic Revival in America would be adapted from masonry to wood construction, in this case as "Carpenter's Gothic."  Forms impossible to execute in stone became commonplace.

Owing to the large number of English parish churches built in earlier eras, there was little construction in the 1760-1820 period.  Expression of the Gothic Revival in church architecture was thus largely postponed until the great urban expansion of the nineteenth century.  What examples appeared tended to treat the style in a rather superficial way.  A characteristic example was the "Design presented to the Church Commissioners" by the London architect John Soane (1753-1837). .        Joselita Raspi Serra, Paestum and the Doric Revival 1750-1830 (Florence, Italy, Centro Di, 1986), 35.  The plan of a single church was given with depictions of the exterior rendered in Gothic Revival and three Neo-classic forms.  The substitution of crenelations for a balustrade, pointed arched windows for flat lintels, and flying buttresses for Doric columns on the tower was all that was required for the transformation of one style into another.  The Gothic style of that period was simply just "the frosting on the cake."

On 16 October 1834, the Palace of Westminster, which housed Parliament, was largely destroyed by a spectacular conflagration which inspired canvases by Turner and Constable.  The proposed reconstruction set off a national debate as to the proper style for this most important of government buildings.  The Neo-classic style had lately evolved into severe monumentality by stricter adherence to ancient Greek models.  Champions of the "Christian" Gothic style condemned this as being "pagan."  The survival of historic Westminster Hall whose 1406 hammerbeam ceiling spanned the 221 by 75-foot chamber probably prompted the adoption of Gothic.  Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860), an architect who preferred the Neo-classic, won the design competition.  Barry's assistant, Augustus W. N. Pugin (1812-1852), a designer enamored of the medieval, was responsible for the interior and exterior ornamentation.  The result, in Pugin's words: "All Grecian, Sir; Tudor details on a classic body."  ugin took great interest in these details which extended even to the umbrella stands.

The construction of the Houses of Parliament did not yet signal the great shifting of styles which was to occur in the last third of the nineteenth century.  Indeed, Gothic Revivalists would eventually scorn this building for its symmetry and use of the Perpendicular style---a debased form of Gothic in their opinion.

The use of Gothic in Anglican churches remained a rather contentious matter as architectural styles had become emblematic of the theological factions of the day:

Twenty years ago [1852], however, the extreme Protestant party was still a strong one.  They saw mischief lurking in every pointed niche, and heresy peeping from every Gothic pillar.  They regarded the Medievalists with suspicion, and identified their cause with Romish hierarchy, with the Inquisition and Smithfield [site of burning of Protestants].  It would be a curious matter for speculation to ascertain how far the [Gothic] Revival has been encouraged, and how far it has been retarded, by ecclesiological zeal or idle bigotry. .        Charles L. Eastlake, The History of the Gothic Revival (1872), reprinted by the American Life Foundation (1975), 266.

Sir Kenneth Clark described Anglican practices of the time:

Only special students of the period know how greatly the English Church of 1830 differed from the English Church of today [1928].  Chancels and altars, clergymen in surplices, anthems, festivals, frequent standings and kneelings---these form part of everybody's mental picture of an Anglican church.  But to understand the development of the Gothic Revival we must imagine a time when all these forms were unthinkable.  To a good protestant of 1830 the least suggestion of symbolism---a cross on a gable or on a prayer book---was rank popery.  All forms of ritual were equally suspect.  The clergyman wore a black gown and read the communion service from his pulpit; no one knelt during the longer prayers, or stood when the choir entered; indeed, the choir, if it existed at all, was hidden in a gallery, where it performed to the accompaniment of violins and a 'cello.  The old Gothic churches had been gradually adapted to suit this type of service.  Superstitious features such as piscinae [for disposable of consecrated fluids] and sedilia [ceremonial seating for the clergy] were abolished; since altars were seldom used, even as tables, the chancel was either abandoned or employed as a vestry; and whatever symbolic sculpture existed in the nave was concealed by massive, comfortable pews for the rich and precarious galleries for the poor. .        Kenneth Clark, The Gothic Revival (London: Constable & Co., 1928), 197-198.

The religious impetus for the introduction of the Gothic style into Anglican churches came from the "high church" or "Oxford Movement" which favored elaborate rituals as found in the Roman Catholic Church.  In terms of church design, the high altar was favored over the pulpit as the object of architectural emphasis.  Spacious areas for the accommodation of the choir and clergy serving about the altar were necessitated.  The rise in popularity of ritualism led to the acceptance of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture from the mid-nineteenth century.

It is ironic that the Roman Catholic Church did little to encourage the Gothic Revival in England.  Charles L. Eastlake attributed this to three causes.  The migration of nearly a million largely poor Irish Catholics into England required the rapid construction of churches "executed in any style or no style---it mattered little---so long as they were built and occupied." .        Charles L. Eastlake, The History of the Gothic Revival (1872) reprinted by American Life Foundation (1975), 347.  Secondly, the Catholic religious orders in England were largely of Italian origin and favored their native Neo-classic styles.  Thirdly, the presiding Catholic prelate of the period, Cardinal Wiseman, had a great personal interest in the art of the Renaissance.

The rancor over architecture in the Church of England did not necessarily extend to denominations whose ideal place of worship remained a comfortable meeting house where all could see and hear the preacher.  The adoption of Gothic implied no alteration of the basic plan of their rectangular pulpit-centered edifices.  

By the time the Audsley brothers had established their architectural practice in the early 1860s, the Gothic Revival was a popular choice for churches and dwellings.  By the 1870s, large public buildings, hotels, railroad stations, and offices were being designed in the style.  There was a pronounced tendency to favor the picturesque with all manner of spires and turrets appearing in asymmetrical arrangements.  Bold colorations were used which had no antecedent in the Middle Ages.  Facades might include stonework of contrasting colors, sometimes in combination with brick.

The Audsleys declared their allegiance to the Gothic Revival on the very first page of their 1870 work on domestic architecture:

The introduction into this country of the ancient classical styles, which took place about fifty years ago [c. 1820], was anything but a step in the right direction. .        W. & J. Audsley, Cottage, Lodge, and Villa Architecture (Liverpool: 1870) a.

Further passages extolled the merits of the Revival and quoted major architects of the day at some length.  Despite their enthusiasm, the Audsleys did not align themselves with the extremists who sought to build literal copies of medieval structures:

The true Gothic revivalist does not desire to see, by a servile copyism of ancient buildings, the comforts and indispensable requirements of modern civilization done away with or even modified, but rather desires to elevate his art by making it subservient to every end, and by moulding it to suit the every day wants of time. .        W. & J. Audsley, Cottage, Lodge, and Villa Architecture (Liverpool:  , 1870), 4.

It will be seen that the Audsleys eventually accepted a somewhat popular notion of the time that architectural style ought to be dictated by the nature of the building.  Thus, Gothic was proper for "sacred" places such as churches and homes, while the pagan Neo-classic was better suited for secular offices or museums.

It should be noted that the Gothic Revival did not sweep aside all other styles.  Gothic was but one of a number of revival styles popular in the nineteenth century.  At the time of his immigration in the early 1890s, G. A. Audsley would have been met by numerous examples of the Romanesque Revival.  The style had been pioneered in the United States by Henry H. Richardson (1838-1886) who was influenced by historical buildings in southern France.  The "Richardsonian" Romanesque was massive in character with roughly cut stone blocks, sometimes in contrasting colors, and monumental round arches.  It had virtually become a national style when its popularity plunged with the erection of the Roman Revival pavilions of the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893.  Judging by his negative comments on Romanesque Revival stonework in the 1890s, G. A. Audsley probably had no interest in this style.

The Gothic Revival proved to be more durable than the Romanesque Revival.  The end of the nineteenth century saw major cathedral projects including New York, Washington, and Liverpool, where the actual structural system of Medieval Gothic architecture was revived.  The plaster vaults and iron columns of an earlier era were not to be admitted here, and much was made of the fact that these buildings were entirely of stone with no structural steelwork.

Quite surprisingly, the Gothic style found popularity in early twentieth century structures containing a great deal of steel.  The vertical emphasis of Gothic architecture was found by American architects to be suited to skyscrapers.  The best-known example was Cass Gilbert's (1859-1934) Woolworth Building (1913) in New York City.  The 880-foot-high facade was composed of terra cotta panels molded with Gothic ornament and supported by the steel frame.

By 1930, the Gothic Revival had largely run its course.  Churches and college campuses, the last strongholds of the Medieval Gothic style, likewise sheltered the last of the Gothic Revival.  Art Deco and Modernism, both futuristic styles, overtook the traditional.

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中世纪教堂建筑艺术简介 中世纪教堂建筑的形式主要有两种：早出现的一种叫“罗马式”，它是由更早的“巴西里卡式”演变而来，其外形像封建领主的城堡以其坚固、敦厚、牢不可破的形象显示教会的权威，如意大利的比萨教堂。较后一种称为“哥特式”，它的形式比“罗马式”轻巧而更富于装饰意味，采用很多矢状卷的构造和尖塔式的装饰，以其高耸入天与上帝接近的感觉，控制人们的精神感情。如意大利的米兰大教堂和法国的巴黎圣母院。中世纪教堂的装饰美术是基督教美术的主要组成部分。在教堂的内部布置有大量的宣传基督教教义的装饰壁画、窗玻璃画、浮雕和圆雕。其共同点是：内容全部是圣经故事和人物用以宣传教义、规劝世人服从神权和容忍上帝对现实世界的一切安排，做一个顺从的“上帝的奴仆”，实际上成为封建统治者的奴仆。从其形式来看，人物形象是超现实人世的、实际上是解释教义的一种精神符号，表情没有人性，显得呆板僵化，表现出一种远离尘世的圣者气息，在人物神态上有一种静穆的神秘感，有的形象夸张到令人感到恐怖，众多的这类形象布置在教堂内外，从四面八方造成一种令人震慑的非人间的世界。 罗马式教堂建筑艺术 自公元1096年开始的十字军东侵，使欧洲兴起宗教的热潮，封建主对宗教的狂热达到如醉如痴境地，他们全力为自己领地兴建规模壮观的教堂和修道院，建筑史上称这种新形制为“罗曼内斯克”即罗马式。而这个时期的其他造型艺术如雕塑、绘画等都成为与教堂不可分割的装饰部分，因此在美术史上统称为“罗马式”。罗马式教堂建筑采用典型的罗马式拱券结构。它是从古罗马时代的巴西利卡式演变而来。罗马式教堂的雏形是具有山形墙和石头的坡屋顶并使用圆拱。它的外形像封建领主的城堡，以坚固、沉重、敦厚、牢不可破的形象显示教会的权威。教堂的一侧或中间往往建有钟塔。屋顶上设一采光的高楼，从室内看，这是唯一能够射进光线的地方。教堂内光线幽暗，给人一种神秘宗教气氛和肃穆感及压迫感。教堂内部装饰主要使用壁画和雕塑，教堂外表的正面墙和内部柱头多用浮雕装饰，这些雕塑形象都与建筑结构浑然一体。罗马式时期的雕塑具有古代雕塑的气魄，较多运用变形夸张手法，但又不同于古代的写实风格，这是因为“蛮族”艺术掺入的影响。这些被变形的形象在浓厚的宗教气氛下产生一种阴郁和怪异感，具有解释教义的意义，体现中世纪人的世界观。公元12世纪罗马式建筑样式遍及全欧洲，但在不同民族和地区又有其独特的表现。在法国有各种地方学派；德国以形式质朴为特色；英国和西班牙都是接近法国罗马式的；意大利的罗马式发展对西欧建筑样式的发展有巨大影响。 哥特式教堂建筑艺术 自公元12世纪到公元15世纪，城市已成为各个封建王国的政治、宗教、经济和文化中心，这一时期兴起了封建社会大发展的产物——哥特式艺术。“哥特”是指野蛮人，哥特艺术是野蛮艺术之义，是一个贬义词。在欧洲人眼里罗马式是正统艺术，继而兴起的新的建筑形式就被贬为“哥特”(野蛮)了。 第一个哥特式建筑是在法国国王的领地上诞生的。之后整个欧洲都受到“哥特化”的影响。哥特式有人专指建筑，哥特式雕刻最初附属于建筑，公元13世纪后与建筑分离；哥特式绘画巅峰在公元14—15世纪。 哥特式教堂建筑在艺术造型上的特点：首先在体量和高度上创造了新纪录，从教堂中厅的高度看，德国的科隆中厅高达48米；从教堂的钟塔高度看德国的乌尔姆市教堂高达161米。其次是形体向上的动势十分强烈，轻灵的垂直线直贯全身。不论是墙和塔都是越往上分划越细，装饰越多，也越玲珑，而且顶上都有锋利的、直刺苍穹的小尖顶。不仅所有的券是尖的，而且建筑局部和细节的上端也都是尖的，整个教堂处处充满向上的冲力。这种以高、直、尖和具有强烈向上动势为特征的造型风格是教会的弃绝尘寰的宗教思想的体现，也是城市显示其强大向上蓬勃生机的精神反映。如果说罗马式以其坚厚、敦实、不可动摇的形体来显示教会的权威，形式上带有复古继承传统的意味，那么哥特式则以蛮族的粗犷奔放、灵巧、上升的力量体现教会的神圣精神。它的直升的线条，奇突的空间推移，透过彩色玻璃窗的色彩斑斓的光线和各式各样轻巧玲珑的雕刻的装饰，综合地造成一个“非人间”的境界，给人以神秘感。有人说罗马建筑是地上的宫殿，哥特建筑则是天堂里的神宫。哥特式教堂结构变化，造成一种火焰式的冲力，把人们的意念带向“天国”，成功地体现了宗教观念，人们的视觉和情绪随着向上升华的尖塔，有一种接近上帝和天堂的感觉。从审美的层面看，罗马式建筑较宽大雄浑，但显得闭关自守，而哥特式建筑表现出一种人的意念的冲动，它不再是纯粹的宗教建筑物，也不再是军事堡垒，而是城市的文化标志，标明在最黑暗的中世纪获得一点有限的自由，人们会发现一丝现实世界的阳光透进了黑暗的中世纪。与哥特建筑一起应运而生的是优美的彩色玻璃窗画。这种画也成为不识字信徒们的圣经。圆形的玫瑰窗象征天堂，各式圣者登上了色彩绚丽的玻璃窗，酷似丰富多彩的舞台画面。当人们走近教堂不仅产生对天国的神幻感，也产生装饰美感。由于它是玻璃画能依靠光线的穿透而生艳，以其光色的奇妙而引人入胜。

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