Gothic Art and the Chartres Cathedral
The gothic art period arose during the 13th century as a style of medieval period. It began in France and lasted for 400 years. The gothic style was inspired by Romanesque art. Much of early gothic art was architecture. Major architectural developments such as pointed arches, stone ribs, and flying buttresses.
The Chartres Cathedral is an excellent display of gothic architecture. It originates from the structure of a Romanesque church which had a major fire. It was rebuilt the church using gothic style architecture.
The Cathedral displays many different aspects of gothic architecture including; pointed arches (fig 1), ribbed groin vaults, rectangular bays and flying buttresses on the exterior (fig 2). It also features large stained glass windows which are original and a tall ceiling rising 120 ft from the ground. Creating stained glass windows is a challenging and expensive process. It involves super heating the glass to a molten state, adding metallic oxides and blowing and shaping the glass. This would all have to be done in a precise amount of time before the glass began to harden from its molten state. These windows were not merely a decoration added in post construction, they were a very important variable in architectural design. An interesting aspect to note, the Chartres Cathedral was shaped like a cross from an arial view as were most churches of its time (fig 3).
Rose Window and Lancets(fig 4), North Transcript is a very large stained and painted glass window in the Chartres Cathedral. Almost all churches and cathedrals of the 13th century had a similar rose window. Stained glass windows such as these tell biblical stories and stories of saints and holy heroes. This window in particular depicts virgin and child, doves, St.Anne and the infant Mary, angels holding candelabra, cleansing angels, old testament King Judah, old testament Prophets, old testament Virtuous, old testament Villainous and arms of the Royal House of France.\
http://www.americansinfrance.net/Attractions/Chartres-Cathedral-Flying-Buttress.cfm
http://architecture.about.com/od/greatbuildings/ig/Sacred-Buildings/Chartres-Cathedral.htm https://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/final-exam-images/deck/2735334
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/sgparry/sets/72157606225541158/
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mgot/hd_mgot.htm
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