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TJ123-8-2009 LK VWD0011 Tradition Humanistic 6th Edition W:220mm x H:292mm 175L 115 Stora Enso M/A Magenta (V)58 CHAPTER 29 The Romantic Style in Art and Music58
(1802–1892), poet laureate of Great Britain, for example,
fused early British legend with the Christian mission in a
cycle of Arthurian poems entitledIdylls of the King; while
Sir Walter Scott immortalized medieval heroes and hero-
ines in avidly read historical novels and Romantic poems.
The revival of the Gothic style was equally distinctive
in architecture. The British Houses of Parliament, con-
ceived by Charles Barry (1795–1860) and Augustus Welby
Northmore Pugin (1812–1852) and begun in 1836, are
among the most aesthetically successful large-scale Neo-
Gothic public buildings. The picturesque combination of
spires and towers fronting on the River Thames in London
was the product of Pugin’s conviction that the Gothic style
best expressed the dignity befitting the official architecture
of a Christian nation (Figure 29.12). Moreover, the
Gothic style was symbolically appropriate for the building
that epitomized the principles of parliamentary rule, pio-
neered in England with the signing of the Magna Carta in- The Houses of Parliament might be said to reflect
the importance of medieval historical tradition—both reli-
gious and political—in shaping England’s self-image.
Neomedievalism gave rise to a movement for the
archeological restoration of churches and castles through-
out Europe: it also inspired some extraordinary new
architectural activity in North America. Colleges and uni-
versities (such as Harvard and Yale), museums (such as
the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.), and numerous
churches and cathedrals were modeled on medieval proto-
types. One of the most elegant examples of the Gothic
revival in the United States is Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in
New York City (Figure 29.13), which (along with Grace
Figure 29.12 CHARLES BARRYand A. W. N. PUGIN, (above) Houses of
Parliament, London, 1840–1860. Length 940 ft. Following the fire of 1834, which
destroyed the earlier structure (also known as the Palace of Westminster), a
royal commission directed Barry to design a Neo-Gothic replacement. Pugin was
largely responsible for the interior details. His designs seem to have coincided
with his conversion to Roman Catholicism. He perceived purity of structure and
the meaningful application of details as equivalent to the Catholic faith, but
equally appropriate to the ideals of the largely Protestant nation.Figure 29.13 JAMES RENWICKand WILLIAM BODRIGUE, (below)
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue and 50th Street, New York, 1853–1858.