Glossary of Gothic Architecture and Art Terms
GOTHIC
Spire
A pointed tower, usually bulbous, conical, or pyramidal and ending in a sharp arrow. Also called a needle or arrow, it is typical of Gothic architecture (13th and 15th centuries), like the arrows of the Cathedral of Burgos by Juan de Colonia, mid-fifteenth century.
CISTERCIAN
A term applied to the architecture made for the Cistercian Order, in the transition from Romanesque to Gothic. Cistercian style monuments flourished in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It is characterized by reacting against the luxury of the order of Cluny, manifesting itself in austere art, decorative poverty, and simplicity of the buildings, like the Monastery of Poblet in Catalonia.
CHOIR
The site of the temple where the clergy joins to sing the divine, being the liturgical part of a church, reserved for the canons and clerics. By extension, the term applies to the cruiser space or the central nave reserved for singers in the Spanish Gothic cathedrals, usually closed by splendid decorated stalls, as in the Cathedral of Leon, 13th century.
DIPTYCH
The altarpiece evolves during the Gothic period from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, passing from one table to two (diptych), three (triptych), or many (polyptych), being dropside tables in order to close the set. In this case, the external face is painted with shades of gray, grisaille, which look like sculptures. The creation of these altarpieces proved extremely innovative, the painting becomes independent of the wall and becomes more human and anecdotal, supports the composition and even popular devotion. Example: The Wilton Diptych, International Gothic of the fourteenth century.
DONOR
In fifteenth-century Gothic painting, it is usual for the donor, who paid for the work, to be painted at the bottom of the compositions of religious subjects. At first, they were smaller than the protagonists of the figures in the table, but from the Flemish Primitives onwards, there is no such distinction, as evidenced by the Madonna of Chancellor Rollin by Jan van Eyck.
FLAMBOYANT
The Flamboyant, fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, is a highly decorative Gothic period. It used the elliptical and pointed ogee arch besides the traditional style, the starry vaults with tiercerons and fans, and the windows decorated with tracery of curvilinear forms in S, like flames, hence the name. In Spain, Flamboyant Gothic forms merge with Mudejar elements leading to Flemish contributions to the Hispano-Flemish Style of Isabella and Ferdinand. Example: San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo by Juan Guas.
AMBULATORY OR GIROLA
A semicircular extension of the aisles around the rear of the sanctuary of a church. In central plant buildings, it is the wandering space surrounding the central space. [See photo of Coro]
MARKET
A market is a building or premises where commercial transactions are conducted. We find them from the Gothic period as civic monuments. Example: La Lonja de Valencia, from the late fifteenth century.
MADONNA
Italian for the Virgin in the history of art, especially from the Gothic style, 13th and 15th centuries. [See photo of canopy]
PINNACLE
A pyramidal attempt, very sharp, with tracery, hooks, and other details of embellishment, located on the external buttresses of Gothic monuments, 13th and 15th centuries. Its role is not only decorative but also constructive in helping to divert some of the oblique thrust from the buttresses. [See photo of Gable]
ALTARPIECE
The altarpiece evolves during the Gothic period from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, passing from one table to two (diptych), three (triptych), or many (polyptych), being dropside tables in order to close the set. In this case, the external face is painted with shades of gray, grisaille, which look like sculptures. The creation of these altarpieces proved extremely innovative, the painting becomes independent of the wall and becomes more human and anecdotal, supports the composition and even popular devotion. Example: The Altarpiece of the Mystic Lamb by Jan van Eyck, the fifteenth century.
RETABLO
The altarpiece evolves during the Gothic period from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, passing from one table to two (diptych), three (triptych), or many (polyptych), being dropside tables in order to close the set. In this case, the external face is painted with shades of gray, grisaille, which look like sculptures. The creation of these altarpieces proved extremely innovative, the painting becomes independent of the wall and becomes more human and anecdotal, supports the composition and even popular devotion. The altarpiece to the mid-fourteenth century was painted with illustrative and descriptive tables of the life of the patron saint, the effigy at the center of it and around it in small boxes, scenes from his life. But in the second half of the 14th century, the altarpiece painting is formed, rigid, with multiple tables, with an architecture-based management (Gothic, Renaissance, or Baroque style under which it is conducted) and a fairly uniform iconographic distribution. Its organization is as follows: in the predella or bank, the bottom of lower height and busts of saints painted in the center is often the sacrament or other matters of the New Testament; in the middle lane is represented the main theme of the work; on the streets or vertical zones are contained scenes of secondary or complementary themes, organized in bodies or horizontal divisions; entrecalles on small panels painted with saints in some altarpieces, and other fine columns or pillars; the ridges or spikes are the shots of the streets above. In the central pint is almost without exception during the Gothic Calvary, in the remaining issues are not fixed. Example: The Altarpiece of the Cartuja de Miraflores Burgos by Gil de Siloam, late fifteenth century.
ROSE WINDOW
A circular shed window with large ornaments and stone tracery. The rosettes are situated on the western front and two in the transept of the Gothic cathedrals. Example: The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, 13th century.
LEAFLET
: The altarpiece evolves during the Gothic thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, passing from one table to two, diptych, three, triptych or many, polyptych being Dropside tables in order to close the set. In this case the external face is painted with shades of gray, grisaille, which look like sculptures. The creation of these altarpieces proved extremely innovative, the painting becomes independent of the wall and becomes more human and anecdotal, supports the composition and even popular devotion. Example: The Triptych of Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch, early sixteenth century.