Charting the Rise and Decline of the Gothic Cathedral

bjb42 — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:00:02 +0000

̽��ֱ��lectures, which run from 23 January through to 12 March, begin with Dark Gothic, the origins of the cathedral in the twelfth century and examine the myth of the cathedral in the history of late 19^th and early 20^th century ideas. ̽��ֱ��series continues with an investigation into the origins of Gothic art and architecture in northern France in the twelfth century that features a close-up analysis of Abbot Suger’s new choir at St-Denis which is widely considered the first appearance of Gothic Architecture.

̽��ֱ��series examines the cathedral as a work of engineering and advanced technology; the speakers will discuss the rhetorical notions of ductus and memoria in relation to liturgy and religious experience at Chartres; and plot the changes of meaning and experience in sculptural ensembles in northern France, England and the German Empire.

Stained glass also features prominently as a didactic medium that offers a delicate balance of story-telling and moral meaning.

̽��ֱ��last two lectures weigh up the relations between cathedrals and their cities, and the incursions of royalty and the coronation in the functions and imagery of the Cathedral. ̽��ֱ��series concludes with a short postscript which speculates on why the cathedral idea failed in the later Middle Ages.

̽��ֱ��8 part lecture series is hosted by Professor Paul Crossley, Emeritus Professor at the Courtauld Institute of Art, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Foreign Fellow of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. Paul Crossley was educated at Downside School and Trinity College Cambridge. It was at Trinity College and the Jagiellonian ̽��ֱ�� in Krakow where he completed his doctorate on the history of Polish Medieval architecture. From 1971 to 1990 he was a lecturer in the History of Art at Manchester ̽��ֱ��. 1990 he joined the teaching staff of ̽��ֱ��Courtauld Institute, first as a Senior Lecturer and then as a Professor in 2002.

̽��ֱ��lectures will take place weekly at 5:00 pm on Mondays during the Full Term in Lecture Room A of the Arts’ School, Bene’t Street, Cambridge, starting on 23 January 2012.

23 January: Dark Gothic

30 January: Architecture as Spolia: Suger and St-Denis

6 February: An Architecture of Reason?

13 February: Ductus and Memoria at Chartres Cathedral

20 February: From Judgement to Atonement: Sculpture at Strasbourg, Lincoln and Naumburg

27 February: Stained Glass: From narrative to moral meaning

5 March: Royalty and the Cathedral

12 March: Cathedrals and their Cities

A comprehensive exploration into Gothic cathedrals and their place in medieval society will be the focus of a series of Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Slade Lectures in Fine Art entitled ̽��ֱ��Gothic Cathedral: A New Heaven and a New Earth.

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Normandie 0344 Rouen Kathedrale

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̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Paul Crossley

Charting the Rise and Decline of the Gothic Cathedral