Gothic Art in Germany and Italy........................................................

Lecture 5

Thus far, we have looked at medieval art—Romanesque and Gothic—

within the borders of modern France. But these stylistic or cultural

labels transcend borders, especially since we are not speaking of

modern nation-states.

T

he city of Strasbourg, for example, on the Rhine River, has changed
political complexion more than once, and it would be foolish to say
that Strasbourg was not French in the Middle Ages. Our example
shows a famous sculpture, Death of the Virgin (c. 1230, Strasbourg
Cathedral, south transept door, tympanum). This small narrative sculpture
has a characteristic expressivity that is not explained simply by its date in the
Gothic period. The heads of the apostles, who are present at Mary’s death,
are compressed awkwardly against the arch. The central drama is richly
enacted by four full-length and two half-length ¿ gures: Mary, being laid on
a bed by two apostles; Christ and St. John standing behind the bed; and most
remarkably, St. Mary Magdalen, kneeling in front of it.

The robes of these ¿ gures are modeled in a Classical manner reminiscent
of the À owing robes of Moses and Abraham on the north portal of Chartres,
but they are infused with more humanity and tenderness, because their
greater motion is translated into emotion. The sculptor makes the demands
of the semi-circular composition work for him by allowing it to bend ¿ gures
in toward the emotional core of the scene. Note that Christ, miraculously
present, holds a female ¿ gure like a small statue in his left hand. This is the
soul of his mother, which he receives. The Magdalene, who nearly always
expresses deep emotion in artistic representations, is believable in her grief,
which we see in her face and feel in her coiled posture.

The next work is in the Germanic spirit—a creation of a northern psychological
trait that values the release of extreme emotion and permits it to govern the
representation of the human body. Pietà (c. 1300) shows the emaciated and
broken body of Christ supported by his anguished mother. The compactness
of this group was partly dictated by the limitations of the wood, but it is