GOTHIC painting in Spain

The Gothic art It is a cultural movement that had France as a center of dissemination to the rest of Europe. Gothic began at the end of the Middle Ages, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Its influence reached Spain in the 13th century, with Gothic painting developing throughout the 14th and 15th centuries.

In this lesson at unPROFESOR.com we offer you a summary of gothic painting in Spain, what were its characteristics, its European influences, the schools that emerged and its main authors.

The evolution of Spanish Gothic painting is linked to European pictorial trends, dividing it into four styles or phases.

1. linear gothic

This trend within gothic art in spain is distinguished by:

• Linear Gothic is a painting centered on the stained glass windows and illuminated books. The lack of walls is one of the causes of this trend.
• Is about reflect the feeling in the characters.
• It is also about printing more movement.
• The contours of the figure are marked, surrounding them with a black line.
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• They are used primary colors: red, blue and yellow.
• Some paintings are also made on the wall, indoors.

Among the most famous linear Gothic works are The Cantigas de Santa María by Alfonso X “The Wise”

2. International Gothic

The features most outstanding of the international Gothic are:

• This trend reached Spain during the fourteenth century.
• It is a fusion of the Italian Trecento with the linear style.
• It is a refined, courteous and detailed style.
• It is inspired by eminently secular themes.
• The area that received the most influence was Catalonia.
• It was the origin of two pictorial schools: the Sienese School and the Florentine School.

Among the most outstanding authors are Luis Borrasa, Pedro Nicolau for the Crown of Aragon; and Dello Dilli and Nicolás Francés for the Crown of Castile.

3. Flemish Gothic

This type of Gothic has as main features:

• Developed during the second half of the 14th century
• Use the oil to create glazes and shine.
• It is very detailed.
• The landscape is one of the great protagonists.
• The portrait of the donor is usually included in the donated work, being a style that advances in this pictorial genre.
• They are inspired by the bourgeois life of the time for the recreation of biblical scenes.
• The size of the paintings is smaller as they are designed to decorate the rooms of merchants and bourgeois bankers and not so much the palaces.
• Between the authors more emerging are Luis Dalmau for the Crown of Aragon and with works such as The Virgin of the Consellers. For the Crown of Castile, Fernando Gallego stands out with works such as The martyrdom of Saint Catherine, Bartolomé Bermejo and his work of Santo Domingo de Silos or Fernando Gallego with his Saint Catherine triptych. Another great figure closer to the Renaissance was Pedro de Berruguete.

4. Italo-Gothic

This variety of Gothic arrived in Spain from Italy and spanned the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. As we have already pointed out, two schools stand out:

• The Sienese school, heavily influenced by Byzantine art.
• The florentine school, a style that precedes the painting of precursor artists of the Renaissance such as Giotto.

Both schools had an unequal influence in the two existing kingdoms in Spain at the time.

The Crown of Aragon was influenced by the Sienese school, highlighting the figures of Ferrer Bassa with his mural paintings of Saint Miguel de Pedralbes, the master Ramón Destorrents and his work Santa Ana con la Virgen Niña and the brothers Jaume and Pere Serra with works such as The resurrection of the Donor Christ.

In the Kingdom of Castile, the Florentine school was better received. Among the most relevant artists is the Italian master Gerardo Stamina.