International Gothic is a period ofGothic art that began inBurgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century.[1] It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by the French art historianLouis Courajod at the end of the 19th century.[2]
The spread of ideas and portable works, such asilluminated manuscripts throughout Europe led to consensus among artists and their patrons that considerably reduced variation in national styles. The main influences were northernFrance, theDuchy of Burgundy, Flanders and Brabant, theImperial court inPrague, and Italy. Royal marriages such as that betweenRichard II of England andAnne of Bohemia helped to spread the style.
It was initially a style of courtly sophistication, but somewhat more robust versions spread to art commissioned by the emerging mercantile classes and the smaller nobility. In Northern Europe "Late Gothic" continuations of the style, especially in its decorative elements, could still be found until the early 16th century, as no alternative decorative vocabulary emerged locally to replace it before theRenaissance revival ofClassicism.
Usage of the terms by art historians varies somewhat, with some using the term more restrictively than others.[3] Some art historians feel the term is "in many ways ... not very helpful ... since it tends to skate over both differences and details of transmission."[4]
The importantBohemian version of the style developed in the court ofCharles IV, Holy Roman Emperor in Prague, which for a brief period[5] became a leading force in the development of European art. Charles came from theLuxembourg dynasty, was tutored by the futurePope Clement VI, and as a youth spent seven years at the French court, as well as visiting Italy twice. This and family relationships gave him intimate links with the various courts of France, including that of theAvignon Papacy, and from 1363 the separate ValoisDuchy of Burgundy underPhilip the Bold. The Bohemian style initially lacked the elongated figures of other centres, but had a richness and sweetness in female figures that were very influential. Charles had at least one Italian altarpiece, apparently made in Italy and sent to Prague, near where it remains today in his showpieceKarlštejn Castle. ForSt. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, he first used a French architect, and then the GermanPeter Parler.[6]
Much of the development of the style occurred in Italy, and it probably spread north of the Alps to influence France partly through the colony of Italian artists attached to the Papal Court at Avignon, and the works displayed from the residence there in the 1330s and 1340s ofSimone Martini, aSienese precursor of the style.Republican Siena had a large influence on the development of the style, but kept to its own dignified Gothic style throughout the period, and afterwards, while the flamboyantVisconti court at Milan, also closely related to the French royal family, was the most important Italian centre of the courtly style.[7] As the style developed in Northern Europe, Italian artists were in turn influenced by it.[citation needed]
The marriage in 1384 between the young KingRichard II of England and Charles IV's daughterAnne of Bohemia helped to connectPrague and London, and bring the style to England, although Anne died in 1394.
A number of central works of International Gothic work arevotive portraits of monarchs with a sacred figure – in some cases being received intoHeaven by them, as with a miniature ofJean, Duc de Berry, and some of his relatives, being welcomed by Saint Peter in theTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.[8] From this period come the earliest surviving panel portraits of monarchs, and royal manuscripts show a greatly increased number of realistic portraits of the monarch who commissioned them.[citation needed]
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Inarchitecture, where the style was long-lasting, local varieties of it are often known asPerpendicular architecture in England, and asSondergotik in Germany and Central Europe,Flamboyant Gothic inFrance, and later theManueline inPortugal, and theIsabelline inSpain.[citation needed]
In painting and sculpture, the style is sometimes known in German as the "Schöne Stil" or "Weicher Stil" ("Beautiful style" or "Soft style").[10] Stylistic features are a dignified elegance, which replaces monumentality, along with rich decorative colouring, elongated figures and flowing lines. It also makes a more practised use of perspective, modelling, and setting. Figures begin to be given more space in their settings, and interest is taken in realistically depicted plants and animals. In some works, above all the famous calendar scenes of theTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, the beginnings of real landscape painting are seen. Decoration became increasingly ornate as the style developed in Northern Europe, whereas in Italy the increased sophistication of figure painting was absorbed intoEarly Renaissance painting.[citation needed]
In sculpture the leading Italian artists remained closer to classicism, and were less affected by the movement;Lorenzo Ghiberti is in many respects close to the style, but already seems infused with Early Renaissance classicism.Claus Sluter was the leading sculptor in Burgundy, and was one artist able to use the style with a strongly monumental effect. Most sculptors are unknown, and the style tended to survive longer in Northern sculpture than painting, as the detailed realism ofEarly Netherlandish painting was harder to translate into sculpture. Smaller painted wood figures, most often of the Madonna, were significant, and being relatively portable, probably helped to disseminate the style across Europe.[citation needed]
Notable painters includedMaster Theoderic and theMaster of the Třeboň Altarpiece in Bohemia, theMaster of the Parement,Jacquemart de Hesdin and the NetherlandishLimbourg brothers in France, andGentile da Fabriano,Lorenzo Monaco andPisanello in Italy, the last taking the style into theEarly Renaissance. In BurgundyJean Malouel,Melchior Broederlam andHenri Bellechose were succeeded byRobert Campin andJan van Eyck who took Early Netherlandish painting in the direction of greater illusionism.Master Bertram andConrad von Soest were leading regional masters in Germany, working largely for city burghers. Surviving panel paintings of the best quality from before 1390 are very rare except from Italy and the Prague court. Many of these artists moved between countries or regions during their careers, exposing them to the styles of other centres. In particular Broederlam had spent some years in Italy, and it has been speculated that the Master of the Parement was himself Bohemian, as his known French works are very few, and extremely close to Bohemian art.[11]
Illuminated manuscripts remained important vehicles of the style, and in works like theSherborne Missal[12] were the main English contribution, apart from thestained glass ofJohn Thornton inYork Minster and ofThomas Glazier inOxford and elsewhere.[13]Nottingham alabaster carvings, produced in considerable quantities by workshops to standard patterns, were exported all over Western Europe to value-conscious parish churches. TheHours of Gian Galeazzo Visconti fromMilan was a key work, as was theWenceslas Bible (with the text in German) of Charles IV's son. Both, like the Sherborne Missal, are marked by extravagantly decorated borders.John, Duke of Berry, son and brother of French kings, was the most extravagant commissioner of manuscripts, and the main employer of the Limbourg Brothers, theMaster of the Brussels Initials and Jacquemart de Hesdin, as well as using many other artists. Other large-scale collectors includedWenceslas, the son of Charles IV,John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, son ofHenry IV of England and "Regent" of English-occupied France, and the Dukes of Burgundy. In the fifteenth century the cities ofFlanders, especiallyBruges, came to outstrip Paris as a centre of both manuscript illumination and panel painting.[citation needed]
A further vehicle of the International Gothic style was provided by thetapestry-weaving centers ofArras,Tournai and Paris,[14] where tapestry production was permanently disordered by the English occupation of 1418–36. Under the consistent patronage of theDukes of Burgundy,[15] their courtly International Gothic style, elongated figures, rich details of attire, crowded composition, with figures disposed in tiers, owe their inspiration to manuscript illuminators and directly to painters: Baudouin de Bailleul, a painter established at Arras, suppliedcartoons for tapestry workshops there and at Tournai, where elements of a local style are hard to distinguish (Weigert, p. 44). The ChatsworthHunts (Victoria and Albert Museum) are inspired byGaston de Foix's book on hunting and the many weavings ofTrojan War cycles by contemporary romances.[citation needed]
Tapestry too was an art that was portable. Suites accompanied their seigneurial owners from one unheated and empty château to another. Tapestry weavers themselves could be induced to move workshops, though they remained tied to the accessibility of English wool. Religious and secular subjects vied in this essentially secular art.[16]
A medium of Late Gothic style that is easily overlooked because it has virtually entirely disappeared is that of painted hangings, which served as a less expensive substitute for woven hangings but could be produced, with appropriate themes, on short notice.[citation needed]
In a period lasting approximately between 1390 and 1420 there was a particularly close correspondence between works produced far apart in Europe. In the north the miniatures of theTrès Riches Heures Limbourg brothers, in Italy theAdoration of the Magi of Lorenzo Monaco, and sculpture and miniatures in many countries show very stylised tall figures, the older men with imposingly long beards and swaying figures. Exotic clothes, based loosely on those of the contemporary Middle East orByzantine Empire, are worn by figures in biblical scenes; many figures seem to be included just to show off these costumes. The number of figures in many standard religious scenes is greatly increased; the Magi have large retinues, and the Crucifixion often becomes a crowded event. This innovation was to survive the style itself.[citation needed]
The unveiling of Gentile da Fabriano'sAdoration of the Magi (below) in Florence in 1423, "the culminating work of International Gothic painting", was almost immediately followed by the painting of theBrancacci Chapel byMasolino andMasaccio (1424–26), which was recognised as a breakthrough to a new style.[17] In similar fashion the Limbourg brothers' masterpiece theTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry was followed within a few years by theTurin-Milan Hours, a continuation of a manuscript started decades before by the Parement Master for the Duke of Berry, which despite a Gothic framework pioneered a very different style of painting.
But outside Florence and the leading courts the International Gothic still held sway, gradually developing in directions that once again diverged considerably between Italy and Europe north of the Alps. The arts and architecture transitioned into theEarly Renaissance.
