(
ca. 1145). These architectural statues are among the earliest Gothic sculptures and were a revolution in style and the model for a generation of sculptors. Gothic art emerged in France in the mid-12th century. The
Basilica at Saint-Denis built by
Abbot Suger was the first major building in the Gothic style. New
monastic orders, especially the
Cistercians and the
Carthusians, were important builders who developed distinctive styles which they disseminated across Europe. The
Franciscan friars built functional city churches with huge open naves for preaching to large congregations. However,
regional variations 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. The principal media of Gothic art were sculpture,
panel painting,
stained glass,
fresco and the
illuminated manuscript, though religious imagery was also expressed in metalwork, tapestries and embroidered vestments. The architectural innovations of the pointed arch and the
flying buttress, allowed taller, lighter churches with large areas of glazed window. Gothic art made full use of this new environment, telling a
narrative story through pictures, sculpture, stained glass and soaring architecture.
Chartres Cathedral is a prime example of this. 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 that 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. The
book of hours was developed, mainly for the lay user able to afford them – the
earliest known example seems to have written for an unknown laywoman living in a
small village near
Oxford in about 1240 – and now royal and aristocratic examples became the type of manuscript most often lavishly decorated. Most religious art, including illuminated manuscripts, was now produced by lay artists, but the commissioning patron often specified in detail what the work was to contain. '' by
Meister Francke, ca. 1435,
Hamburger Kunsthalle 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
andachtsbilder 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. Many such images were now small
oil paintings intended for private meditation and devotion in the homes of the wealthy. 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. 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. 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. Souvenirs of pilgrimages to shrines, such as clay or lead badges, medals and
ampullae stamped with images were also popular and cheap. From the mid-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. 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. == Renaissance art ==