MEDIEVAL ART OF THE WEST

The flourishing of cathedral art in the thirteenth century coincided with a fundamental change in people’s mentality, primarily in the depth of their religious feelings as well as in terms of their relationship with nature. A metaphor for the heavenly city, the cathedral vault was far above the believer and moving ever farther away, becoming increasingly higher, reaching a height of almost fifty meters up in Beauvais, which was the highest nave of the mid-thirteenth century. When the vault at Beauvais collapsed, leaving only the choir, it wasn’t made any higher. A number of incredibly bold technical inventions were required to solve this challenge. As opposed to the trefoil arch, the pointed arch had been in use long before the advent of classical Gothicism. The approach to wall surfaces was also more important. The Romanesque Church of the eleventh and twelfth centuries valued these spaces, emphasizing their aesthetic significance with the help of horizontal and vertical divisions metered by window openings, and sometimes by using murals. This helped to create the familiar feeling of magnificent peace that still engulfs visitors in Romanesque buildings to this day. Gothic cathedrals seek to visually eradicate walls, transforming them into a continuous rotation between glass and the complex profiles of vertical moldings,4⁴StringcourseA horizontal or vertical band, projection (usually plaster or stone), dividing the walls of buildings.half columns,5⁵Half-columnA column, typically semi-circular, projecting from the plane of the wall by half its diameter (though often slightly more).abutments,and pilasters.6⁶PilasterA flat, vertical projection of a rectangular section, usually having a base and capital; thus, it is similar to a column but differing from a round column or half-column in having a rectangular section.They all reach the top of the vaults: in front of us, giant supports break down into a complex system of support arches, ribs, and nervures.7⁷NervureA rib projecting relative to the wall in Gothic rib-vaulted construction.Despite the visual irrationality of these ‘medieval skyscrapers’, a drastic departure from the classical style, the Gothic church is technically a monument to exclusively rational architectonics. This style was made possible by the economic power of the West and the ability of both citizens and the Church to establish complex logistics for the construction of large-scale buildings.

The cathedrals of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries are unimaginable without their decorations. They literally spoke through their statues, stained-glass windows, illustrated liturgical manuscripts, altar images—as well as the singing and music—turning a church into a place of performance. Richer decoration made a church even more 'talkative', should the person who commissioned the building wish to convey deeper meaning to believers. From the beginning of the thirteenth century, the competition in art between cities and ruling classes has been expressed through inscribing as much of this silent, visual sermon into the body of the church itself as possible. Consider this aspect if you visit Chartres, which is justifiably famous for having one of the most well-preserved ensembles of stained glass. Each stained-glass window depicts a story and is intended for careful, thoughtful study. And together, the stained-glass windows seem to form a great message conceived by the cathedral chapter, led by the bishop. However, there exists no unified system for obvious and unambiguous interpretation of these windows in the great churches in France, Germany, England, and Spain. As before, church art spoke of the Good News, Salvation, and Final Judgment.

It is hardly worth searching for the architectural clarity of Thomas Aquinas’s8⁸Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)One of the most important medieval thinkers. An Italian philosopher and theologian. Author of the treatise Summa Theologica, which analyzed most of the problems of Christian theology of his time.Summa Theologiae in this verbose and often confused story. In terms of scholastic thought, Thomas’s work is beautifully structured and crystal clear. Perhaps it is more important to consider the key messages by reviewing the most significant kinds of stained-glass windows. This certainly includes the Gothic rose—a giant, round window, up to 12 meters in diameter, which was used to decorate the western, southern, and northern facades of a church. Using motifs of a flower or graphical chart, masters depicted the Last Judgment, the story of creation, or the Worship of the Lamb within the rose. Special significance was also assigned to the ‘lancets’ of the choir, where the clergy were located during the service, away from the prying eyes of the congregation.

In the 1230s, Archbishop Henri de Bren had a stained-glass window installed in the axial chapel of Reims Cathedral,9⁹Stained glass windows of Reims CathedralThe Reims Cathedral, built in the thirteenth century CE, served as the place of coronation for French kings. The stained glass windows of Reims Cathedral were partially destroyed during World War I (1914–1918). Some of these windows were recreated, and some were restored based on the drawings that survived the war.which was noteworthy for its time due to a special political will bordering on insolence.

He had an argument with both the Chapter and the townspeople at the beginning of the decade that brought the construction of the Royal Cathedral to a halt for three years. When the work resumed, as lead commissioner of the project, he wanted the stained glass to speak for him. So, how did he go about it? On the right of the stained glass, we can see the scene of the Crucifixion, with a cup collecting the blood of the Savior at his feet. Directly underneath is an image of the archbishop on the same scale—huge and easily distinguishable from afar. On the left is a depiction of the Virgin Mary with Child sitting on the throne under a stylized Gothic roof, a metaphor for the cathedral because Mary was able to 'accommodate' the 'uncontainable and unembraceable' God present in every church during the sacrament of the Eucharist, when wine and bread become blood and body. To make sure that there is no doubt this relates to the cathedral in which we are located, there is a figure of an angel standing atop a Gothic building underneath this symbolic image of the cathedral. Outside, we encounter the same angels on the finials of the arch buttresses, where they are symbolically guarding the cathedral. The frame of the window is decorated with royal lilies.10¹⁰Fleur-de-lisEmblem of royal authority in France.

Along with stained glass, the most prestigious and expensive art of the time, the plastic arts were used to create encyclopedic value in Gothic churches. Statues, gradually ‘taking shape’ and separating from walls and columns, though without losing their connection to either, not only ‘made human’ but also grounded the divine. Bible characters, ancestors, and the kings of Israel as well as saints were all dressed in familiar images for the townspeople. Their poses became more natural and varied, and earthly emotions appeared on their faces. This search for faithfulness to nature and everyday life was the driving force behind the work of sculptors and stained glass artisans. They restored spiritual significance in these works, reestablishing a connection between the spiritual realm and the domains of humans and nature, which they had seen with their own eyes or copied directly from antique monuments. This balance between naturalismiIn this case, the desire to reflect reality. and idealismiIn this case, the desire to reflect the immaterial world.is a sign of the classical era in the history of culture, and the contradiction between the classical features of Gothic plastic arts and the anti-classical construction of Gothic buildings is only superficial. After all, the cathedral, reaching skyward with its stained-glass windows sparkling in heavenly light, does not seek to deny matter. Instead, it seeks to subjugate it to an artistic will that goes beyond the dimensions of matter and does not seek to hide its immense stone mass, and in this paradox can be found the cardinal differences in various early Christian basilica. This is the key to the influence of the Gothic experience on twentieth-century architecture.

If a canopy resembling a city wall seems to hover over a statue on a Gothic portal,iPortal: Architecturally decorated central entrance to a church.this doesn’t necessarily mean we are observing the Celestial City with the holy brethren. This interpretation is merely one possible explanation. It is no less reasonable to say that in how sculpture was perceived at that time, a round statue was simply not considered separate from its architectural context, implying that it might not be intended to be a standalone artistic shape. I would like to reiterate: architecture, along with other related artistic genres (sculpture, stained glass, easel painting, et cetera), did not illustrate any doctrine—whether religious, political, or philosophical—but they did participate in the creation of these ideas. If Sophia in Constantinople has been written about with admiration for almost a millennium, this does not mean that Byzantine ekphrasisiThat is, literary descriptions of monuments.offer the only possible clue to interpret this monument. Although they are certainly very important, they are also simply opinions. In the West, nobody thought about writing tributes to the astonishingly innovative, inspiring, and immense Romanesque cathedrals of the time, such as those at Speyer, Saint-Sernin in Toulouse, the Cluny III basilica, or the high Gothic masterpieces in northern France. While reading Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae might not elucidate the structural design of a cathedral, it does provide insights about the cultural context as would reading ‘Le Roman de la Rose’i‘The Romance of the Rose’ (French ‘Roman de la Rose’): An allegorical poem in Old French of the thirteenth century CE, one of the most famous and popular works of medieval literature of its time.or Dante’s Divine Comedy,iDante Alighieri (1265–1321): Italian poet, thinker, theologian, one of the founders of the literary Italian language, political figure, and author of The Divine Comedy, one of the major works of medieval literature.perhaps the most 'architectural' work of medieval literature.

In twelfth-century France, someone wrote the Pilgrim’s Guide for those who, as they do to this day, left their homes and traveled to Compostela in order to worship the apostle Jacob.iThe Cathedral of St. James is located in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela. It is believed that the remains (relics) of James, one of the twelve apostles (followers) of Jesus Christ, are in the cathedral. In the Middle Ages, it was the largest center of pilgrimage for Catholics.In it we will find a description, replete with epithets of grace and admiration, of the configuration of this great church, which was rebuilt over many years. However, there is no text that explains why some of the angels who adorn and guard the walls of the Reims Cathedral are laughing. We know a real smile first appeared on the lips of a medieval statue in 1188, on the Portico of Glory in Santiago de Compostela. We know that this bold discovery of Master Mateo adorns the face of the prophet Daniel.iProphet Daniel: A biblical prophet, one of the ‘major prophets’. According to the Bible, he had the gift of interpreting dreams. He served during the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (605–562 BCE).

But why is he smiling, even daring to show his teeth? Is he greeting a weary pilgrim? Was it in preparation for the long-awaited encounter with the apostle’s relics? Or was it because of the joys of heaven, on whose doorstep he has arrived following a long journey? Or is this the smile of a courtier as Daniel indeed served at court? Or does he wish to show believers that only the divine have the right to joyfully behold God face to face, while those on this sinful, mortal plain may only do so 'in a mirror dimly' (1 Corinthians 13:12)? What if the same meaning was applied to Gabriel’s smile as he greets Mary in a statue located on the western facade of Reims Cathedral from around the year 1250? This smile is no longer encouraging; it is cautious and shows the clear boundary between the world of men and the divine world. In that case it is like a vague memory of laughter, which during antiquity was considered the prerogative of the gods, in stark contrast to tears, which were intended for mankind.

It is useless to seek a single ‘correct’ explanation of reasons or the exact iconographic meaning of the 'Gothic smile'. But let us forget smiles and laughter and turn to sorrow. Across the range of sculptural decoration both inside and outside cathedrals, it is possible to find the ‘Personification of Synagogue’iSynagogue: The main institution of the Jewish religion; a place serving as a venue for public worship and the center of religious life in the community.in the expanded version of the ‘Scene of the Crucifixion’ in almost every one. The blindfold covering Synagoga’s eyes refers to the 'blindness' of the Jews to Jesus as the Lord and Savior. A broken spear and tablet are lowered to the ground,iThe Tables of the Covenant are tablets on which, according to the Bible, the Ten Commandments, which God gave to Moses, were inscribed.referring to the defeat of the old religion by the new 'law', by 'grace'.iJews and Jesus Christ: Jews did not recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah (in Greek, ‘Christ’), meaning ‘the Savior’.Paired with the 'Personification of Synagogue' at the right hand of the Crucified is Ecclesia, Eucharistic bowl in hand and wearing a crown. The meaning of this scene is clear enough.

If it is unfolded into a large-scale composition featuring soldiers drawing lots, Mary losing feeling, the mourning of John the Beloved, the gurning faces of the wicked mocking the 'King of the Jews' and the centurion Longinus, then the scene finds new semantic overtones. However, how can we explain why an anonymous artist from Strasbourg in the 1220s made the 'Personification of Synagogue' into one of the most beautiful and lyrical female images of the Middle Ages? Standing next to her, the 'Church' is full of dignity, but her victorious posture and facial expression do not invoke the same sympathy as the defeated. Where, then, can we look for an explanation? In the 'overindulgence' of the artist as Bernard of ClairvauxiBernard of Clairvaux (1091–1153): French medieval theologian, mystic, abbot (head) of the Clairvaux monastery.had complained about a century earlier? Was it because of a desire to 'keep the customer satisfied' as Georges Duby suggested, who, for some reason, saw a tribute to courtesan mannerism in the counterpoise of 'Personification of Synagogue'?iCourtly love: A system of rules of behavior at court and a set of qualities that a courtier should possess in the Middle Ages. Typically, courtly love related to relationships between a man and a woman, specifically the rules of a man's behavior towards his beloved.Or is the explanation that the flock did not perceive dogmas through the eyes of clerics, which forced the discerning master to assign a negative figure with deeply human features and inimitable grace?

From the perspective of art history, the psychology of the ‘Personification of Synagogue’ in Strasbourg was made possible by physiognomic discoveries by the sculptors of Chartres and Reims. Some of these anonymous masters must have later worked in Strasbourg, one of the richest cities in the Rhine area. However, physiognomy and pathognomics—the ability of art to reflect the dynamics of the human soul in faces and posture—were not the masters’ goals in and of themselves. They seem to me a means of touching the hearts of both the one who commissioned the art as well as the viewers, who merely wanted to see what they were being called upon to believe.

Each of these ideas clarifies something, but they do not reduce the ambivalence of what is a wonderful and touching image. Even under the bandage, you would not consider Synagoga’s gaze to be blindness, while her sensuousness is a far cry from the courteous poses of 'foolish virgins' exhibited in the same hall of Strasbourg Museum. Both intelligent and unintelligent virgins are courteous, but 'Personification of Synagogue' is lonely in its sadness.

In every sense, it is disconnected from the new world that began with the death of Christ on the cross as depicted on the portal—it is detached. If we forget what she personifies iconographically for a moment, then stylistically this detached figure is unique in its purely human and intimately lyrical qualities even in the context of the remarkable sculpted complex preserved in Strasbourg. Let us imagine that at one time these figures were not blackened by time but painted like the stained glass and book miniaturesiMiniature: A small painting in color in an ancient manuscript or book.from the century of Louis the Saint.iLouis IX (1226–1270): King of France.

We should search for the meaning of the art within Gothic cathedrals by looking at art itself—in the changes to its functionality and its role in society. In a way, art has served as a mode of communication between authority and its subjects, between the clergy and their flock, between the literate and illiterate, but above all between people and God. A change in the religious background across all of European society in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries may provide the key to such an explanation. Let us highlight just one very important example.

From the beginning of the thirteenth century, the liturgical practice of demonstrating the host (bread transubstantiated into the Body of Christ) to the congregation prior to their taking of it had spread through Europe. The Eucharist is the focal point of worship. The belief that the host is truly and not merely symbolically the Body of Christ is one of the basic requirements for Christians, as affirmed by the Fourth Lateran Council.iFourth Lateran Council: Assembly of representatives of the Catholic Church convened by Pope Innocent III. The main theme of the council was the struggle against the spread of heresies at that time. Some dogmatic issues were clarified, and monastic orders were established at the council. In this regard, we can compare the needs of believers in the very broadest of circles to see what they do (or should) believe in through new trends in religious art, in which the visual is becoming more and more dominant. It should show a believer everything that they must pay attention to within their spiritual lives.

For example, this applies to the cult of relics that were attributed to some miraculous force. Reliquaries were performed by the best jewelers and sculptors since as far back as at least the fourth century. Just like for royal insignia, no expense was spared, and exotic materials were used, sometimes even being inlaid with antique gems. Plastic arts in the luxurious reliquaries of the Gothic era were constructed in such a way that it is sometimes impossible to identify the object of worship, which increasingly assumes the function of a work of art, only becoming an object of prayer and worship through veneration. As if a kind of cathedral in miniature, with its own miniature naves, finials, wimpergs, columns, guardian angels, and figurines of donators, it embodies the same visual effect as the great cathedral itself. A gigantic cathedral employed complex measures to lead the attentive and focused the gaze of parishioners towards the main altar. However, as if forcing us to change lenses from panoramic to macro, the reliquary leads this gaze toward the sacred that is hidden underneath the crystal.

The same can be said about architecture. Originally, Gothic churches were painted over completely on the inside and partly on the outside. However, we can’t be certain because these churches were also usually completely whitewashed during restoration works in the twentieth century. Even though Gothic churches have, with rare exceptions, lost their original colors, the fragmentation and articulation of their forms remain striking, and have not lost their monumental unity. We cannot see any walls in the churches of Amiens, Reims, or Bourges. Their function is instead performed by columns, vertical pilasters, friezes, capitals, and other horizontal order divisions. If you consider that all these divisions were also highlighted through color, you can imagine what a strong visual effect such a space would have on the believer even if you take a step away from the meaning behind the stained glass and sculptural portals.

The same can be said about architecture. Originally, Gothic churches were painted over completely on the inside and partly on the outside. However, we can’t be certain because these churches were also usually completely whitewashed during restoration works in the twentieth century. Even though Gothic churches have, with rare exceptions, lost their original colors, the fragmentation and articulation of their forms remain striking, and have not lost their monumental unity. We cannot see any walls in the churches of Amiens, Reims, or Bourges. Their function is instead performed by columns, vertical pilasters, friezes, capitals, and other horizontal order divisions. If you consider that all these divisions were also highlighted through color, you can imagine what a strong visual effect such a space would have on the believer even if you take a step away from the meaning behind the stained glass and sculptural portals.

To avoid introducing our own preconceptions of what art is into this interpretation of medieval art, or perceptions leading firstly into the Renaissance, secondly into the avant-garde,iAvant-garde: The name of a whole group of directions in art from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century CE.and thirdly into the postmodern, we must take into account what constituted a work of art for the people of that era. The working conditions for a medieval painter, sculptor, architect, or jeweler were very different from those even in the sixteenth century, which wasn’t long after the Gothic period. An image that we feel comfortable referring to as a work of art today wasn’t perceived as a product of human creativity, something valued by the very fact of its existence, in and of itself. Although the concept of chef d'œuvre, meaning a 'main' or 'great' work, had existed in medieval workshop practice since the thirteenth century, art for art’s sake did not exist. An image was a medium for a certain function, and the person who commissioned the work, the workman executing the plan and, the spectator (or more broadly speaking, the public)—such as the congregation for whom a bishop began the construction of a cathedral—all provided input. At the same time, the perceptions of the learned commissioner, the workmen executing the plan (architects, sculptors, and stained glass artisans), and the largely illiterate parishioners of this cathedral could widely diverge. So with whose eyes should we view these images and this text—which Pope Gregory the Great called 'a Bible for the Illiterate' in 600? Was the language of art as understandable for believers as it was for theologians? Could parishioners without eye glasses (which appeared only at the end of the thirteenth century and were very expensive) make out and decipher the stained-glass windows with their biblical stories, hagiography, and complex dogma? Who was able to extract the allegorical meaning from these extensive narratives and arrangements revealed to us by medieval history?

In the search for confirmation that we are interpreting medieval images correctly, historians (including art historians) fall back, as a panacea, upon the authority of the written documents of the era: whether a 'prism', a theological summa, or the text of sermons in Latin or folk languages. After all, sermons were delivered inside or near the church walls and might, in principle, rely on this imagery. However, such a convenient link between an image and text is often contrived. There is no evidence that preachers pointed to the stained-glass windows, altars, or frescoes when they delivered their sermons from the pulpit. Scholarly theologians sometimes make references to 'how painters depict things', and we can be certain that they were sensitive to the language of Christian art. However, seeking to explain the Gothic through Scholastics (or vice versa) has no more justification than trying to explain Piet MondrianiPiet Mondrian (1872–1944): Dutch artist who, along with Russian artists Kandinsky and Malevich, pioneered abstract painting. A contemporary of physicist Albert Einstein.by referring to Einstein.