religion
The spiritual attitude that dominated the Romanesque age was not as strong and sure during the Gothic. In the earlier period, people believed that the world was a God - inspired mystery that could be expressed in simple, direct art. In the Renaissance that followed the Middle Ages, people believed , as did the Greeks, in cultivating rationalism and humanism. This change to a more secular age came about through the subtle influences of a variety of trends and events. When the year 1000 passed into history without the predicted end of the world, people began to think in terms of a more pleasurable life. Salvation through the remission of sins was still paramount in their thinking, but they reduced it to a formula. Scholasticism was the product of the medieval university, which had evolved from the earlier monastic schools. The medieval curriculum was divided into the so - called quadrivium and trivium. The quadrivium included arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music all under the heading of "Mathematics." While scholastic philosophy systematized salvation, it did not bring forth the deep and abiding faith that many believed it would. Worship tended toward an empty formalism, with the let
The sense of vertical space is even more impressive in the interior of these cathedrals. The emotional tone became one of warmth and mystic longing. The Annunciation of the Siena Cathedral altar by Simone Martini is a case in point. Moreover, those returning from pilgrimages showed signs of becoming more intellectually and economically independent. The love for Mary was perhaps both cause and effect in the development of the ideals of "courtlylove. SCULPTURE The elements of sculpture wer treated essentially the same in the Gothic as they had been in the Romanesque. ARCHITECTURE The Gothic cathedral, with its spires rising majestically over the towns of northern Europe, is a physical counterpart to the spiritual urge for rising above the earthly. Despite their anonymity, they were among the most innovative practitioners of architecture of all time. These pilgrimages to wrest the Holy Land from the Moslems were unsuccessful in their main objective, but they did open up new vistas in social and cultural thought. The countless anonymous composers of the chants of the Middle Ages are an embodiment of a "God - inspired," mysterious, creative power disassociated from the humans through which it worked. PAINTING During the Gothic period, the art of painting, except for the illumination of manuscripts, was a minor art in the north. The east windows of King's College Chapel serve the same instructive purpose. Unlike their Romanesque predecessors, Gothic sculptors created their figures independently of the columns, placing them upon pillars or in niches in the structure. That of Wells Cathedral is in part determined by its scissor arches, which were added to the interior out of engineering necessity about one hundred years after the completion of the main body of the cathedral. This limitation hampered the Gothic builders, who sought in their buildings to reach great heights.
Common topics in this essay:
Middle Ages,
ARCHITECTURE Gothic,
Land Moslems,
Europe Romanesque,
Christianity Dante,
Unlike Romanesque,
Holy Trinity,
,
College Chapel,
Perpendicular Gothic,
stained glass,
gothic cathedral,
middle ages,
life christ,
architecture gothic,
northern europe,
people believed,
gothic period,
lamentation christ,
music gothic,
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Acceptance Essays
