During the 13th century European art was dominated for the first time by the art and architecture of France. The reasons for this are not clear, although it seems certain that they are connected with the influence of the court of King Louis IX (1226–70).

By about 1220–30 it must have been clear that engineering expertise had pushed building sizes to limits beyond which it was unsafe to go. The last of these gigantic buildings, Beauvais Cathedral, had a disastrous history, which included the collapse of its vaults, and it was never completed. In about 1230 architects became less interested in size and more interested in decoration. The result was the birth of what is known as the Rayonnant style (from the radiating character of the rose window, one of the style’s most prominent features). The earliest moves in this direction were at Amiens Cathedral, where the choir triforium and clerestory were begun after 1236, and at Saint-Denis, where transepts and nave were begun after 1231. Architects opened up as much of the wall surface as possible, producing areas of glazing that ran from the top of the main arcade to the apex of the vault. The combination of the triforium gallery and clerestory into one large glazed area had, of course, a unifying effect on the elevations. It produced an intricate play of tracery patterns and instantly unleashed an era of intense experiment into the form that these patterns should take. Many of the achievements of the Rayonnant architects are extremely fine—for instance, the two transept facades, begun during the 1250s, of Notre-Dame, Paris. The decorative effect of this architecture depends not only on the tracery of the windows but also on the spread of tracery patterns over areas of stonework and on architectural features such as gables.

In the history of this development, one building deserves special mention, the Sainte-Chapelle, Paris (consecrated 1248). This was Louis IX’s palace chapel, built to house an imposing collection of relics. It is a Rayonnant building in that it has enormous areas of glazing. Its form was extremely influential, and there were a number of subsequent “saintes-chapelles”—for instance, at Aachen and Riom—that were clearly modeled on the Parisian one. The interior of the Parisian Sainte-Chapelle is extraordinarily sumptuous. Although the sumptuousness itself set new standards, its characteristics belonged, curiously, to a past age. The glass is heavily coloured, the masonry heavily painted, and there is much carved detail. One of the characteristics of the second half of the 13th century is that glass became lighter, painting decreased, and the amount of carved decoration dwindled. Thus, in its chronological context, the Sainte-Chapelle is a Janus-like building—Rayonnant in its architecture but, in some ways, old-fashioned in its decoration.

Of the many smaller Rayonnant monuments that exist in France, one of the most complete is Saint-Urbain, Troyes (founded 1262). There, one can see the virtuosity practiced by the architects in playing with layers of tracery, setting off one “skin” of tracery against another.

In a sense, the Rayonnant style was technically a simple one. Depending, as it did, not primarily on engineering expertise or on sensitivity in the handling of architectural volumes and masses but on the manipulation of geometric shapes normally in two dimensions, the main prerequisites were a drawing board and an office.

Most countries produced versions of the Rayonnant style. In the Rhineland the Germans began one of the largest Rayonnant buildings, Cologne Cathedral, which was not completed until the late 19th century. The German masons carried the application of tracery patterns much further than did the French. One of the most complicated essays is the west front of Strasbourg Cathedral (planned originally in 1277 but subsequently altered and modified). One feature of Strasbourg and of German Rayonnant architecture in general was the application of tracery to spires—at Freiburg im Breisgau (spire begun c. 1330), for example, and the spire of Strasbourg that was begun about 1399. Few such medieval spires survive (though often they were completed in the 19th century).

Of all the European buildings of this period, the most important is probably the cathedral of Prague (founded in 1344). The plan was devised according to routine French principles by the first master mason, Mathieu d’Arras. When he died in 1352, his place was taken (1353–99) by Petr Parléř, the most influential mason in Prague and a member of a family of masons active in south Germany and the Rhineland. Parléř’s building included the start of a south tower and spire that clearly continued the traditions of the Rhineland. His originality lay in his experiments with vault designs, from which stem much of the virtuoso achievement of German masons in the 15th century.

London, too, has Rayonnant monuments. Westminster Abbey was rebuilt after 1245 by Henry III’s order, and in 1258 the remodeling of the east end of St. Paul’s Cathedral began. King Henry was doubtless inspired by the work carried out by his brother-in-law, King Louis IX of France, at the Sainte-Chapelle and elsewhere. Westminster Abbey, however, lacks the clear lines of a Rayonnant church, mainly because, like the Sainte-Chapelle, it was heavily decorated with carved stonework and with colour.

In fact, English architects for a long time retained a preference for heavy surface decoration; thus, when Rayonnant tracery designs were imported, they were combined with the existing repertoire of colonettes, attached shafts, and vault ribs. The result, which could be extraordinarily dense—for instance, in the east (or Angel) choir (begun 1256) at Lincoln Cathedral and at Exeter Cathedral (begun before 1280)—has been called the English Decorated style, a term that is in many ways an oversimplification. The interior architectural effects achieved (notably the retrochoir of Wells Cathedral or the choir of St. Augustine, Bristol) were more inventive generally than those of contemporary continental buildings. The inventive virtuosity of the masons of the Decorated style also produced experiments in tracery and vault design that anticipated by 50 years or more similar developments on the continent.

English Decorated was, however, never really a court style. Already by the end of the 13th century, a style of architecture was evolving that ultimately developed into the true English equivalent of Rayonnant, generally known as Perpendicular. The first major surviving statement of the Perpendicular style is probably the choir of Gloucester Cathedral (begun soon after 1330). Other major monuments were St. Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster (begun 1292 but now mostly destroyed) and York Minster nave (begun 1291).

Spain also produced Rayonnant buildings: León Cathedral (begun c. 1255) and the nave and transepts of Toledo Cathedral, both of which have, or had, characteristics similar to the French buildings. But, since the Spanish partiality for giant arcades (already seen in the earlier parts of Toledo and at Burgos) persisted, one can hardly classify as French the three major cathedrals of this period: Gerona (begun c. 1292), Barcelona (begun 1298), and Palma-de-Mallorca (begun c. 1300). They are, in fact, so individual that it is difficult to classify them at all, although peculiarities in the planning and buttressing of the outer walls gives them some similarity to the French cathedral of Albi (begun 1281).

Toward the end of the century, the influence of French ideas spread northward to Scandinavia, and in 1287 French architects were summoned to Sweden to rebuild Uppsala Cathedral.

Italian Gothic (c. 1200–1400)

In its development of a Gothic style, Italy stood curiously apart from the rest of Europe. For one thing, the more obvious developments of the Italian Gothic style occurred comparatively late—in the 13th century. For another, whereas in most European countries artists imitated with reasonable faithfulness architectural styles that were derived ultimately from northern France, they seldom did so in Italy. This was in part because of geographic and geologic factors. In the figurative arts the combined influences of Byzantine Constantinople and Classical antiquity continued to play a far more important role in Italy than in countries north of the Alps. Furthermore, Italian architectural style was decisively affected by the fact that brick—not stone—was the most common building material and marble the most common decorative material.

The distinctiveness of Italian art emerges as soon as one studies the architecture. Twelfth-century buildings such as Laon, Chartres, or Saint-Denis, which appear to have been so important in the north, had virtually no imitators in Italy. Indeed, buildings with Romanesque characteristics, such as Orvieto Cathedral (begun 1290), were still being built at the end of the 13th century. The Italians, however, were not unaware of what, by French standards, a great church ought to look like. There is a sprinkling of churches belonging to the first third of the century that have northern characteristics, such as attached (partially recessed in the wall) shafts or columns, crocket capitals, pointed arches, and ribbed vaults. Some of these were Cistercian (Fossanova, consecrated 1208), others were secular (Sant’Andrea, Vercelli; founded 1219). The chief common feature of the larger Italian 13th-century churches, such as Orvieto Cathedral and Santa Croce in Florence (begun 1294), was the size of their arcades, which gives the interiors a spacious feeling. Yet in detail the churches vary from the French pattern in a highly individual way.

To the extent that Rayonnant architecture is particularly concerned with the manipulation of two-dimensional patterns, the Italian masons produced their own version of the style. In these terms, the facade of Orvieto Cathedral (begun 1310), for example, is Rayonnant; the front of Siena Cathedral was planned as a Rayonnant facade, and the Campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of Florence Cathedral (founded 1334) is Rayonnant to the extent that its entire effect depends on marble patterning (which is traditionally ascribed to the painter Giotto). Finally, it is perhaps legitimate to see Filippo Brunelleschi’s 15th-century architecture as a continuation of this tendency—a kind of Florentine equivalent, perhaps, to English Perpendicular style. But before the 15th century, Italian architectural development never appears to have the logic or purpose of northern architecture.

Though the rebuilt Milan Cathedral is, in plan and general character, Italianate, its decorative character is mainly derived from the north, probably Germany. The exterior is covered with tracery, which makes Milan Cathedral more like a Rayonnant building than any other large church in Italy.

Late Gothic

During the 15th century much of the most elaborate architectural experiment took place in southern Germany and Austria. German masons specialized in vault designs; and, in order to get the largest possible expanse of ceiling space, they built mainly hall churches (a type that had been popular throughout the 14th century). Important hall churches exist at Landshut (St. Martin’s and the Spitalkirche, c. 1400) and Munich (Church of Our Lady, 1468–88). The vault patterns are created out of predominantly straight lines. Toward the end of the 15th century, however, this kind of design gave way to curvilinear patterns set in two distinct layers. The new style developed particularly in the eastern areas of Europe: at Annaberg (St. Anne’s, begun 1499) and Kuttenberg (St. Barbara’s, 1512).

Such virtuosity had no rival elsewhere in Europe. Nevertheless, other areas developed distinctive characteristics. The Perpendicular style is a phase of late Gothic unique to England. Its characteristic feature is the fan vault, which seems to have begun as an interesting extension of the Rayonnant idea in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral (begun 1337), where tracery panels were inserted into the vault. Another major monument is the nave of Canterbury Cathedral, which was begun in the late 1370s, but the style continued to evolve, the application of tracery panels tending to become denser. St. George’s Chapel, Windsor (c. 1475–1500), is an interesting prelude to the ornateness of Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey. Some of the best late Gothic achievements are bell towers, such as the crossing tower of Canterbury Cathedral (c. 1500).

In France the local style of late Gothic is usually called Flamboyant, from the flamelike shapes often assumed by the tracery. The style did not significantly increase the range of architectural opportunities. Late Gothic vaults, for instance, are not normally very elaborate (one of the exceptions is Saint-Pierre in Caen [1518–45], which has pendant bosses). But the development of window tracery continued and, with it, the development of elaborate facades. Most of the important examples are in northern France—for example, Saint-Maclou in Rouen (c. 1500–14) and Notre-Dame in Alençon (c. 1500). France also produced a number of striking 16th-century towers (Rouen and Chartres cathedrals).

The most notable feature of the great churches of Spain is the persistence of the influence of Bourges and the partiality for giant interior arcades. This is still clear in one of the last of the large Gothic churches to be built—the New Cathedral of Salamanca (begun 1510). By this time, Spanish architects were already developing their own intricate forms of vaulting with curvilinear patterns. The Capilla del Condestable in Burgos Cathedral (1482–94) provides an elaborate example of Spanish Flamboyant, as does—on a larger scale—Segovia Cathedral (begun 1525).

There was a final flowering of Gothic architecture in Portugal under King Manuel the Fortunate (1495–1521). The fantastic nature of much late Gothic Iberian architecture has won for it the name Plateresque, meaning that it is like silversmith’s work. The decorative elements used were extremely heterogeneous, and Arabic or Mudéjar forms emanating from the south were popular. Ultimately, during the 16th century, antique elements were added, facilitating the development of a Renaissance style. These curious hybrid effects were transplanted to the New World, where they appear in the earliest European architecture in Central America.

The end of Gothic

The change from late Gothic to Renaissance was superficially far less cataclysmic than the change from Romanesque to Gothic. In the figurative arts, it was not the great shift from symbolism to realistic representation but a change from one sort of realism to another.

Architecturally, as well, the initial changes involved decorative material. For this reason, the early stages of Renaissance art outside Italy are hard to disentangle from late Gothic. Monuments like the huge Franche-Comté chantry chapel at Brou (1513–32) may have intermittent Italian motifs, but the general effect intended was not very different from that of Henry VII’s Chapel at Westminster. The Shrine of St. Sebaldus at Nürnberg (1508–19) has the general shape of a Gothic tomb with canopy, although much of the detail is Italianate. In fact, throughout Europe the “Italian Renaissance” meant, for artists between about 1500 and 1530, the enjolivement, or embellishment, of an already rich decorative repertoire with shapes, motifs, and figures adapted from another canon of taste. The history of the northern artistic Renaissance is in part the story of the process by which artists gradually realized that Classicism represented another canon of taste and treated it accordingly.

But it is possible to suggest a more profound character to the change. Late Gothic has a peculiar aura of finality about it. From about 1470 to 1520, one gets the impression that the combination of decorative richness and realistic detail was being worked virtually to death. Classical antiquity at least provided an alternative form of art. It is arguable that change would have come in the north anyway and that adoption of Renaissance forms was a matter of coincidence and convenience. They were there at hand, for experiment.

The use of Renaissance forms was certainly encouraged, however, by the general admiration for Classical antiquity. They had a claim to “rightness” that led ultimately to the abandonment of all Gothic forms as being barbarous. This development belongs to the history of the Italian Renaissance, but the phenomenon emphasizes one aspect of medieval art. Through all the changes of Romanesque and Gothic, no body of critical literature appeared in which people tried to evaluate the art and distinguish old from new, good from bad. The development of such a literature was part of the Renaissance and, as such, was intimately related to the defense of Classical art. This meant that Gothic art was left in an intellectually defenseless state. All the praise went to ancient art, most of the blame to the art of the more recent past. Insofar as Gothic art had no critical literature by which a part of it, at least, could be justified, it was, to that extent, inarticulate.