http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mgot/hd_mgot.

htm 14/03/2012 03:17 Gothic art From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedi The Western (Royal) Portal at Chartres Cathedral (ca. 1145). These architectural statues are the earliest Gothic sculptures and were a revolution in style and the model for a generation of sculptors.Gothic art was a style of Medieval art that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical styles in Italy. In the late 14th century, the sophisticated court style of International Gothic developed, which continued to evolve until the late 15th century. In many areas, especially Germany, Late Gothic art continued well into the 16th century, before being subsumed into Renaissance art. Primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco and illuminated manuscripts. The easily recognisable shifts in architecture from Romanesque to Gothic, and Gothic to Renaissance styles, are typically used to define the periods in art in all media, although in many ways figurative art developed at a different pace. The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture, on the walls of Cathedrals and abbeys. Christian art was often typological in nature (see Medieval allegory), showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side. Saints' lives were often depicted. Images of the Virgin Mary changed from the Byzantine iconic form to a more human and affectionate mother, cuddling her infant, swaying from her hip, and showing the refined manners of a well-born aristocratic courtly lady. Secular art came in to its own during this period with the rise of cities, foundation of universities, increase in trade, the establishment of a money-based economy and the creation of a bourgeois class who could afford to patronize the arts and commission works resulting in a proliferation of paintings and illuminated manuscripts. Increased literacy and a growing body of secular vernacular literature encouraged the representation of secular themes in art. With the growth of cities, trade guilds were formed and artists were often required to be members of a painters' guildas a result, because of better record keeping, more artists are known to us by name in this period than any previous; some artists were even so bold as to sign their names. Origins Gothic art emerged in le-de-France, France, in the early 12th century at the Abbey Church of St Denis built by Abbot Suger.[1] The style rapidly spread beyond its origins in architecture to sculpture, both monumental and personal in size, textile art, and painting, which took a variety of forms, including fresco, stained glass, the illuminated manuscript, and panel painting.[2] Monastic orders, especially the Cistercians and the Carthusians, were important builders who disseminated the style and developed distinctive variants of it across Europe. Regional variations of architecture remained important, even when, by the late 14th century, a coherent universal style known as International Gothic had evolved, which continued until the late 15th century, and beyond in many areas. Although there was far more secular Gothic art than is often thought today, as generally the survival rate of religious art has been better than for secular equivalents, a large proportion of the art produced in the period was religious, whether commissioned by the church or by the laity. Gothic art was often typological in nature, reflecting a belief that the events of the Old Testament pre-figured those of the New, and that this was indeed their main significance. Old and New Testament scenes were shown side by side in works like the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, and the decoration of churches. The Gothic period coincided with a great resurgence in Marian devotion, in which the visual arts played a major part. Images of the Virgin Mary developed from the Byzantine hieratic types, through the Coronation of the Virgin, to more human and initimate types, and cycles of the Life of the Virgin were very popular. Artists like Giotto, Fra Angelico and Pietro Lorenzetti in Italy, and Early Netherlandish painting, brought realism and a more natural humanity to art. Western artists, and their patrons, became much more confident in innovative iconography, and much more originality is seen, although copied formulae were still used by most artists.Iconography was affected by changes in theology, with depictions of the Assumption of Mary gaining ground on the older Death of the Virgin, and in devotional practices such as the Devotio Moderna, which produced new treatments of Christ in subjects such as the Man of Sorrows, Pensive Christ and Piet, which emphasized his human suffering and vulnerability, in a parallel movement to that in depictions of the Virgin. Even in Last Judgements Christ was now usually shown exposing his chest to show the wounds of his Passion. Saints were shown more frequently, and altarpieces showed saints relevant to the particular church or donor in attendance on a Crucifixion or enthroned Virgin and Child, or occupying the central space themselves (this usually for works designed for side-chapels). Over the period many ancient iconographical features that originated in New Testament apocrypha were gradually eliminated under clerical pressure, like the midwives at the Nativity, though others were too well-established, and considered harmless.[3] Etymology The word "Gothic" for art was initially used as a synonym for "Barbaric", and was therefore used pejoratively. Its critics saw this type of Medieval art as unrefined and too remote from the aesthetic proportions and shapes of Classical art.[4] Renaissance authors believed that the Sack of Rome by the Gothic tribes in 410 had triggered the demise of the Classical world and all the values they held dear. In the 15th century, various Italian architects and writers complained that the new 'barbarian' styles filtering down from north of the Alps posed a similar threat to the classical revival promoted by the early Renaissance.[5] The "Gothic" qualifier for this art was first used in Raphael's letter to Pope Leo X c. 1518 and was subsequently popularised by the Italian artist and writer Giorgio Vasari,[6] who used it as early as 1530, calling Gothic art a "monstrous and barbarous" "disorder". [7] Raphael claimed that the pointed arches of northern architecture were an echo of the primitive huts the Germanic forest dwellers formed by bending trees together - a myth which would resurface much later in a more positive sense in the writings of the German Romantic movement. "Gothic art" was strongly criticized by French authors such as Boileau, La Bruyre, Rousseau, before becoming a recognized form of art, and the wording becoming fixed.[8] Molire would famously comment on Gothic:

The besotted taste of Gothic monuments, These odious monsters of ignorant centuries, Which the torrents of barbary spewed forth. Molire.[9] In its beginning, Gothic art was initially called "French work" (Opus Francigenum), thus attesting the priority of France in the creation of this style.

http://www.datehookup.com/content-romantic-gothic-literature.htm Romantic Gothic Literature Every once in a while, a certain movement will have such a profound influence on the world that it changes the way people think and act. Sometimes, it involves human rights, and sometimes, it involves a religion. There are also other kinds of movements, like art and literary movements. In these movements, it seems like the whole world is changing because both art and literature can change in drastic ways. The Romantic Gothic Literature movement is one of these important movements. Heres more information about the Romantic Gothic period and literature. Romanticism Despite the name, Romanticism has little connection with word romantic as it is used today. Instead, its actually the term for a literary movement that began in the 18th century that was basically a revolt against the aristocratic society that governed Western Europe. It placed special emphasis on the aesthetic experience and in particular, focused on such sensations like awe, trepidation, horror, and terror. Folk art became something to be respected and ancient customs became noble and desirable. It was an expression of wanting to return to a more natural time. Gothicism Gothicism thrived in the 19th century. Its categorized by an emphasis on the macabre and the mysterious. Concepts such as magic, hidden passages, bloody hands, screams, ghosts, and other supernatural entities and activities were all mainstays in the Gothic literary movement. The movement saw a revival in the 1740s when Horace Walpole purchased a grand estate and remodeled it in the Gothick style. He added towers, arched windows, and turrets, turning the building into quite a frightening place. Many houses in the surrounding areas followed suit, creating a sort of movement. Walpole published a novel, The Castle of Otranto, in 1764, which truly got the Gothic movement moving. Edgar Allen Poe was inspired by this style of writing and it shows in his horror stories. Romantic Gothic Literature What do you get when you combine these two things? Novels like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christabel, Isabella, and La Belle Dame sans Merci. These were all horror stories that expressed the darker side of human nature and terrified their readers. Lord Byron was one of the most infamous writers of the period but the most infamous tale came from his wife, Mary Shelley, who wrote the horror story Frankenstein. Another well-known work includes Polidoris The Vampire and Bram Stokers Dracula. These stories were written to both terrify and entrance the world, and it worked. Romantic Gothic Poetry and Short Stories Gothic poetry and short stories were fascinating to the people at the time. These horror stories captivated their audiences and often turned their authors into some of the most famous people in the world. A few of these poems and stories even propelled their authors into history whereby their books became classics and their names lived on, well past their deaths. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/gothic/gothic.html GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Today, the word Gothic primarily describes a style of European architecture which flourished from the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries, though the word seems originally to have referred to any non-classical (Greek or Roman) architecture. Gothic architecture used pointed arches and vaults, flying buttresses, narrow spires, stained glass windows, intricate traceries, and varied details; its upward movement was meant to suggest heavenward aspiration. The words Goth and Gothic also described the Germanic tribes (e.g., Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths) which sacked Rome and also ravaged the rest of Europe in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. From this source, the words came also to mean barbarian, barbarous, and barbaric. By the eighteenth century in England, Gothic had become synonymous with the Middle Ages, a period which was in disfavor because it was perceived as chaotic, unenlightened, and superstitious. Renaissance critics erroneously believed that Gothic architecture was created by the Germanic tribes and regarded it as ugly and barbaric. This erroneous attribution continued through the eighteenth century. As a result of an upshot of interest in the Middle Ages, Gothic architecture experienced a revival in the late eighteenth century; Horace Walpole rebuilt Strawberry Hill as a medieval castle and William Beckford spent a fortune on his medieval, elaborate imitation, Fonthill Abbey. The revival flourished in the nineteenth century and Gothic buildings were constructed throughoug England. GOTHIC LITERATURE The English Gothic novel began with Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1765), which was enormously popular and quickly imitated by other novelists and soon became a recognizable genre. To most modern readers, however, The Castle of

Otranto is dull reading; except for the villain Manfred, the characters are insipid; the action moves at a fast clip with no emphasis or suspense, despite the supernatural manifestations and a young maiden's flight through dark vaults. But contemporary readers found the novel electrifying original and thrillingly suspenseful, with its remote setting, its use of the supernatural, and its medieval trappings, all of which have been so frequently imitated and so poorly imitated that they have become stereotypes. The genre takes its name from Otranto's medievalor Gothicsetting; early Gothic novelists tended to set their novels in remote times like the Middle Ages and in remote places like Italy (Matthew Lewis's The Monk, 1796) or the Middle East (William Beckford's Vathek, 1786). What makes a work Gothic is a combination of at least some of these elements: a castle, ruined or intact, haunted or not, ruined buildings which are sinister or which arouse a pleasing melancholy, dungeons, underground passages, crypts, and catacombs which, in modern houses, become spooky basements or attics, labyrinths, dark corridors, and winding stairs, shadows, a beam of moonlight in the blackness, a flickering candle, or the only source of light failing (a candle blown out or an electric failure), extreme landscapes, like rugged mountains, thick forests, or icy wastes, and extreme weather, omens and ancestral curses, magic, supernatural manifestations, or the suggestion of the supernatural, a passion-driven, wilful villain-hero or villain, a curious heroine with a tendency to faint and a need to be rescuedfrequently, a hero whose true identity is revealed by the end of the novel, horrifying (or terrifying) events or the threat of such happenings. The Gothic creates feelings of gloom, mystery, and suspense and tends to the dramatic and the sensational, like incest, diabolism, and nameless terrors. Most of us immediately recognize the Gothic (even if we don't know the name) when we encounter it in novels, poetry, plays, movies, and TV series. For some of us--and I include myself, the prospect of safely experiencing dread or horror is thrilling and enjoyable. Elements of the Gothic have made their way into mainstream writing. They are found in Sir Walter Scott's novels, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and in Romantic poetry like Samuel Coleridge's "Christabel," Lord Byron's "The Giaour," and John Keats's "The Eve of St. Agnes." A tendency to the macabre and bizarre which appears in writers like William Faulkner, Truman Capote, and Flannery O'Connor has been called Southern Gothic. THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY DEFINTION The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) does not list the literary meaning of Gothic, though it does list the other meanings I have discussed. The OED differs from the dictionaries we use most of the time; it traces words historically, that is, it lists the first appearance of a word in English and traces its usage and changes over time. I have included the relevant definitions of Gothic for those of you who are interested in words and language or who might just be curious. Dates for when a word first appeared in writing are from the OED unless I state otherwise. http://annabella-gualdoni.suite101.com/common-elements-of-gothic-literature-a248811 Common Elements of Gothic Literature Jun 13, 2010 Annabella Gualdoni Robert Louis Stevenson's native Edinburgh. - Annabella Gualdoni Gothic literature is marked by characteristic place settings and personality types that strive to lead to a sense of horror or despair. Gothic is the Renaissance definition of that which is horrific, or in Margot Northeys description as something barbarous, unpolished, or in bad taste. It is also commonly thought to refer to anything medieval, particularly the Gothic architectural style, which was held in low esteem throughout most of history. Gothic style additionally suggests a belief in the supernatural, something that is fearful and mysterious. A Gothic Atmosphere The literary horror author H.P. Lovecraft claims, An appropriate atmosphere is absolutely essential to the Gothic mode (quoted by Carol Ann Howells). A typical Gothic story is set in and around a castle ruined or otherwise graveyard, cave, convent, monastery, church, cathedral, chapel, dungeon or charnel house. The building possesses the occupants or holds them in bondage, says Marshall Tymn in his book Fantasy Literature. The locations are most often in uninhabited mountain ranges, wild forests, or other secluded places. Gothic conventions are important for developing a Gothic atmosphere. Architectural paraphernalia such towers, trapdoors, mysterious corridors, rusty hinges, tunnels, and lightless niches all serve to entrap their helpless victims. Flickering candles, burial vaults, tolling bells, hidden manuscripts, curses and prophecies, suits of armor, ghosts, clanking chains, animated portraits, lamps, evil potions and spells, fluttering bats, storms, lightening, and howling winds add to the aura of terror and mystery that define the Gothic genre. A wide range of elements that create a sense of terror, decay, despair, or death can contribute to a Gothic setting.

Gothic place settings such as the polar ice glacier or the old mans cottage were cleverly used in Mary Shelleys classic gothic novel Frankenstein. While ice glaciers and cliffside cottages are not traditional Gothic settings such as castles and ruins, Shelleys imaginative use of them creates a Gothic mood because of the images of isolation and loneliness that they create. Gothic Character Types Heroes and hero-victims, villains, and split-personalities found in Gothic fiction tend to fit certain characteristic molds. They are somber, diabolic, or pure and angelic virtue, or they are a combination of those types. Hero/victims are either of noble birth, or they are common peasants. Perhaps the most famous split personality is Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, which was based on a real person in Robert Louis Stevensons native Edinburgh, Scotland. Lord Bryon created the Byronic hero, a Gothic character type that is basically heroic but also flawed, and who may suffer from conflicting emotions and may be somehow exiled or an outlaw. Well Known Gothic Works. Some of the best known classic Gothic works are Ann Radcliffes Mysteries of Udolpho and Horace Walpoles Castle of Otranto, widely considered to be the quintessential Gothic novel. Daphne du Mauriers Rebecca and Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre are popular works of Gothic Romance. The dramatic settings and rich character types in Gothic novels have let to many of them being made into famous films, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, and numerous versions of Frankenstein and Jane Eyre. Read more at Suite101: Common Elements of Gothic Literature | Suite101.com http://annabellagualdoni.suite101.com/common-elements-of-gothic-literature-a248811#ixzz1p7LRj9GK

http://www.zittaw.com/gcanon.htm THE GOTHIC CANON These walls,' said he, 'were once the seat of luxury and vice. They exhibited a singular instance of the retribution of Heaven, and were from that period forsaken, and abandoned to decay.' His words excited my curiosity, and I enquired further concerning their meaning. Ann Radcliffe, A Sicilian Romance Often criticized for its sensationalism, melodramatic qualities, and its play on the supernatural, the Gothic novel dominated English literature from its conception in 1764 with the publication of The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole to its 'supposed' demise in 1820. The genre drew many of its intense images from the graveyard poets intermingling a landscape of vast dark forest with vegetation that bordered on excessive, concealed ruins with horrific rooms, monasteries and a forlorn character who excels at the melancholy. A fabled spectre or perhaps a bleeding Nun were images often sought after by those who fell victim to the supernatural influences of these books. Gothic literature as a movement was a disappointment to the idealistic romantic poets for the sentimental character idealized by Ann Radcliffe could not transcend into reality. The modern critical view of the Gothic canon limits it to a set of high reaching artistic achievements: Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764), Ann Radcliffe's The Italian; or, The Confessional of the Black Penitents (1797), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) and Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) are cited as the defining parameters of the genre. Although the Gothic novel influenced many of the emerging genres, like romanticism, the outpouring of Gothic novels started to ease by 1815 and with the publication of Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer in 1820 ,the genre began to fade. The Gothic novel had come full circle, from rebellion to the Age of Reasons order, to its encompassing and incorporation of Reason as derived from terror. The influence of the Gothic novel is felt today in the portrayal of the alluring antagonist, whose evil characteristics appeal to ones sense of awe, or the melodramatic aspects of romance, or more specifically in the Gothic motif of a persecuted maiden forced apart from a true love. The Gothic genre today has remained an elusive minor literary upheaval that has had immense influence on genres today. Literary critics though, have been slow to accept Gothic literature as a valuable genre. The first critics to examine the Gothic, approached it reverently with historical interest. They tried to rescue it, to revive the dead and obscure genre. These critics looked at the presence of the text by examining it within a historical context. The original critical approach of historical interpretation allowed the text to validate the text, as it was a reaction to the age of reason, order, and politics of Eighteenth century England. The development of the Gothic Novel from the melancholy overtures of sentimental literature to the rise of the sublime in the graveyard poets had a profound impact on the budding Romantic movement from Wordsworth to Shelley. The astounding features and use of the sublime and the overt use of the supernatural, profoundly influenced the style and material of the emerging romantics. Gothic Novels such as The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom by Tobias Smollett, Longsword, Earl of Salisbury by Thomas Leland, The Old English Baron: A Gothic Story by Clara Reeve and Vathek: An Arabian Tale by William Beckford led Coleridge to write a Gothic drama, Shelley to write two Gothic Novels and Byron to write Manfred . The effects of the Gothic still reverberate though modern literature from Joyce Carol Oats to Ann Rice. The literary motifs set forth by Horace Walpole can be found scattered throughout all forms of literature, yet the Gothic Novel has been left to molder in libraries in obscurity and except in rare instances, the novel has all but vanished from the canon of western literature.

The term gothic was originally used to describe both type of Art and Architecture. Gothic novels were given a genre of their own primarily because of their emotional extremes and their dark themes. Gothic Literature ================= The gothic novel is a literary genre which is said to have been created in 1764 when Horace Walpole wrote his novel The Castle of Otranto. The main features of gothic novels included terror, mystery, the supernatural, doom, death, curses and madness. The term gothic was originally used to describe both type of Art and Architecture. Gothic novels were given a genre of their own primarily because of their emotional extremes and their dark themes and because its most natural settings were things like castles and monasteries which were part of the typical gothic architecture. Some of the first gothic novels included The Castle of Otranto and Byronic Hero. By about 1840, the gothic genre had played itself out and this was partly due to writers who were developing the genre into the horror fiction that it later morphed into. The gothic genre did, however, have a long lasting effect and it led to a Victorian craze for ghost stories and it also had an influence on Charles Dickens who read gothic novels when he was younger and he later put the gothic melodrama and gloomy atmosphere into his own books. By the 1880s, the gothic novel was revived and many authors of the time such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Machen and Oscar Wilde all wrote gothic works. Also, it was about this time that the most famous gothic villain appeared in Bram Stokers Dracula in 1897. Elements of the gothic novel: 1. Setting in a castle. 2. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense. 3. An ancient prophecy 4. Omens, portents, visions. 5. Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events. 6. High, even overwrought emotion. 7. Women in distress and sometimes threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male. 8. The metonymy of gloom and horror. How to Cite this Page MLA Citation: "Gothic Literature." 123HelpMe.com. 14 Mar 2012 <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=100613>. Gothic Art began in 1137 with the rebuilding of the chair of the abbey church of St. Denis. Gothic Art is the style of art produced in Europe from the Middle Ages up to the beginning of the Renaissance. Typically religious in nature, is especially known for the distinctive arched design of its churches, its stained glass, and its illuminated manuscripts. Gothic, although symbolic, is a lot more anecdotal and naturalistic than Romanesque. In the late 14th century, anticipating the Renaissance, Gothic Art evolved towards a more secular style known as International Gothic. One of the best-known artists of this period is Simone Martini. Simone Martini was a Sienese painter who greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style, and was a major

figure in the development of early Italian painting. Giovanni Pisano was an Italian sculptor, as was his father Nicola Pisano. His work shows a mixture of French Gothic and the classical style. Among his works are: Pulpit for the Duomo di Siena, Sculptures and architectural design for the facade of the cathedral in Siena, Pulpit for the church of S. Andrea in Pistoia, The five reliefs on the pulpit are the Annunciation and Nativity, the Adoration, Dream of the Magi and Angel warning Joseph, the Massacre of the Innocents, the Crucifixion, and the Last Judgement, and the Pulpit for the Pisa Cathedral. The extraordinary painter Hieronymus Bosch stands apart from the prevailing Flemish traditions in painting. His style was unique, strikingly free, and his symbolism, unforgettably vivid, remains unparalleled to this day. Marvellous and terrifying, he expresses an intense pessimism and reflects the anxieties of his time, one of social and political upheaval The Gothic era in painting spanned more than 200 years, starting in Italy and spreading to the rest of Europe. Towards the end of this period, there were some artists in parts of the North who resisted Renaissance influences and kept to the Gothic tradition. As a result, the end of the Gothic timeline overlaps with both the Italian and the Northern Renaissance timelines. Well I really do not have any dislikes of the Gothic Art period. The reason I liked the Gothic Art period is that many of the figures seem to assert their own individuality, as if they were actual persons. How to Cite this Page MLA Citation: "Gothic Art." 123HelpMe.com. 14 Mar 2012 <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=151795>. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/gothic/history.html The First Wave of Gothic Novels: 1765-1820 The English Gothic novel began with Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (1765). Contemporary readers found the novel electrifyingly original and thrillingly suspenseful, with its remote setting, its use of the supernatural, and its medieval trappings, all of which have been so frequently imitated that they have become stereotypes. But for most modern readers, however, The Castle of Otranto is dull reading; except for the villain Manfred, the characters are insipid; the action moves at such a fast clip that the novel lacks emphasis and suspense, despite the supernatural manifestations and a young maiden's terrified flight through dark vaults. The novel was so enormously popular that it was quickly imitated by other novelists, thereby initiating a genre. The genre takes its name from The Castle of Otranto's medievalor Gothicsetting, as well as the subtitle; early Gothic novelists tended to set their novels in remote times like the Middle Ages and in remote places like Italy (Matthew Lewis's The Monk, 1796) or the Middle East (William Beckford's Vathek, 1786). The first great practitioner of the Gothic novel, as well the most popular and best paid novelist of the eighteenth century England, was Ann Radcliffe. She added suspense, painted evocative landscapes and moods or atmsophere, portrayed increasingly complex, fascinatingly-horrifying, evil villains, and focused on the heroine and her struggle with him. Her best worksA Sicilian Romance (1790), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), and The Italian (1797), with the irredeemably malevolent monk, Schedonistill have the ability to thrill and enthrall readers. Inspired by Radcliffe and influenced by German sensationalist horror tales, Matthew Lewis wrote The Monk (1796). The novel follows the lust-driven monk Ambrosio from one abominal act to anotherrape, incest, matricide, burial alive to his gory death and well-deserved damnation. Naturally it was enormously successful and controversial. The story goes that Radcliffe, a sedate, conventional matron, was appalled at his novel and his acknowledging her influence on him, so she responded with The Italian, whose villain is also a monk, to show how a novel of terror and suspense should be written. In On the Supernatural in Poetry, a dialogue that was unfinished at her death, Radcliffe distinguished between the effect her novels achieved, terror, and the effect Lewis's achieved, horror: Terror and horror are so far opposite, that the first expands the soul, and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life; the other contracts, freezes, and nearly annihilates them. I apprehend, that neither Shakspeare nor Milton by their fictions, nor Mr. Burke by his reasoning, anywhere looked to positive horror as a source of the sublime, though they all agree that terror is a very high one; and where lies the great difference between horror and terror, but in the uncertainty and obscurity, that accompany the first, respecting the dreaded evil? Their different approaches to the novel of terror, as it was called in the eighteenth century, have given been distinguished by some critics as terror Gothic, represented by Radcliffe, and horror Gothic, represented by Lewis. Sometimes this same distinction is tied to gender, with female equated with terror Gothic and with male being equated with horror Gothic. In 1818, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus introduced the theme of the dangers of science and created the obsessed scientist, who was to develop into the mad scientist, and the archetypal Monster. Frankenstein has been called the first science fiction novel; she of course thought she was writing a novel of terror. <>The publication of Charles' Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer in 1820 is the last of what some critics have called the Classic Gothic novel and for others marks the end of the true Gothic novel. His forte is showing character under extreme conditions, both psychologically, spiritually, and physically; Melmoth has sold his soul to the devil to live another one hundred fifty years, with an out, if he can only find someone else to take his place. The novel is powerful and certainly one of the great tales of mystery and terror, despite its loose structure.

Gothic Fiction in the Nineteenth Century Most critics, literary historians, and readers see Gothic fiction as continuing to the present time; though it has undergone great changes, the themes, effects, and conventions of the earliest Gothic novels are alive and well, appearing in novels, movies, TV dramas and cartoons, and computer games. Because the Gothic stream became so broad and took so many branches and turnings, I will cover only a few highlights and discuss, during the course of the semester, the historical significance of the authors we will be reading. An early writer who transformed Gothic fiction was Edgar Allan Poe. He contributed a sophisticated analysis of the psychological processes, insight into the unconscious, a sense of structure, an insistence on unity of tone and mood. His work shows the close connection between Gothic fiction and detective fiction, which grows out of the Gothic, and the continuing overlap between Gothic fiction and science fiction. <>The modern ghost story developed late in the nineteenth century, which was a skeptical age. In an age of general belief in ghosts and similar spectral manifestations, ghost stories are generally matter of fact, like Defoe's "True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal" (1706), which disappoints most modern readers because it lacks mystery and suspense. The ghost in modern fiction takes more forms, such as the animal ghost, and may be more active and malevolent than in early Gothic fiction; Walpole's ghost is singularly inactive; the only effect the ghost's appearances have is to frighten servants and, finally, to destroy the castle as a result of expanding to his full size; it is not clear that he intended to destroy the castle. The modern ghost may have its own purposes, act on its personal emotions, like jealousy or the pleasure of inflicting pain, and not be the mere instrument of an outside force, like righting injustice or revenging a wrong. Ghost stories continued to be popular through the first decades of the twentieth century. Gothic Fiction in the Twentieth Century The horror tale experienced an upsurge in popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century. Perhaps it can be explained, at least in part, as a way of expressing the horrors of World War I and the revulsion at its devastation. Several new variants of Gothic fiction arose. A commercially successful, mass Gothic novel, often called Modern Gothic or Gothic Romance, is particularly written for women by women and started when some novels by Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney were issued by Ace Books in the 1960s. These novels follow a pattern: an innocent, inexperienced, young heroine suspects her superior suitor or husband, who is usually older, often wealthy, and worldly-wise, of a crime; she may have to compete with an older woman for his affections, a competition she of course wins. The book covers are typically sterotyped, with a young woman fleeing a mansion or castle looming in the background. Terry Carr, a former editor at Ace books, bluntly describes the Modern Gothic's content and appeal: The basic appeal... is to women who marry guys and then begin to discover that their husbands are strangers... so there's a simultaneous attraction/repulsion, love/fear going on. Most of the "pure" Gothics tend to have a handsome, magnetic suitor or husband who may or may not be a lunatic and/or murderer...it remained for U.S. women to discover they were frightened of their husbands. What these novels do for the women who devour them is to reassure them of the primacy and the power of heterosexual romance and love, to allay their doubts about what it takes to be a desirable, beloved woman, and to reassure them that their husbands are not dangerous. Though written in 1938, Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca is the quintessential Modern Gothic thriller and later novels often claim to be written in the style of Rebecca. Publishers also attach the label "gothic" to a specific kind of paperback historical-romance potboiler. Comparable formulaic books written specifically for male readers include the Western and hard-boiled detective stories. I have devoted so much space to this form, because I do not intend to refer to it again, either in writing or in class. <>A tendency to the macabre and bizarre which appears in writers like William Faulkner, Truman Capote, and Flannery O'Connor has been called Southern Gothic. The contemporary writers James Purdy, Joyce Carol Oates, and John Hawkes have been linked under the name of New American Gothic. SOME CONNECTIONS It is generally agreed that Gothicism is related to romanticism; what is not generally agreed upon is what the connections are. The two movements are connected chronologically, use many of the same themes, like the hero-villain with a secret, and deal with psychological processes. The eighteenth century Gothic writers are often described as precursors to Romanticism because they valued sensibility, exalted the sublime, and appealed to the reader's imagination. And Gothic elements appear in Romantic poetry like Samuel Coleridge's "Christabel, " Lord Byron's "The Giaour, " and John Keats's "The Eve of St. Agnes." Elements of the Gothic have also made their way into mainstream writing. They are found in Sir Walter Scott's novels, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, Charles Dickens's Great Expectations and his unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. http://www.arteducation.com.au/art-movements/gothic.php Gothic | Art Movement The Gothic art period took place in Europe between the 12th and 16th century. The Gothic movement mostly influenced architecture, but it also brought significant changes to sculpture and painting. The Gothic style was intended to replace the Romanesque style of architecture. Romanesque architecture created space by adding bays, unit by unit. Gothic architecture, on the other hand, created as an entire space that was then subdivided into units. Gothic art was introduced at the Abbey of St.-Denis, the burial ground of French kings, near Paris. In 1144, Abbott Suger

commissioned Gothic architects to rebuild the church in the new style. The Gothic style of architecture was an immediate success, and by 1250 the Gothic movement spread to the rest of Europe. Gothic architecture was seen mostly in cathedrals. Different regions of Europe created their own variations, but the Gothic style was typified by constructional devices like flying buttresses, ribbed vaults, and pointed arches. Architects made cathedral walls thinner, allowing stained-glass windows to be installed instead of mosaics. Some of the best examples of gothic architecture can be seen at the cathedrals of Ameins, Reims, and Chartres. Gothic sculpture was created to decorate the entrances of cathedrals. The subjects of the sculptures were usually figures from the Old Testament. Some of the best examples of Gothic sculpture can be seen at the cathedrals of St. Denis and Chartres. Later in the Gothic art movement, sculptors developed a freer style, inspired by Roman and Greek art. Painting of the Gothic period was inspired by the design and colour of stained-glass windows. Many Gothic painters favoured bright reds and blues typical of stained-glass. Painters were also commissioned to decorate manuscript copies of the Bible and prayer books for the churches. In the 1400's, Gothic painters began to create oil paintings in Flanders. Some of the best Gothic painters include Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, and Robert Campin. At the end of the Gothic movement, many artists resisted the transition into Renaissance. Therefore, the Gothic era overlaps with the Northern and Italian Renaissance era.

Gothic Art 5th Century to 16th Century A.D. By Neal McLaughlin

The moniker, Gothic Art, was actually a term used by Italian writers of the Renaissance period to openly insult the style of architecture that they had declared to be non-classical ugliness practiced by the barbarian Gothic tribe that had been responsible for the destruction of the Roman Empire and its classic culture during the 5th Century. In truth, Gothic Architecture or Art was in no way associated with Goth Tribe. However, this negatively attached appendage would follow the Gothic Architecture and Art style into the 19th Century before critics would reevaluate this form of selfexpression and remove the stigma by redefining Gothic to a friendlier, more positive connotation. Evolving from Romanesque Art, the Gothic Movement would strongly influence the European artisans from its conception in the Middle Ages until the mid to late 14th Century when the Renaissance Movement would become the dominant trend. The sculptors of the Gothic Art movement had a very close kinship with the architects, designers and mason of this period, as their stone figures, the main theme being the Holy Family and the Biblical Saints, were used to adorn the spectacular cathedrals and associated religious structures throughout Europe. At the onset of this movement, these figures very rarely, if ever, demonstrated any sign of individuality as they bore distinct similarities to the parameters established and practiced by the style of the preceding Romanesque artists. However, by the late 12th and 13th Centuries the rigid, simple, and elongated sculptures would give way to a more relaxed, naturalistic style emphasizing a sense of individualism in the faces and bodies of life-like poses dressed in elegant, draping apparel. This evolution in the techniques demonstrated in the newer monument would eventually replaced the older style and was soon found in large numbers enhancing the many cathedrals of the High and Late Gothic periods. As the 14th Century brought forth many changes in the art world, Gothic Art would once again undergo a metamorphous by becoming even more refined and elegant with a touch of daintiness in the rendering of its elaborate drapery. This breach in what had become considered acceptable Gothic style apparently riled those of the original movement was as they openly criticized this fresher technique as being artificial prettiness in sculpting, painting and manuscript illumination. This new style would be ostracized and discredited throughout the whole of Europe, with the exception of France, where sculpting had taken on a more technical, classic style, and had become known as International Gothic. This new philosophy and technique by the sculptors would eventually lead Gothic artists down the same evolutionary path. They would reject the simple, stiff forms for the more relaxed and natural style of portraying their subject matters.

Theses radical changes in techniques also brought forth a newer vision that would replace the dominating images of the Holy Families and Saints, with depictions from the New Testament, in particular the passion of Christ and the Virgin Mary. These paintings, with their use of elegantly flowing, curving lines and the inclusion of the minutest of details set against a gold background, were usually found to be decorative, ornamental panels placed behind the altars. As the Gothic Art style evolved, so too, did its complexity. Unsatisfied with the flat, often one-dimensional renderings, the Gothic painters were striving to achieve techniques that would enhance the use of depth. As a result of this desire they were to become masters of perspective during the early years of the Italian Renaissance. Gothicism was an ever-evolving movement and would experience yet another transformation during the 14th and 15th Centuries. In a bold and creative move the painter had strayed from the use of secular images that had appeared in almost all of their renderings and instead began to portray scenes of hunting, historical events and heroic overtones. This valiant and courageous move had set the stage for other artists who sought change in the ever evolving traditional Gothic theme. Next to follow the lead were the artists responsible for the Manuscript Illustrations. By the time it had reached its apex in 14th Century France, Manuscript Illustrations had become the major form of artistic reproduction. It has been cited that the most notable works are the calendar illustrations created by the Limburg brothers; who had produced the Tres Riches Heures du duc de Berry (c 1416). Their creations have been quoted as being the most eloquent statements of the International Gothic style. The latter half of the 15th Century found the panel and wall paintings beginning to evolve into the style practiced by the Italian Renaissance. However, it maintained most of its Gothic characteristics until the end of the 15thCentury, (early 16th Century in Germany, Flanders and Northern Europe). Italy, however, refused to be influenced by the developing trends in Northern France and other areas of Europe and thusly stood alone, maintaining her individuality. Italy continued to use a combination of the Byzantine and classical antiquity style that would be her signature technique until Gothic Art was replaced by the Renaissance movement in the 15th Century. Gothic Art philosophies and techniques would attempt a revival many times over the course of many centuries. However, it would never again gain the momentum to propel it into the light of a major movement that would once again dominate the art world. The Gothic art movement was indeed a very interesting period in art history. It is suggested, and with much justification, that for anyone to truly understand and enjoy the entire Gothic era one must start by examining the Architecture that was the prototype that would launch a new and vigorous movement in the annals of art history. http://virtualology.com/hallofartmovements/gothicart.org/ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/239728/Gothic-art Gothic art ARTICLE from the Encyclopdia Britannica Get involved Share Gothic art, the painting, sculpture, and architecture characteristic of the second of two great international eras that flourished in western and central Europe during the Middle Ages. Gothic art evolved from Romanesque art and lasted from the mid-12th century to as late as the end of the 16th century in some areas. The term Gothic was coined by classicizing Italian writers of the Renaissance, who attributed the invention (and what to them was the nonclassical ugliness) of medieval architecture to the barbarian Gothic tribes that had destroyed the Roman Empire and its classical culture in the 5th century ce. The term retained its derogatory overtones until the 19th century, at which time a positive critical revaluation of Gothic architecture took place. Although modern scholars have long realized that Gothic art has nothing in truth to do with the Goths, the term Gothic remains a standard one in the study of art history.