SECRETS OF GOTHIC SCULPTURE
Where and when did Gothic sculpture first appear?
The designation ‘Gothic’ is a modern concept; it’s helpful to art historians, who want to distinguish this kind of imagery from Classical, Romanesque, and Renaissance art. Those who commissioned, created and observed this statuary would have simply thought of it as new, and Christian – and, very probably, as French!
What we call Gothic sculpture emerged in tandem with the new cathedrals displaying a modern, intentionally non-Classical style – pointed arches, rib-vaults, flying buttresses, improbable heights, thin walls, and so forth. These arose first in northern France, in and near Paris, starting in the 1130s-40s. Like many earlier pilgrimage churches, the new churches at Saint-Denis, Chartres, Paris (Notre-Dame), Sens
