Modern perceptions of "Gothic" art

The concept behind Medieval Gothic art:

Marvel not at the gold and at the expense but at the craftsmanship of the work. Bright is the noble work; but being nobly bright, the work should brighten the minds, so that they may travel, through the true lights, to the True Light where Christ is the true door

-Abbot Suger, Liber de rebus in administratione sua gestis

About the term "Gothic"

Basilica of Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis, France

12th century CE

Saint-Denis as it appeared with reconstructed North
tower intact

Birth of Medieval Gothic Styling

Chartres Cathedral (West)
Chartres, France

1145-1155 CE

Tour of Chartres Cathedral

Rose Window, south façade, Chartres Cathedral

Chartres Cathedral, south façade 

Main features of Gothic Cathedrals

Exterior wall of Chartres Cathedral

Exterior wall of Chartres Cathedral

Gothic pointed arch & ribbed vault 

Interior of Chartres Cathedral

Physics of a Ribbed Vault

Interior of Chartres Cathedral

Royal Portal
Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France

c. 1145-1155 CE

Detail of the decoration at the entrances

Tympanum of the Royal Portal

Gislebertus' Last Judgement, Romanesque Tympanum, 1130-1140 CE

Upper Center

Upper Left

Lower Left

Lower Right

Left, Base/Lintel

Center, Base/Lintel

Right, Base/Lintel

Head of a Prophet (from St. Denis)

1137-1140 CE

Carved Stone

Head of a Prophet
from St. Denis

1137-1140 CE

Christ in Majesty
Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France

c. 1096 CE

Notre Dame de Paris

Paris, France

1163-1345 CE

Exterior View from the South

Tympanum from the Western Portal

Tympanum from the Western Portal (detail)

View of the height and ribbed vaulting

Interior view facing East

Notre-dame de Reims or Reims Cathedral
Reims, France

13th-14th century CE

Entrance to Reims Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral
Cologne, Germany

13th-14th century CE

Rear view of the cathedral

Interior (nave) of Cologne Cathedral

Aerial view of Cologne Cathedral

The Beauty of Cologne Cathedral

Detail of stonework on Cologne Cathedral spires

Interior of one of the spires

The European Renaissance

The Italian Peninsula during the Renaissance

Duomo di Santa Maria del Fiore (Dome)

Brunelleschi

Florence, 1420-36 CE

Structure of Brunelleschi's Dome

On Brunelleschi's Dome

Example of Linear Perspective (single-point)

Interior (looking east) of San Lorenzo

Filippo Brunelleschi

Florence, Italy, c. 1421–1469

Interior of Santo Spirito (looking northeast)

Filippo Brunelleschi

Florence, Italy, 1434–1436

Villa Rotunda

Andrea Palladio

Vicenza, Italy, 1565 CE

Palladio's Novel Approach

Villa Rotonda floor plan & elevation

Villa Rotonda at a Distance

Queen's House

Indigo Jones

Greenwich, London, UK, 1616-1635 CE | Neo-Palladian style

The Palladian Style

Front (top) & Rear (below) views of the site

Site Plan for Queen's House

The Tribute Money

Masaccio

c. 1427 CE | Fresco

Medieval Italian Painting by Berlinghiero

Tempera vs Oil

Map of Frescoes in Brancacci Chapel

(Massacio's work indicated in red)

Interior view of Brancacci Chapel

Depostion

Rogier van der Weyden

c. 1435-1438 CE

Oil on Panel

Location of Flanders

The Flagellation of Christ

Pierro della Francesca | c. 1451 CE | Oil & Tempera on Panel

The Flagellation of Christ

Southern / Italian

Deposition

Northern / Flemish

David

Michelangelo

1501-1504 CE

Marble

Comparison of David by Donatello and Michelangelo

The Last Judgement

Michelangelo

1534 - 1541 CE

Fresco

Wide shot of the Sistine Chapel

(with Michelangelo's frescoes indicated)

A Note on Context

Beauty

Peter Paul Rubens

The Disembarkation of Marie de' Medici

1600 CE | Oil on canvas
Baroque Style

Neoclassicism

Path of the Mt. Vesuvius Ash Cloud, 79 CE

Jacques Louis David

The Death of Marat​

1793 CE | Oil on canvas

Michelangelo

Pieta

1498-1499 CE
Marble

Francisco Goya

Saturn Devouring One of His Sons

1820-1822 CE
Oil mural transferred to canvas

The Industrial Revolution

Francisco Goya

Saturn Devouring One of His Sons

1820-1822 CE
Oil mural transferred to canvas

Caspar David Friedrich

Wanderer above a Sea of Mist

1817-1818 CE
Oil on canvas

Caspar David Friedrich

Monk by the Sea

1809-1810 CE | Oil on canvas

Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant

Whereas the beautiful is limited, the Sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the Sublime, attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt.

Immanuel Kant,
Critique of Pure Reason, 1781

Illustration of the Sublime

Ernest Meissonier

The Barricade (Memory of Civil War)

1850 CE
Oil on canvas

Honoré Daumier

Rue Transnonain, April 15, 1934

1834 CE | Lithograph

Honoré Daumier

Fight between Schools

1855 CE | Lithograph on newsprint

Edouard Manet

Olympia

1863 CE | Oil on canvas