There was an ‘International Gothic’ style of art from c. 1360 to
c. 1425, with a higher degree of naturalism than there had been in the Romanesque period. Stylised robed figures with decorative folds in their garments were characteristic of the new style. Floral decoration in the borders of manuscripts and surrounding features in architecture and metalwork were an element of the style.
Artists and Artworks
Architecture In the early years following the Norman invasion, buildings in the towns and cities were made by English tradesmen who had come to work with the knights.
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin
Christ Church Cathedral was built in the heart of medieval Dublin. Begun in the Romanesque style, the transepts (the arms, in the plan of a cross- shaped church, projecting at right angles from the body of the church) were finished in a transitional style by 1200. The Gothic parts were started in
Figure 27.1 The nave in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, is in the ‘Early English’ Gothic style.
Clerestory windows
The arcade
Rib vault
Crossing tower
Flying buttress
Gothic clerestory windows
Romanesque- style windows on the earliest parts of the building
Figure 27.2 Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. The Romanesque windows surrounded in a pale stone can be seen from here. The flying buttresses supporting the weight of the vault and roof can be identified also.
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NEW APPRECIATING ART IRELAND AND ITS PLACE IN THE WIDER WORLD