Gothic art in Spain

Gothic art is an artistic manifestation that arose in France around the year 1140 and from this moment on it will spread throughout Christian Europe. Regarding its chronology, we see that it will cover from the middle of the 12th century until well into the century. XVI as occurs in certain countries such as Spain, where this style will coexist with the first forms Renaissance. Next, in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to attend a summary of gothic art in Spain.

We started this summary of gothic art in Spain speaking of the architecture of this movement.

In Spain, before entering the full Gothic, it has a phase that we could call protogothic, in the second half of the 12th century, where the last Romanesque forms will coexist with the first Gothic. The characteristics that will be given within this proto-gothic architecture they are going to be austerity, balance and proportion.

The most important examples will be Poblet monasteries and the Santa Creus monastery. All this will serve as the basis for the great Spanish Gothic of the thirteenth century,

the century of the great cathedrals, like the Cathedral of León, Toledo and Burgos.

• Leon Cathedral: it is the purest cathedral in the unity of style. It has three naves and on the arches of the central nave are the clerestory and large windows with the best stained glass windows that are preserved in Spain.
• Toledo Cathedral: It is said of it that it is the most Spanish, since inside it has multi-lobed arches, which denotes a certain Arab influence, despite this, its exterior is purely Gothic. Inside we see five aisles of staggered height, a double ambulatory and a transept with a single nave that does not exceed the width of the aisles.
• Burgos cathedral: It presents the typical characteristics of French Gothic cathedrals. It has a Latin cross plan and three doorways, although it presents later arrangements that take us to the 15th and 16th centuries. Inside, it has a highly decorated dome with horns and consists of three naves with a simple ambulatory and a single nave in the transept. It is the most outstanding example in terms of the slenderness of the building.

In this century, construction activity will focus on Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the kingdom of Valencia, under the protection of commercial development in the Mediterranean. The characteristics of this period is the tendency to use living room plants, with flatter roofs and smaller windows.

Examples are the Cathedral of Barcelona, ​​Gerona and the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca.

• Barcelona's cathedral: It consists of three naves of almost the same height and an ambulatory without flying buttresses. Its façade was remodeled so that the one we currently see is already from the 19th century.
• Girona Cathedral: This cathedral, whose initial project was to follow the model of the one in Barcelona, ​​is varied once it has begun, and the three naves are unified in a single nave of equal height. It is one of the largest single nave cathedrals.
• Palma de Mallorca Cathedral: It is a large building with a predominance of the vertical. Its external appearance is unmistakable for the abundance of sturdy buttresses barely separated from each other to support the high structure. The largest rose window in Spain opens on its façade.

Discover here the general characteristics of gothic painting to know, better, this style in the pictorial plane.

We continue with this summary of gothic art in Spain speaking, now, of the flamboyant Gothic style. This gothic is also called "Elizabethan Gothic”As it coincides chronologically with the reign of Isabel de Castilla, and is characterized by having great constructive simplicity, but with abundant decoration made of trepan-based stone.

We highlight:

• Cathedral of Sevilla: elevated above the old mosque, of which the minaret (La Giralda) and the patio of the orange trees are preserved. Her cathedral chapter wanted to make it the largest cathedral in Spain, and so it was. It is the third largest cathedral in the world. It is a construction of five naves, with side chapels. The vault is of simple ribbing in most of its sections except in the transept and immediate ones where they are decoratively recharged.
• Chapel of the Constable in Burgos Cathedral: Realized by Simon of Cologne, comes to collect all the characteristics that are going to begin to occur at this time in the Gothic, which is the profuse decoration, the predominant motifs being the great coats of arms of the Constables of Castile. It has an octagonal plan and is covered with a starry vault and openwork in its central part.
• Cloister of San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo: its main architect is Juan Guas, probably the best representative of Elizabethan Gothic. We must highlight the delicate flamboyant tracery and its ribbed vaulted roof. In addition, the cloister has high mixtilinear windows and is covered with a Mudejar coffered ceiling.

Within this period, refer to the Segovia Cathedral, which is characterized by joining the very complex rib vaults and by returning to a certain architectural purism without decorative excesses.

However, outside of the cathedrals, we also have to mention the civil architecture From this moment, due to the rise of the cities, the construction of fish markets or market places where commercial transactions were carried out, as well as palaces:

• Lonjas: we have to highlight the Lonja of Valencia, which stands out for the flamboyant decoration on its windows, the ogee arched doors and the 28 gargoyles of erotic and satirical scenes that decorate the different facades.
• Palaces: among the palaces highlight the Palace of the Infantado in Guadalajara, where you can already see the introduction of Renaissance elements. The most characteristic of this one could be said that they are the points of diamonds in stone as a decorative element that covers the entire facade, being one of the jewels of Gothic civil art.

And to end this summary of gothic art in Spain we are now going to talk about the sculpture of this period. We have to know that there is an abandonment of the archaism so characteristic of Romanesque and they will appear in covers of the buildings narrative compositions with biblical or social themes, depending on the building that is will try.

In addition, in Spain the usual sculptural genres are going to be altarpieces and the graves, which will acquire a great development and show a certain resistance to death, trying to perpetuate after it and show eternal glory. Next, we move on to evolutionarily analyze the most important examples:

Throughout the 13th century the sculptural tradition of the Spanish Romanesque meets the French Gothic influence. The most important works are those that were carried out for the great cathedrals of this time, where it is evident the undoubted work of French sculptors due to the absence of a transition towards Gothic forms in schools local.

Within what is Gothic sculpture we have to highlight the Cover of the Sarmental of the cathedral of BurgosIt is a cover of three registers, with an austere decoration very close to Romanesque. In the central part, on the tympanum, the figure of Christ appears and around him the tetramorphs; on the lintel, an apostolate and on the archivolts, angels and the elders of the Apocalypse. Perhaps the most interesting of this are the evangelists who appear seated at their desks denoting a certain humanism and naturalism.

Of the leon Cathedral, we highlight the image of Our Lady of the White Virgin in the mullion of the portal, crowned by a canopy. Like the previous one, we could speak of a certain naturalism with that sweet expression before the child in his arms, but that there is still no truthful communication between them.

During the fourteenth century One could speak of a certain mannerism, because it tries to make the style a bit baroque due to the abundance of dynamism and movement. Its characteristics will be the expressiveness, the anecdote and a some sentimentality. Highlight the Cover of the Forgiveness of the cathedral of Toledo whose theme is the Imposition of the chasuble to San Ildefonso.

In the fifteenth century We have to mention the altarpieces, which come to decorate the back of the main altar. These could be made of stones, but generally it was polychrome wood that was later gilded. Highlight the altarpiece of the Cartuja de Miraflores made by Gil de Siloé, in which we see Calvary as the main theme within a great circle of angels, in which four scenes of the Passion are also included.

Regarding the subject of tombs, highlight the tomb of Doncel de Sigüenza, which is the typical tomb of a noble bourgeois, in this case of Don Martín Vázquez de Arce. It is an anonymous work and one of the examples of the changes that herald the end of the Middle Ages.

If you want to know about the Romanesque painting in Spain In this other article by a PROFESSOR we make mention of her.