Gothic ornament in architecture and interior

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Gothic style appeared in France in the XII century. It arose on the basis of the Romanesque style, which used the principle of clarity and transparency, the desire for constructive openness. Buildings and houses in Gothic become openwork, the principle of uniformity of forms is applied here, and in order to achieve diversity, they used numerous repetitions of elements that are different in proportions, but similar in type. Such elements created a feeling of openwork lace.

Gothic style in the interior

The interior in the Gothic style is characterized by large windows, all kinds of lighting effects, multi-colored stained-glass windows and emphasized verticality of all structural elements. The features inherent in this style can be considered upward aspiration, irrationalism, lightness, mysticism and expressiveness. The specific stylistic direction of the interior is given by the Gothic ornament and the use of stained-glass windows in the traditional Gothic gamut of colors and shades. At the same time, stained-glass windows can be used not only in windows, but also on blank walls. As a complementary element of the interior in the Gothic style, a tiled stove or a luxuriously decorated fireplace will look great. Ornament in gothicstyle - these are basically all kinds of elements of the plant world, as a rule, in the form of maple leaves and grapes and the geometric shape of the arch.

The color scheme in which the ornament is kept

Gothic style can be described as dark and cold, even bleak. It is characterized by ruby, purple, red, yellow, green, blue and blue-black colors, as well as carnation-pink tones and silvery, golden threads. Such shades give the interior in the Gothic style mystery and gloom. If we talk about the materials characteristic of the Gothic, then these are various types of colored wood - walnut, oak, spruce, European cedar, larch, juniper. In addition, this style is characterized by woodcarving, ceramics, stone and bone, metal and glass products, which are decorated with Gothic ornaments or enamel painting.

Gothic furniture

Gothic is inherently simple, not only in colors, but also in furniture. As a rule, the interior contains all kinds of whatnots, screens, large bookcases with carvings that repeat the Gothic ornament on the windows in the form of arcades, tall double-leaf cabinets, chests with cast-iron staves and cupboards on high legs.

Features of the ornament in the Gothic style

Ever since its inception, the Gothic ornament has been distinguished by symbolism and diversity. And now the transformation of Byzantine and ancient motifs continues to be used here, but at the same time there are alsonew, more modern themes. Weaves of curvilinear geometric shapes are replaced by rectilinear ones. In addition to the widespread ornamental geometric constructions and the creation of the shape of spherical triangles and quadrangles and lancet arches, plant forms of local nature are widely used, characterizing the specifics of the ornamentation of that era - leaves of roses, clover, ivy, oak, grapes, and so on. A special place in Gothic architecture is occupied by a relief Gothic ornament made on stone.

Sculpture ornaments

Gothic architecture as an art developed along with sculpture. In sculptural ornamentation, stylized motifs of palmette and acanthus are used less often, giving way to other forms of the plant world. Plant motifs of the early Gothic period from the buds of shoots in the ornament of the 13th century. turn into blossoming foliage and lush bouquets of flowers and fruits in the 14th century.

Gothic ornamental motifs

Elements of Gothic architecture were traditionally decorated with images of human heads, centaurs, individual episodes from the Bible in the form of figures, historical characters, rose and grape leaves. An example is the architecture of Notre Dame Cathedral, in which gargoyles portrayed grotesque winged monsters. Gothic ornament in furniture was often used in the form of thin plexuses, reminiscent of the ribs of vaults, combined with a leafy pattern. At the end of the XV century. the ornament of "linen folds" was widespread. In addition, in furniture alsoa sculptural stone frieze made of wood in the form of tightly woven, twisted leaves and branches is reproduced.

Gothic ornamental tiles

In the Gothic era, floors were paved with ceramic tiles decorated with ornaments. Basically, this tile had a square, but sometimes a rectangular, hexagonal shape. The combination of pattern lines of individual tiles created a common surface ornament. The tiles were mostly laid out like parquet masonry - with strips, but sometimes a more complex configuration was used, for example, in a church. The tiles were decorated with all sorts of motifs - floral, geometric, anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and so on. The most common ornament is a combination of plant shoots and palmettes. The traditional type of Gothic ornament also includes a lily on a high stem, which can be depicted as a single flower or as four buds tied together.