Roman Catholic Masons: Notre Dame Cathedrals (circa 1200s)

The ultimate art of the Gothic period was expressed in the great cathedrals that were astounding aesthetic, as well as engineering, achievements. The cathedrals of “Our Lady,” or “Notre Dame” in French, built for Paris, Chartres and Reims are perhaps the most impressive and representative of the Gothic style. At the time this style was known as ‘the Fench style’ and was not to be referred to as ‘Gothic’ until the Renaissance writer Giorgio Vasari coined the phrase some three centuries later.

Suddenly, architects are once again able to build on a scale not seen since the heyday of classical Rome. The Church jealously guarded this rediscovered knowledge: the building teams working on these structures were only privy to the plans of the section they were directly involved with, only the master masons understood the overall architecture.

The influence of the east may have played a significant part in the development of the Gothic style. The gemstone lapis lazuli also came from the East as its only known source at the time was a mine in what is now Afghanistan. So in order to obtain this precious substance, required for the sacred blue pigment, trade with the Arab nations was necessary. Also, the crusades had pushed into the Islamic Mediterranean during the eleventh century, and the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa had studied Arabic number systems, popularising the use of the Arabic figures 1 to 9 over the traditional Roman numerals of I to X. Along with this knowledge came information about the mathematics of ancient architecture that had been perpetuated by the Islamic scholars.

These cathedrals were ambitious architectural projects that took centuries and generations to complete, involving huge budgets and organised workforces. They were also highly decorated, even in places that would be rarely, if ever, seen. This was because they were monuments to a god who was omnipresent, and so could see everywhere, and there is no doubt that these represent genuine devotional art. However, like the pyramids of ancient Egypt, they also served another function. They too proclaimed the power and dominance of the society that built them. The Roman Catholic Empire had the resources, knowledge, money, technology and man-power to build these structures that towered above all other buildings, dwarfing even the palaces and castles of Europe’s monarchs. The message was quite clear, “Don’t mess with us.”

In terms of the visual arts, one interesting innovation can be seen in figures found in the doorways of Chartres. If viewed from the same elevated level, the figures appear attenuated, but when viewed from below at a point within the arch, the elongation of these statues begin to counteract the effect of foreshortening. This indicates a return to observation and a growing awareness of how we actually experience the world in visual terms – an approach that seems to have been forgotten since the Classical period.

The Chartres Cathedral page at the Great Buildings website

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