Comparison Between the Amiens and Angouleme Cathedrals - Research Paper Example

? Comparison between the Amiens and Angouleme Cathedrals Presented Comparison between the Amiens and Angouleme cathedrals i. Introduction The Angouleme cathedral is one of the best and most distinguished buildings in the western part of France, despite the building having gone through a series of restorations and touches for many years since its construction. The Cathedral was built between 1105 and 1136 and represents a complete stylistic design of the Roman architecture throughout its design. The cathedral portrays a mixture of the antique models that portray the decorations of the Romanesque architecture, and this imitation of the antique decorations makes the cathedral to portray a rich mixture of artistic work. Angouleme illustrates the ideal 12th century renaissance that was typical throughout the western countries, and this influenced lateral derivation of the Romanesque artistic work from the antique. The cathedral was built under Bishop Gerald and represented the Pope’s authority; mainly in the archdiocese of Bordeaux, Auch, Tours, and Bourages (Tcherikover, 62). It was a symbol of or an instrument of control by the reform Papacy of the late eleventh century, and went beyond to Gerald’s time. This made the cathedral to represent the temporary rise of a secondary provincial cathedral due to the specific conditions available in the reform period. On the other hand, the Gothic cathedral of Amiens was built between 1220- 1269 and was built after the destruction of the old cathedral in 1218; with the nave chapels, west towers and the central steeple being built later on (Murray,12). Being governed by the commune Notre Dame, the cathedral was the seat of the bishop and was a special center for the chapter of forty canons. As Murray (111) elaborates, the construction of the Cathedral of Amiens was contentious, with designs being altered and this made the cathedral to be built in several sessions, with the last being in 1269 when the cathedral was competed. The Romanesque architecture was derogatory term since the building of the Romanesque periods had elements and style that reflected the Roman culture. Hamlin (237) argues that the transition was not a smooth one, and there was thin line between the transition periods. However, the Romanesque architecture had created much ecclesiastical architecture in hick they imposed on believers in these cathedrals. Some architects in this age and especially Germans, the French and the Britons designed new approaches that slowly combined the Romanesque architecture into their cathedrals, but left some to include new design approaches. As Hamlin (237) argues, though many preferred the traditional Romanesque style, the new form slowly crept in as features were either omitted or changes were affected to the Romanesque style, and with time each cathedral was built in the new Gothic approach and this marked the transition from the Romanesque style into the Gothic style of architecture. Incidentally, the Notre Dame or Cathedral of Amiens was allowed to be constructed fully using the new gothic artistic work (Cecile, 41). The two cathedrals will hereby be compared to portray the difference in design and the decorations that include the sculptural works. Comparing the two cathedrals in design and decorations, the Angouleme cathedral portrays decorations that make the cathedral more spiritualistic, while the Amiens cathedral has more individualized designs and decorations that portray creativity and a move to modernity in architectural work. Design i. Arcs and naves As Davies (1998) argues, the remarkable feature that makes the cathedral of Amiens different from the cathedral of Angouleme and as a complete gothic artistic work was the design. Davis further elaborates that the cathedral’s complex grandeur in forms, spaces stone figures and the lifelike shapes makes the cathedral to portray an experience that embraced both the future and the past in its design. Cecile (42) further argues that the Cathedral of Amiens has the significant view of the Gothic art that dictates that emptiness be portrayed to have more value than fullness. This made the design of the cathedral to soar high skywards through high naves, a typical feature of the Gothic artistic work and thus the cathedral was designed with large naves and required unity of space that dictated specific features that offered the Cathedral its originality. Wishner (48) argues that the cathedral of Amiens portrayed the ingenious of designers through convex and concave shapes magnificent largely vaults, ribs, pillars and columns that are above to support great mass at a very high point, and this is a contrasting feature when comparing with the cathedral of Angouleme. The latter has three domes on the interior of the nave with loft towers on the north and south ends, as well as an apsidal choir having four chevet chapels. Tcherikover (65) explains the remarkable designs of the cathedral of Angouleme to be the massive walls that are alleviated by a street of arcading, with half columns on dosserets. The half column are rounded, and together with the single sided capitals of the dosseretes for some continues capital freezes art are carved with animals and other types of foliage. Watkin (106) further elaborates that the cathedral was designed with four distinct stone domes down the nave on which the nave rests. The Angouleme cathedral has several characteristics that are evident when judging it according to the Romanesque artistic work. As Browne (36) argues the cathedral was designed with rounded and potted vaults, plain and ribbed vaults and development of the stone vaulted building, heavy walls that support the vaults and the height of the ceiling was relatively lower making the building to be more presentable on the outsides and inside. As explained earlier, the massive decorations that were inscribed inside and outside the Cathedral gives it a unique feature as Romanesque architectural work. ii. Buttresses and walls Murray (111) argues that the Cathedral of Amiens represented a real change of the new architectural work and the end of use of large walls, buttresses on the inside of cathedrals, large supports and other pillars that dotted the interior of buildings to support the roof, with many sculptural work and decorations being inscribed on these pillars. Instead the cathedral of Amiens as Murray further elaborates was designed to utilize supports and arches, with rib vaulted system of construction being inscribed on the walls of the remarkable monument. Murray (230) further argues that the internal of the Notre Dame cathedral is supported using columns and responds that are conceived according to classical cannons that have been carried over through the middle ages as Murray further explains. There are massive buttresses to support the nave, functional looking mass of elbow that are rectangular, and that protrude outward and upward from the body of the edifice and dissolve the exterior mass into broken planes. Therefore, as Murray argues the greatest departure in Notre Dame Cathedral was the use of the huge buttresses to support the flying buttresses that provide lateral support for the vaults (Murray, 234). The external buttresses were however retained. Cecile (42) explains that the remarkable feature of the cathedral of Notre dame to be the high points of pointed arches and ribbed vaults uprights, piers and the flying buttresses. The high pointed vaults were the new Gothic symbolism that portrayed a significant departure from the Romanesque artistic work. The cathedral of Angouleme in addition had elaborate rounded arches, piers, primitive roofs and buttresses that mainly carried t he weight instead of he columns and arches carrying the weight as is the case with the Amiens cathedral (Tcherikover, 67). iii. Windows and lighting One aspect that characterized the Angouleme cathedral was many thin and long windows, which had dim lighting to the interior (Tcherikover, 65). This lighting was more absorbed by the decorative features in the church such as the facade explained above. The Amiens cathedral however had more elaborates windows of larger magnitude and well aligned at a higher level, a design that enhanced more lighting in the church. Decorations i. Sculptures and art work Browne (131) argues that the Romanesque architecture presented unending style of beauty with elaborate patch work style and white painting that portrayed many secrets of creativity and ingenuity, in carving beautiful elements that were supposed to elicit different emotions from the faithful. These are observed in the cathedral of Angouleme. Crook and Herzman in Garvin and Heath ‘the arts of society, literature’ (21) argue, the cathedral of Angouleme portrays multiple carvings that clearly present the line between good an evil. These carvings as observed in Angouleme have direct meanings to the faithful both on the outside and inside the cathedral, and were the main ways through which the artists presented the relationship between the characters and the faith of the audience. This was to enhance a more spiritual artistic work in the cathedral. ii. Forms and appearance The use of pink and green in covering the expansive vaults in the cathedral makes Amiens the real representation of the gothic stylistic work in decorations that use extensive color patterns. The sculptural works in Amiens are more human like when compared to the sculptural work in Angouleme. These sculptural works are more elongated, thin and have less resemblance to the people or elements they represent. On the other hand, though these carvings and decorations are available in the Amiens cathedral, they are of a lesser magnitude (Cecile, 40). According to Cecile (40) the remarkable decorations that mark the Amiens cathedral and that became a remarkable aspect of the gothic architecture is the extensive use of colored glasses in decorating the cathedral. iii. Materials and other decorations Murray (32) further explains the remarkable architectural work of the Amiens cathedral regarding the decorations as the stained glasses, ocouli, rose window, and lancets. However, the stained glasses were lost to storms and other destruction s before the French revolution. On the contrary, Garvin &Health (23) portray the remarkable decorations in Angouleme as connecting the entire sculptural work that describes the cathedral interior with the apocalyptic Christ and this connects the entire sculptural program, with the major Romanesque theme of judgment. This also integrates the communion of apostles and judgment in a thematic way as a precondition of Christ’s return in glory. This presents the spirituality and how it was presented in artistic work in the Angouleme cathedral. This apocalyptic Christ facade in the cathedral of Angouleme is the most distinct factor that differentiates it from the Cathedral of Amiens, and a remarkable Romanesque architectural work. It represents the apocalyptic preaching that is the remarkable decorative feature of the cathedral of Angouleme. iv. Mood and cultural effects The Notre Dame has got essentially all windows placed high as compared to the cathedral of Angouleme, and this makes the former to have more light distribution throughout the cathedral. The light filling windows as compared to the dark windows marked the beginning of another approach in construction as the older building methods were dropped to embrace new building approach. Muller (230) argues that the Amiens represented a great reap in the construction and architecture and, the succeeding cathedrals were all designed using this principle. While the artistic style in Angouleme was more spiritual due to the deep religious roots of the Romans, the gothic design in Amiens portrayed a lighter mood with the architecture having freedom to rethink and incorporate new ideas. Though both cathedrals were white in color, the well distributed light in Amiens cathedral portrays a lighter mood that departs from the dull and dark feeling in Angouleme cathedral. The paintings in color and light in Angouleme were a reflective the Romanesque culture that portrayed the church as holy, and a representation of God (Brown, 132). The Amiens approach however, incorporated more dynamics and flexibility throughout its design and presented a liberal culture towards a more liberating culture form the earlier Romanesque approach. Conclusion The cathedral of Angouleme and the Amiens cathedral are a representation of two different artistic styles that overlapped one another. While the Angouleme Cathedral portrayed inclination towards the Romanesque architecture and decoration styles, the cathedral of Amiens was the initial cathedral that portrayed complete departure from the Romanesque artistic work and architecture to the more real and elaborate gothic artistic work. The design and decorations of these cathedrals were much influenced by the cultural backgrounds of the two artistic backgrounds with the latter marking another era in architectural work. This made the design of Amine to ensure more lighting and more flexibility from the traditions while sacrificing the fullness, to soar high skywards to embrace space that was the remarkable feature of the gothic architecture. Generally, the Gothic presents a more elaborate style with aspects of modernity as compared to the Romanesque architecture, which was more concerned with evoking spirituality to the faithful. Annotated bibliography. Browne, A. Edith. Romanesque Architecture. NY: Kessinger, 2005. This book critically examines the factors and characteristics that defined the Romanesque architecture, and critically examines the architecture characteristics. Cecile, Romane. Notre-Dame d’Amiens: A bible in the stone . The Unesco courier, 3 (1997), 40. This article delves deep into the constructions and features that marked the d’ Amines as a master piece of gothic architectural work. The article provides the architectural features that made the cathedral to stand out for many centuries. Davies, T. Michael. Notre-Dame, cathedral of Amiens. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 57.1 This article is a review of Murray, Stephen Notre-Dame, cathedral of Amiens: the power of change in gothic Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, and elaborates on the findings of Murray concerning the cathedral Garvin R. Harry and Heath M. James. The arts, society, literature. London: Associated University Press, 1984 This book investigates the different societies, the artistic work and how the artistic work is further carried over to portray he beliefs and the cultural work of the same community, particularly the ancient roman community. Hamlin, D. Alfred. History of architecture. Bremen: Verlag, 2010. This book traces back the significant histories in architecture and the changes that have been implemented into these architectural trends , and explains the reasons behind the different architectural periods. Murray, Stephen. Looking for Robert de Luzarches: The early work at the Amiens cathedral. Gesta, 29. 1 (1990), 111-131 This article by Murray investigates the creativity and ingenious thoughts behind Luzarches’ decision as one of the architects and designers of Amiens Cathedral. Murray, Stephen Notre-Dame of Paris and the Anticipation of Gothic. The Art Bulletin, 80. 2 (1998), pp. 229-253. This article by Murray traces the inception of a new approach in architectural work; gothic approach and how it was applied in Amiens cathedral. Murray, Stephen Notre-Dame, cathedral of Amiens: the power of change in gothic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 This book by Murray critically examines the steps towards the gothic architectural work and elaborates how the architecture was applied in Amiens Tcherikover, Anat. High Romanesque sculpture in the Duchy of Aquitaine, c. 1090-1140.London: Oxford University Press, 1997 This article examines the use of sculptural work and the symbolism in relation to the roman culture and how these were used in various cultural orientations of the Roman people and their significance. Watkin, David. A history of western architecture. London: Lawrence King Publishing, 2005. This book examines the influence of the western cultures and especially how these cultures were used to change the Romanesque architecture work to gothic architectural work. Wishna, Victor A New Look at Old Buildings Humanities; 26.2 (2005). This article traces back the history of major monumental architectural work in the past centuries and elaborates the success stories that have made these buildings to stand among the rest. Read More