Early Gothic art

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architecture

  • Chartres Cathedral
    In Gothic art: Early Gothic

    This first phase lasted from the Gothic style’s inception in 1120–50 to about 1200. The combination of all the aforementioned structural elements into a coherent style first occurred in the Île-de-France (the region around Paris), where prosperous urban populations had sufficient wealth to…

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  • James Paine and Robert Adam: Kedleston Hall
    In Western architecture: Early Gothic

    At the technical level Gothic architecture is characterized by the ribbed vault (a vault in which stone ribs carry the vaulted surface), the pointed arch, and the flying buttress (normally a half arch carrying the thrust of a roof or vault across an…

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painting

  • St. Andrew, wall painting in the presbytery of Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome, 705–707.
    In Western painting: Early Gothic

    One of the moves away from Byzantine influence took the form of a softer, more realistic style whose general characteristics survived until the middle of the 13th century. In France the style is particularly noticeable in a series of magnificent Bibles Moralisées (books…

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sculpture

  • Edmonia Lewis: Hagar
    In Western sculpture: Early Gothic

    Throughout this period, as in the Romanesque period, the best sculptors were extensively employed on architectural decoration. The most important agglomerations of figure work to survive are on portals, and, in this, once again, the church of Saint-Denis assumes great significance. The western…

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