Which country did Gothic art belong to from 1220 to 1530?
Gothic art Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD , led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture . It spread to all of Western Europe , and much of Northern , Southern and Central Europe , never quite effacing more classical styles in Italy . In the late 14th century , the sophisticated court style of International Gothic developed , which continued to evolve until the late 15th century . In many areas , especially Germany , Late Gothic art continued well into the 16th century , before being subsumed into Renaissance art . Primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture , panel painting , stained glass , fresco and illuminated manuscripts . The easily recognizable shifts in architecture from Romanesque to Gothic , and Gothic to Renaissance styles , are typically used to define the periods in art in all media , although in many ways figurative art developed at a different pace . The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture , on the walls of Cathedrals and abbeys . Christian art was often typological in nature ( see Medieval allegory ) , showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side . Saints lives were often depicted . Images of the Virgin Mary changed from the Byzantine iconic form to a more human and affectionate mother , cuddling her infant , swaying from her hip , and showing the refined manners of a well-born aristocratic courtly lady . Secular art came into its own during this period with the rise of cities , foundation of universities , increase in trade , the establishment of a money-based economy and the creation of a bourgeois class who could afford to patronize the arts and commission works resulting in a proliferation of paintings and illuminated manuscripts . Increased literacy and a growing body of secular vernacular literature encouraged the representation of secular themes in art . With the growth of cities , trade guilds were formed and artists were often required to be members of a painters guild . As a result , because of better record keeping , more artists are known to us by name in this period than any previous ; some artists were even so bold as to sign their names . Origins . Gothic art emerged in Île-de-France , France , in the early 12th century at the Abbey Church of St Denis built by Abbot Suger . The style rapidly spread beyond its origins in architecture to sculpture , both monumental and personal in size , textile art , and painting , which took a variety of forms , including fresco , stained glass , the illuminated manuscript , and panel painting . Monastic orders , especially the Cistercians and the Carthusians , were important builders who disseminated the style and developed distinctive variants of it across Europe . Regional variations of architecture remained important , even when , by the late 14th century , a coherent universal style known as International Gothic had evolved , which continued until the late 15th century , and beyond in many areas . Although there was far more secular Gothic art than is often thought today , as generally the survival rate of religious art has been better than for secular equivalents , a large proportion of the art produced in the period was religious , whether commissioned by the church or by the laity . Gothic art was often typological in nature , reflecting a belief that the events of the Old Testament pre-figured those of the New , and that this was indeed their main significance . Old and New Testament scenes were shown side by side in works like the Speculum Humanae Salvationis , and the decoration of churches . The Gothic period coincided with a great resurgence in Marian devotion , in which the visual arts played a major part . Images of the Virgin Mary developed from the Byzantine hieratic types , through the Coronation of the Virgin , to more human and intimate types , and cycles of the Life of the Virgin were very popular . Artists like Giotto , Fra Angelico and Pietro Lorenzetti in Italy , and Early Netherlandish painting , brought realism and a more natural humanity to art . Western artists , and their patrons , became much more confident in innovative iconography , and much more originality is seen , although copied formulae were still used by most artists . Iconography was affected by changes in theology , with depictions of the Assumption of Mary gaining ground on the older Death of the Virgin , and in devotional practices such as the Devotio Moderna , which produced new treatments of Christ in subjects such as the Man of Sorrows , Pensive Christ and Pietà , which emphasized his human suffering and vulnerability , in a parallel movement to that in depictions of the Virgin . Even in Last Judgements Christ was now usually shown exposing his chest to show the wounds of his Passion . Saints were shown more frequently and altarpieces showed saints relevant to the particular church or donor in attendance on a Crucifixion or enthroned Virgin and Child , or occupying the central space themselves ( this usually for works designed for side-chapels ) . Over the period many ancient iconographical features that originated in New Testament apocrypha were gradually eliminated under clerical pressure , like the midwives at the Nativity , though others were too well-established , and considered harmless . Etymology . The word Gothic for art was initially used as a synonym for Barbaric , and was therefore used pejoratively . Its critics saw this type of Medieval art as unrefined and too remote from the aesthetic proportions and shapes of Classical art . Renaissance authors believed that the Sack of Rome by the Gothic tribes in 410 had triggered the demise of the Classical world and all the values they held dear . In the 15th century , various Italian architects and writers complained that the new barbarian styles filtering down from north of the Alps posed a similar threat to the classical revival promoted by the early Renaissance . The Gothic qualifier for this art was first used in Raphaels letter to Pope Leo X c . 1518 and was subsequently popularised by the Italian artist and writer Giorgio Vasari , who used it as early as 1530 , calling Gothic art a monstrous and barbarous disorder . Raphael claimed that the pointed arches of northern architecture were an echo of the primitive huts the Germanic forest dwellers formed by bending trees together – a myth which would resurface much later in a more positive sense in the writings of the German Romantic movement . Gothic art was strongly criticized by French authors such as Boileau , La Bruyère , Rousseau , before becoming a recognized form of art , and the wording becoming fixed . Molière would famously comment on Gothic : <poem> The besotted taste of Gothic monuments , These odious monsters of ignorant centuries , Which the torrents of barbary spewed forth . </poem> In its beginning , Gothic art was initially called French work ( Opus Francigenum ) , thus attesting the priority of France in the creation of this style . Painting . Painting in a style that can be called Gothic did not appear until about 1200 , nearly 50 years after the origins of Gothic architecture and sculpture . The transition from Romanesque to Gothic is very imprecise and not at all a clear break , and Gothic ornamental detailing is often introduced before much change is seen in the style of figures or compositions themselves . Then figures become more animated in pose and facial expression , tend to be smaller in relation to the background of scenes , and are arranged more freely in the pictorial space , where there is room . This transition occurs first in England and France around 1200 , in Germany around 1220 and Italy around 1300 . Painting during the Gothic period was practiced in four primary media : frescos , panel paintings , manuscript illumination and stained glass . Frescoes . Frescoes continued to be used as the main pictorial narrative craft on church walls in southern Europe as a continuation of early Christian and Romanesque traditions . An accident of survival has given Denmark and Sweden the largest groups of surviving church wall paintings in the Biblia pauperum style , usually extending up to recently constructed cross vaults . In both Denmark and Sweden , they were almost all covered with limewash after the Reformation which has preserved them , but some have also remained untouched since their creation . Among the finest examples from Denmark are those of the Elmelunde Master from the Danish island of Møn who decorated the churches of Fanefjord , Keldby and Elmelunde . Albertus Pictor is arguably the most well-known fresco artist from the period working in Sweden . Examples of Swedish churches with well-preserved frescos include Tensta , Gökhem and Anga churches . Stained glass . In northern Europe , stained glass was an important and prestigious form of painting until the 15th century , when it became supplanted by panel painting . Gothic architecture greatly increased the amount of glass in large buildings , partly to allow for wide expanses of glass , as in rose windows . In the early part of the period mainly black paint and clear or brightly coloured glass was used , but in the early 14th century the use of compounds of silver , painted on glass which was then fired , allowed a number of variations of colour , centred on yellows , to be used with clear glass in a single piece . By the end of the period designs increasingly used large pieces of glass which were painted , with yellows as the dominant colours , and relatively few smaller pieces of glass in other colours . Manuscripts and printmaking . Illuminated manuscripts represent the most complete record of Gothic painting , providing a record of styles in places where no monumental works have otherwise survived . The earliest full manuscripts with French Gothic illustrations date to the middle of the 13th century . Many such illuminated manuscripts were royal bibles , although psalters also included illustrations ; the Parisian Psalter of Saint Louis , dating from 1253 to 1270 , features 78 full-page illuminations in tempera paint and gold leaf . During the late 13th century , scribes began to create prayer books for the laity , often known as books of hours due to their use at prescribed times of the day . Among the earliest is an example by William de Brailes that seems to have been written for an unknown laywoman living in a small village near Oxford in about 1240 . Nobility frequently purchased such texts , paying handsomely for decorative illustrations ; among the most well-known creators of these is Jean Pucelle , whose Hours of Jeanne dEvreux was commissioned by King Charles IV as a gift for his queen , Jeanne dÉvreux . Elements of the French Gothic present in such works include the use of decorative page framing reminiscent of the architecture of the time with elongated and detailed figures . The use of spatial indicators such as building elements and natural features such as trees and clouds also denote the French Gothic style of illumination . From the middle of the 14th century , blockbooks with both text and images cut as woodcut seem to have been affordable by parish priests in the Low Countries , where they were most popular . By the end of the century , printed books with illustrations , still mostly on religious subjects , were rapidly becoming accessible to the prosperous middle class , as were engravings of fairly high quality by printmakers like Israhel van Meckenem and Master E . S . In the 15th century , the introduction of cheap prints , mostly in woodcut , made it possible even for peasants to have devotional images at home . These images , tiny at the bottom of the market , often crudely coloured , were sold in thousands but are now extremely rare , most having been pasted to walls . Altarpiece and panel painting . Painting with oil on canvas did not become popular until the 15th and 16th centuries and was a hallmark of Renaissance art . In Northern Europe the important and innovative school of Early Netherlandish painting is in an essentially Gothic style , but can also be regarded as part of the Northern Renaissance , as there was a long delay before the Italian revival of interest in classicism had a great impact in the north . Painters like Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck made use of the technique of oil painting to create minutely detailed works , correct in perspective , where apparent realism was combined with richly complex symbolism arising precisely from the realistic detail they could now include , even in small works . In Early Netherlandish painting , from the richest cities of Northern Europe , a new minute realism in oil painting was combined with subtle and complex theological allusions , expressed precisely through the highly detailed settings of religious scenes . The Mérode Altarpiece ( 1420s ) of Robert Campin and the Washington Van Eyck Annunciation or Madonna of Chancellor Rolin ( both 1430s , by Jan van Eyck ) are examples . For the wealthy , small panel paintings , even polyptychs in oil painting were becoming increasingly popular , often showing donor portraits alongside , though often much smaller than the Virgin or saints depicted . These were usually displayed in the home . Sculpture . Monumental sculpture . The Gothic period is essentially defined by Gothic architecture , and does not entirely fit with the development of style in sculpture in either its start or finish . The facades of large churches , especially around doors , continued to have large tympanums , but also rows of sculpted figures spreading around them . The statues on the Western ( Royal ) Portal at Chartres Cathedral ( c . 1145 ) show an elegant but exaggerated columnar elongation , but those on the south transept portal , from 1215–20 , show a more naturalistic style and increasing detachment from the wall behind , and some awareness of the classical tradition . These trends were continued in the west portal at Reims Cathedral of a few years later , where the figures are almost in the round , as became usual as Gothic spread across Europe . Bamberg Cathedral has perhaps the largest assemblage of 13th century sculpture , culminating in 1240 with the Bamberg Rider , the first life-size equestrian statue in Western art since the 6th century . In Italy Nicola Pisano ( 1258–78 ) and his son Giovanni developed a style that is often called Proto-Renaissance , with unmistakable influence from Roman sarcophagi and sophisticated and crowded compositions , including a sympathetic handling of nudity , in relief panels on their pulpit of Siena Cathedral ( 1265–68 ) , the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia , and Giovannis pulpit in Pistoia of 1301 . Another revival of classical style is seen in the International Gothic work of Claus Sluter and his followers in Burgundy and Flanders around 1400 . Late Gothic sculpture continued in the North , with a fashion for very large , wooden , sculpted altarpieces with increasingly virtuoso carving and large numbers agitated expressive figures ; most surviving examples are in Germany , after much iconoclasm elsewhere . Tilman Riemenschneider , Veit Stoss and others continued the style well into the 16th century , gradually absorbing Italian Renaissance influences . Life-size tomb effigies in stone or alabaster became popular for the wealthy , and grand multi-level tombs evolved , with the Scaliger Tombs of Verona so large they had to be moved outside the church . By the 15th century there was an industry exporting Nottingham alabaster altar reliefs in groups of panels over much of Europe for economical parishes who could not afford stone retables . Portable sculpture . Small carvings , for a mainly lay and often female market , became a considerable industry in Paris and some other centres . Types of ivories included small , devotional polyptychs , single figures , especially of the Virgin , mirror-cases , combs , and elaborate caskets with scenes from Romances , used as engagement presents . The very wealthy collected extravagantly elaborate , jewelled and enamelled metalwork , both secular and religious , like the Duc de Berrys Holy Thorn Reliquary , until they ran short of money , when they were melted down again for cash . Gothic sculptures independent of architectural ornament were primarily created as devotional objects for the home or intended as donations for local churches , although small reliefs in ivory , bone and wood cover both religious and secular subjects , and were for church and domestic use . Such sculptures were the work of urban artisans , and the most typical subject for three dimensional small statues is the Virgin Mary alone or with child . Paris was the main centre of ivory workshops , and exported to most of northern Europe , though Italy also had a considerable production . An exemplar of these independent sculptures is among the collections of the Abbey Church of St Denis ; the silver-gilt Virgin and Child dates to 1339 and features Mary enveloped in a flowing cloak holding an infantile Christ figure . Both the simplicity of the cloak and the youth of the child presage other sculptures found in northern Europe dating to the 14th century and early 15th century . Such sculpture shows an evolution from an earlier stiff and elongated style , still partly Romanesque , into a spatial and naturalistic feel in the late 12th and early 13th century . Other French Gothic sculptural subjects included figures and scenes from popular literature of the time . Imagery from the poetry of the troubadours was particularly popular among artisans of mirror-cases and small boxes presumably for use by women . The Casket with Scenes of Romances ( Walters 71264 ) of 1330–50 is an unusually large example with space for a number of scenes from different literary sources . Souvenirs of pilgrimages to shrines , such as clay or lead badges , medals and ampullae stamped with images were also popular and cheap . Their secular equivalent , the livery badge , showed signs of feudal and political loyalty or alliance that came to be regarded as a social menace in England under bastard feudalism . The cheaper forms were sometimes given away free , as with the 13,000 badges ordered in 1483 by King Richard III of England in fustian cloth with his emblem of a white boar for the investiture of his son Edward as Prince of Wales , a huge number given the population at the time . The Dunstable Swan Jewel , modelled fully in the round in enamelled gold , is a far more exclusive version , that would have been given to someone very close or important to the donor .