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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A comprehensive, 60 page thesis paper on the transition between what has come to be called in the art field the Romanesque & Gothic periods. The writer asserts, first, that a similar distinction is also present in the literature, and that the Gothic spirit is actually a rediscovery of the physical which had been lost due to the Christian Church's obsession with the spiritual alone. It is ultimately concluded that the transformation of vision that occurred in late medieval ages was the movement from a culture obsessed with becoming divine to a culture more at home in its own humanity. Bibliography lists more than 25 sources.
Page Count:
60 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Artthes.rtf
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to reflect the centrality of the Church in mortal life, and to bring Christians into a fuller relationship and understanding of their eternal hope in the bosom of God. This
narrowness of purpose manifested itself in both art and literature in a number of distinct ways. In art, the most obvious effect was in the predominance of stylized over naturalistic
forms, and in the heavy usage of symbolism. In literature, one finds a tremendous reliance on allegory, as in the medieval mystery plays and such works as the Romance of
the Rose. However, by the fourteenth century things had begun to change -- in literature to some extent, but very dramatically in art. This is apparent from contrasting a work
of art produced in, for instance, the twelfth century with one produced two hundred years later. An excellent example of the earlier type of work is reproduced on page 128
of E.H. Gombrichs book The Story of Art. Here, in a Swabian manuscript illustration from 1150, we see the Angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary in what had by
that time become the classic formula used to depict the Assumption. The Angel is on the left, the nimbus surrounding his head flanked by his enormous wings. He stretches out
his right hand in blessing toward the Virgin, who raises both palms in what is obviously intended to be surprise. The overall effect, however, is that of the Byzantine
icons still found in Eastern Orthodox churches today. Both the Angels arm and his right leg are crossed over his body in an anatomically impossible angle; they are flat against
his torso as if they had no dimensionality at all. His feet touch the ground not on the ball of the foot but on the bottom of the front toes,
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