ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
•The period between 1200 and 1400 was when Gothic was accepted in Italy due to influence of the church
•It was not a very popular style in Italy and was soon succeeded by the Renaissance.
•Aesthetically, in Italy the vertical development was rarely important.
•Introduced by the Cistercians
"EARLY GOTHIC" phase 1228- 1290)
"MATURE GOTHIC" 1290-1385
“LATE GOTHIC” 1385 to 16c.
with the completion of the great Gothic edifices begun previously, as in Milan and Bologna.
•Rome still followed the style of early Christian basilicas
•Patronage in medieval Italy is divided into north and south
Northern Italy:
•Venice, Florence, Siena, Milan
•Each with its regional version BOLOGNA CATHEDRAL
•There was a lavish expenditure on municipal buildings such as
•town halls, town houses along with churches
Southern Italy:
•Florid ornamental sculptures
•Smooth surfaces and chromatic effects with marble
•Masonry is plain, austere, deliberately done for it to be painted
•Sculpture was given most importance followed by painters and then masons
•Byzantine and Arab influence
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Features:
•A more subdued, and somewhat "ascetic", formal
approach.
•Figurative decorations are banned.
•The stained glass windows are reduced in size and
colorless.
•The verticalism is reduced.
•In the exterior bell towers and belfries are absent. S ANTONIO, PADUA - DOMES
•Oval rectangular groin vaults and clustered piers
, composed by an ensemble of smaller columns,
which continue with engaged pillars to the vaulting-
ribs.
•The capitals have very simple decorations, usually
not figurative.
•The stone-dressing is very accurate as well.
•The result is a quasi-modern cleanness, lacking
embellishments.
S FRANCESCO, ASSISI
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
•The distinctive characteristic of Italian Gothic is the
use of polychrome decoration, both externally as
marble veneer on the brick facade and also
internally where the arches are often made of
alternating black and white segments
•The columns may be painted red, the walls
decorated with frescoes and the apse with mosaic.
SIENA CATHEDRAL •The plan is usually regular and symmetrical.
•Italian cathedrals have few and widely spaced
columns.
•The proportions are generally mathematically
simple, based on the square, and except in Venice
where they loved flamboyant arches, the arches are
almost always equilateral.
•Colours and moldings define the architectural units
rather than blending them.
S MARIA NOVELLA,FLORENCE
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
•Italian cathedral facades are often polychrome and may include mosaics in the
lunettes over the doors.
•The facades have projecting open porches and ocular or wheel windows rather than
roses WHEEL WINDOW
•The term “wheel window” is often applied to a window divided by simple spokes
radiating from a central boss or opening, while the term “rose window” is reserved
for those windows of more complex design which can be seen to bear similarity to a
multi-petalled rose.
•A circular window without tracery, such as are found in many Italian churches, is
referred to as an ocular window or oculus.
•Do not usually have a tower. ROSE WINDOW
•The crossing is usually surmounted by a dome.
•There is often a free-standing tower and baptistery.
•The eastern end usually has an apse of comparatively low projection.
•The windows are not as large as in northern Europe and, although stained glass
windows are often found, the favourite narrative medium for the interior is the fresco
BOSS
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Tracery:
An ornamental arrangement of intersecting ribwork,
usually in the upper part of a Gothic window, forming a
pierced pattern
If applied to a solid wall surface, known as blind tracery
Patterns formed in tracery:
TREFOIL QUATREFOIL
A three-lobed circle or arch SEXFOIL
A three-lobed circle or arch A three-lobed circle or arch
formed by cusping formed by cusping formed by cusping
MILAN CATHEDRAL , LOMBARDY, ITALY – 1386-1577, 1616-1813
Milan Cathedral (Italian:Duomo di Milano) is the cathedral of Milan
in Lombardy, northern Italy. It as the second largest Gothic
cathedral in the world, after the Cathedral of Seville in Spain.
In 1386 work on the construction of the cathedral was begun in a
rayonnant Late Gothic style more typically French than Italian.
Planning:
•An early Christian arrangement
•Central nave with double aisles resulting in 5 wide naves
157m x 92m
•Transept with aisles
•The nave is divided by forty pillars, are reflected in the
hierarchic openings of the façade
•The roofline dissolves into openwork pinnacles that are
punctuated by a grove of spires.
•The huge building is of brick construction, faced with marble
•The planning is such that the section of the cathedral is
defined by an equilateral triangle
•Internal width of nave: 16.75 m
•Internal height of nave: 45 m
•Height of nave columns: 24.5 m
•Height of central octagon: 65.5 m
•The interior is lofty and somewhat gloomy in comparison with the
bright exterior
MILAN CATHEDRAL , LOMBARDY, ITALY – 1386-1577, 1616-1813
MILAN CATHEDRAL , LOMBARDY, ITALY – 1386-1577, 1616-1813
