The key direction of the art of the Middle Ages was Gothic.
It covered the culture that developed in most regions of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe.
Gothic arose in the northern region of France in the 12th century, and in the next century it appeared in England and Germany, and then in Austria, the Czech Republic and Spain. Later, the Gothic style reached Italy. After an intensive transformation, "Italian Gothic" was formed, and at the end of the 14th century - international. Eastern European artists became acquainted with the Gothic direction later, in their homeland it lasted a little longer - almost until the 16th century.
During the Renaissance, this definition pejoratively denoted all the art of the Middle Ages, recognized "barbarian". But at the beginning of the 19th century for craftsmanship 10-12 centuries. used the concept of the Romanesque style and, accordingly, limited the chronological framework of the Gothic style. Phases were distinguished in it: early period, mature and late.
In European countries, the Catholic Church ruled, so the Gothic ideology retained feudal-church foundations. By purpose, Gothic was mainly cult and thematically religious. She was compared with eternity and "higher" powers.
It was characterized by a symbolic-allegorical way of thinking and a conventional pictorial language.
This style replaced the Romanesque, and later completely replaced it. The concept of this direction is usually applied to architectural objects. It also embraced painting, ornamentation, book miniatures, sculpture, and so on.
It is worth noting that its origin in architecture, especially in famous cathedrals, coincided with the triumphant era of Romanesque painting, namely fresco.
Over time, other types of decorative art took on a key role in the decoration of temples, as a result of which painting was pushed to another level. The replacement of solid walls in Gothic cathedrals with large windows caused the complete disappearance of the genre of monumental painting, which occupied a special place in the Romanesque style. The fresco was replaced by stained glass, a unique type of painting in which paintings are made up of pieces of painted glass, fastened with thin lead strips and framed with iron fittings.
Gothic art artists
Gothic features in art appeared several decades later than those in architecture. Note that in France and England there was a transition from the Romanesque direction to the Gothic in the 1200s, in Germany - in the 1220s, and in Italy - approximately in the 1300s.
A feature of Gothic art are elongated figures.
Painting was subject to strict canons. Masters of the brush in their paintings depicted the three-dimensionality of space quite rarely. Such a prospect was accidental and highly doubtful.
At the end of the 14th century, there was a desire for elegant and sophisticated writing in art, as well as an interest in real life subjects. The smallest details of flora and fauna have become constant elements in painting.
International Gothic appeared - this is the direction of the late period of the Middle Ages, which united the painting of many countries.
Art flourished in France in the 13th and 14th centuries book miniature. It showed a secular beginning. So, for example, secular literature expanded the range of illustrated manuscripts. They began to create richly painted psalters and books of hours for home use.
The manuscript from Gothic times changed the appearance of the pages. Thus, the illustration was filled with sonorous purity colors, included realistic elements, combined floral ornamentation, biblical and everyday scenes. A characteristic feature of the manuscripts of the 13th century was the border framing the margin of the page.
The artists placed on the pages swirls of ornament adorning the fields, lines framing small figures, and comic or genre scenes. The content of the manuscripts did not always have a connection with them. These were the fantasies of the miniaturists. They were called "droleri" - that is, fun. In the late Gothic miniatures, the tendencies of realism were expressed with special immediacy, the first successes were made in the transfer of everyday paintings and landscapes. Soon, artists rushed to a reliable and detailed depiction of nature.
The most famous representatives of the book miniature of the Gothic era were the Limburg brothers.
Christ in Glory, Limburg Brothers 
Miniature of the Earl of Westmorland with His Twelve Children, Limburg Brothers 
The Madonna and the Child, The Limburg Brothers
Gothic painting: stained glass windows and book miniatures The transition from Romanesque to Gothic painting was not at all smooth and imperceptible. The "transparent" structure of the Gothic cathedral, in which the plane of the wall gave way to openwork ornaments and huge windows, ruled out the possibility of abundant pictorial decoration. The birth of the Gothic cathedral coincided with the period of the highest flowering of Romanesque painting, especially fresco. But soon other types of fine arts began to play a dominant role in the decoration of temple buildings, and painting was relegated to secondary roles.
The replacement of blind walls in Gothic cathedrals by huge windows led to the almost universal disappearance of the monumental paintings that played such a major role in the Romanesque art of the 11th and 12th centuries. The fresco was replaced by a stained-glass window - a kind of painting, in which the image is made up of pieces of colored painted glass, interconnected by narrow lead strips and covered with iron fittings. Stained glass appeared, apparently, in the Carolingian era, but they received full development and distribution only during the transition from Romanesque to Gothic art. 
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The huge surfaces of the windows were filled with stained-glass compositions that reproduced traditional religious plots, historical events, labor scenes, and literary plots. Each window consisted of a series of figurative compositions enclosed in medallions. 
. The stained-glass window technique, which makes it possible to combine the color and light principles of painting, gave these compositions a special emotionality. Scarlet, yellow, green, blue glass, cut according to the contour of the picture, burned like precious gems, transforming the entire interior of the temple. Gothic color glass created new aesthetic values - it gave the paint the highest sonority of pure color.
Creating an atmosphere of a colored air environment, the stained-glass window was perceived as a source of light. Stained-glass windows placed in the window openings filled the interior of the cathedral with light, painted in soft and sonorous colors, which created an extraordinary artistic effect. The pictorial compositions of the late Gothic style, made in the technique of tempera, or colored reliefs that adorn the altar and altar rounds were also distinguished by the brightness of their colors.
In the middle of the XIII century. complex colors are introduced into the colorful range, which are formed by duplicating glasses (Saint Chapelle, 1250). The contours of the drawing on the glass were applied with brown enamel paint, the forms were planar.
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In the Gothic manuscript, the appearance of the page has changed. The illustrations, resonant in pure colors, include realistic details, along with floral ornaments, religious and everyday scenes. 
The use of acute-angled writing, fully developed by the end of the 12th century, gave the text the appearance of an openwork pattern, in which initials of various shapes and sizes were interspersed. A leaf of a Gothic manuscript with scattered plot initials and small letters with ornamental branches in the form of tendrils gave the impression of filigree with inserts of precious stones and enamels. 
April. Illustration by the Limburg brothers for the Duke of Berry's Book of Hours. .
In the manuscripts of the second half of the 13th century, a border framing the margin of the sheet became a characteristic feature. On the curls of the ornament placed on the fields, as well as on the horizontal lines of the frame, the artists placed small figures and scenes of an instructive, comic or genre character. 
They were not always connected with the content of the manuscript, they arose as a product of the imagination of a miniaturist and were called "drolery" - fun. Free from the conventions of the iconographic canon, these figurines began to move rapidly and gesticulate animatedly. The droleri in the manuscripts are distinguished by their generous imagination; The works of the artist give out reasonable clarity and delicate taste of the metropolitan school. 
In the late Gothic book miniature, realistic tendencies were expressed with particular immediacy, and the first successes were achieved in depicting landscapes and everyday scenes. The miniatures of The Richest Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry (c. 1411-16), which were designed by the Limburg brothers, poetically and authentically depict scenes of secular life, peasant labor, and landscapes that anticipated the art of the Northern Renaissance. 
Gothic art is an important link in the general process of culture; gothic works, full of spirituality, grandeur, have a unique aesthetic charm. The realistic conquests of the Gothic prepare the transition to the art of the Renaissance. 
Gothic painting. England. Richard II in front of the Madonna.
English King Edward I Plantagenet.
book miniature. Alchemy.
English book miniature. Singing.
Gothic book miniature. Initial. Daniel in the lions' den.
Gothic book miniature. The Limburg brothers. Hours of the Duke of Berry
Gothic book miniature. Brothers of Limburg, Duke of Berry's Book of Hours. January.
The Middle Ages - the time of the Crusades, the dominance of religion over secular life, a turning point in the development of European countries. Against the backdrop of political and military transformations, a recognizable, striking style was formed - Gothic, which influenced the development of painting, architecture, music, and sculpture.
The origin and development of style
The period of style formation was the developed Middle Ages, the XII century in the countries of Western Europe, in the XIII - XVI centuries - in Central Europe. The grandiosity of style borders on the intimidation that the works of painters and architects of this period can cause.
Gothic painting is distinguished by a specific composition, an abundance of colors and shades, a dynamic image, and a tension in the plot. As part of the study of the works of painters, it is worth considering the book miniature as a representative direction in art.
The birthplace of the style is France, where in the XII century. From there, Gothic spread to Germany, Spain, England, Austria. In the next century, Gothic influences became noticeable in Italy, where a local, distinctive offshoot of the style was formed. During the early modern period, the style took shape in an international format. For the longest time, Gothic influences were noticeable in the countries of Eastern Europe.
Gothic in painting in the Middle Ages appeared in the art of creating stained glass windows. 
Imprimatura in painting
Style features at an early stage of development
Gothic replaced the Romanesque style - it's hard not to notice the fundamental differences between these areas of art. In art, Gothic is associated with grandeur, grandiosity, and special decorativeness.
A feature of Gothic painting is the presence of significant diversity in the regional development of style. It is impossible to determine a single “formula” by which a clear description of the direction of art can be given. As a result of the research of many art historians, the following features are characteristic of the Gothic style throughout the distribution area:
- A special construction of the composition, the illusion of the materiality of the image, created by the masters of the Middle Ages.
- Different groups of people mostly coexist on the canvas - their interaction is decorative, devoid of naturalness.
- Gothic has not completely departed from the Romanesque influence to convey a certain hidden symbolic meaning through the personality of the depicted person.
- Images in the paintings do not look complete, the composition is dissected, each element must be considered separately.
- Pictures convey reality through metaphors.
- Expression transmitted through the shades and dynamics of the plot.
- Schematic representation of the action.
- Religiosity, the dominance of biblical and mystical stories.
Minimalism as a style in painting
The most striking genre is the portrait.
Development of the art of book miniature
Book design in the Middle Ages is hard to miss. The book miniature has reached a high level of development, displaying religious, secular subjects with the help of bright colors in a recognizable, Gothic style:
The miniature originated in France in the 13th century, the most famous creator was Jean Pussel. Thanks to the development of the miniature in art, a recognizable Parisian school of miniature was formed.
During the developed Middle Ages, it became customary to decorate with miniatures not only artistic and religious books, but also scientific treatises and chronicles. Patterns have become more filigree, openwork, angular. The miniature became more meaningful, more accurately conveyed the essence of the event, which is displayed by the artist.
An example of the most successful transfer of the essence of phenomena and events with the help of a miniature is the Great French Chronicle. 
Impressionism as a style in painting
International Gothic
At the last stages of the development of style in the period of the developed Middle Ages, an international direction appeared. Homeland - Bohemia, Northern Italy, Burgundy. It is with this direction that the art of the period of the “decline of the Middle Ages” or “autumn of the Middle Ages” is associated.
Distinctive features were decorativeness, splendor, an abundance of saturated colors. This is the most pretentious Gothic, characterized by exaltation, refinement, and special expression.
The term "International Gothic" was proposed only at the end of the 19th century by art historians Julius Schlosser and Louis Courageot. And they began to use it to refer to late Gothic only in the second half of the 20th century. Until that time, the direction was called "Late Gothic", "Court Gothic", "Special Gothic", if we are talking about painting in Germany, "soft style", "cosmopolitan art". From the 20th century, canvases created before 1430 began to be called “late”, the rest moved into the category of “international”.
Painting of the Northern Renaissance
Finding pictures in this direction is simple:
The style developed at the court of the monarchs of large European countries. Gothic art of this type had its own characteristics in each country, which should allow art historians to easily understand which country a particular canvas belongs to. But it's not. Due to the active cultural exchange and the network of dynastic marriages, due to which cultural characteristics spread throughout the continent, it is very difficult to determine exactly which country the artist was from or where the painting was painted if the author's signature is missing.
Another reason for the difficulties of identification is the work of artists to order. For this reason, a Frenchman could paint canvases for the Italian, Spanish court, his works could be donated, and because of this, even more cultural confusion was formed.
Suprematism as a style in painting
The theme of early works in the Gothic style was religion, biblical stories. The international direction departs from this Gothic dogma. The period of the developed Middle Ages is characterized by the appearance of works on secular subjects - they are ordered by representatives of the nobility to decorate the interior.
Despite the appearance of secular themes, altar plots and religious images remain basic. International Gothic painting is similar to icon painting - especially, the presence of a golden background, gold inscriptions.
Artistic frames were used to decorate the paintings, sometimes the canvas consisted of several wings. Wooden planks were used as canvases for paintings.
Notable Gothic masters
Duccio from Siena
Creator of the "Maesta" altarpiece in the Siena Cathedral, with elegant panels decorated with images on religious themes. Byzantine influences are traced in his manner of creativity.
Giotto
Master of creating wall paintings. The most striking work is the painting in the Chapel del Arena church. Giotto's style has almost no influences - it is pure gothic, filled with dynamics.
Simone Martini 
One of the brightest creators of Florence. The work "The Way to Calvary" is distinguished by the brightness of colors, fullness of dynamics.
Rococo painting style
Traini
The creator of the famous fresco in the covered cemetery next to the Pisa Cathedral.
Michelino da Besozzo
Famous painter and creator of miniatures in the style of international gothic.
Many geniuses and creators in the field of art are not recognized by critics and society during their lifetime. Years later, they begin to understand and feel, firmly believing that the artist or poet had his own special view of things. That's when they begin to admire, ranking among the incredibly talented people of their era. This is exactly what happened to Wood Grant, who almost a hundred years ago portrayed his vision of the lifestyle of the inhabitants of the New World in the painting "American Gothic". He was a fairly complex artist, with his own character and style.
A few words about the artist's childhood
Many critics and experts in the field of art believe that before analyzing the picture, especially the one that caused a huge public outcry, it is necessary to study the creator of the masterpiece a little. This needs to be done only in order to understand the motives or message of the artist. Speaking of Wood Grant, whose painting "American Gothic" still causes controversy and certain disagreements among the experts of the world, it is worth saying that his early years were unremarkable.
He was born on a small agricultural farm on the very outskirts of the very one in America. In addition to him, there were two more boys and a girl in the family. The father of the family was distinguished by a quick temper and strictness. He passed away quite early. Grant had a close and trusting relationship with his mother, perhaps because of this he grew up to be very sensitive, vulnerable and the most talented of all the children in the family.
Unrecognized genius
Growing up and choosing an artistic path for himself, Grant painted a sufficient number of paintings, but his work was not properly appreciated. He was not recognized in art, often without even taking his work seriously.
About the time in which the picture was painted
"American Gothic" by American artist Grant Wood was painted in 1930. This time was quite difficult for a number of reasons:
- Firstly, in 1929, an economic crisis began in America, which, by the way, did not in the least interfere with the rapid steps of the state in the field of construction and industry. New, hitherto unknown high-rise buildings were erected in the country. It was a period of novelty and technology.
- Secondly, all over the world, fascism was gaining momentum just as rapidly as industry. The new trend and ideology of Adolf Hitler was strengthened in the minds of people who aspired to a perfect future.
- In this list, perhaps, it is worth adding another fact that concerns the artist himself personally. Wood Grant by that time had already lived for a sufficient amount of time in France and German Munich. Some critics felt that these wanderings around the world added a lot to the picture "American Gothic" from the European way of life.
After all of the above, you can try to get some idea about the artist, about his character and life. Well, when this is done, it is worth transgressing directly to the analysis of the painting "American Gothic".
It's all about the details
The canvas can be analyzed only if it is described in detail. So, in the foreground two people are depicted: a woman and a man who, apparently, is much older than her. Wood Grant has repeatedly said that he tried to show the father with his daughter, but it is known for certain that he portrayed his own sister and dentist Byron McKeeby. According to the artist, the latter was distinguished by a rather cheerful disposition. True, in the painting "American Gothic" he appears as a restrained person, if not harsh. His gaze is directed straight into the eyes of the person looking at the canvas, and it is impossible to understand what will happen next: whether he will smile, or get angry. His face is drawn in such detail that you can make out every wrinkle, which abound on it.
The woman's gaze is directed to the side, somewhere outside the picture. A man and his daughter stand in the center, with the woman holding the older man's arm. He has a pitchfork in his hands, pointing upwards with its tips, which he holds with a fairly strong grip. It seems as if the people depicted by Wood Grant are trying to protect their home, against which they are drawn.
The house is an old American style building. Another nuance that is revealed upon closer examination: everything in the picture is made by human hands: the man’s shirt, the woman’s apron, and, by the way, the mansard roof.
If you pay attention to the background of the picture "American Gothic", it seems that Grant Wood did not pay due attention to it. Trees are presented in the form of geometric figures and they are absolutely not drawn, generalized. By the way, if you look closely, there is a lot of geometry in the picture: a triangular roof, straight lines of windows, pitchforks that echo the piping on the man’s shirt.
The tones in which the canvas is written can be described as quite calm. Perhaps this is the whole description of the painting "American Gothic", from which it becomes clear why many Americans saw themselves in it: almost all families living both on the west and on the east coast of the mainland had such houses.
Society valuation
The painting "American Gothic" made a splash. Some were delighted, but there were also dissatisfied. Residents considered such a depiction of their way of life as a mockery of the artist, and one lady even threatened physical violence against Grant Wood. She promised to bite off his ear. Many people accused the artist of antipathy to everything new, calling him a conservative and a hypocrite, because he depicted an old house on the threshold of a new civilization. The artist himself once said about his painting: "I tried to portray these people as they were for me in the life that I knew ...".
A century later
It is worth noting that after a while the picture is still at the peak of popularity. They make parodies of her, they admire her, they do not understand her. But all this did not in the least prevent "American Gothic" from becoming a kind of symbol of the way of life of those years. Nearly a century later, critics could see in it the unshakable spirit of American pioneers. Well, the last thing that needs to be mentioned: Grant Wood was able to "hook" a huge number of people with his masterpiece, forcing the public to discuss, argue about the painting "American Gothic".
Gothic painting: paintings, stained-glass windows and book miniatures of the 13th-15th centuries.
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Gothic- a period in the development of medieval art, covering almost all areas of material culture and developing in Western, Central and partly Eastern Europe from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Gothic came to replace the Romanesque style, gradually replacing it. Although the term "Gothic style" is most often applied to architectural structures, Gothic also covered sculpture, painting, book miniature, costume, ornament, etc.
Gothic originated in the middle of the 12th century in northern France, in the 13th century it spread to the territory of modern Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, and England. Gothic penetrated into Italy later, with great difficulty and a strong transformation, which led to the emergence of "Italian Gothic". At the end of the 14th century, Europe was engulfed by the so-called international Gothic. Gothic penetrated into the countries of Eastern Europe later and stayed there a little longer - until the 16th century.
For buildings and works of art containing characteristic Gothic elements, but created in the eclectic period (mid-19th century) and later, the term "neo-Gothic" is used.
Origin of the term
The word comes from Italian. gotico - unusual, barbaric - (Goten - barbarians; this style has nothing to do with the historical Goths), and was first used as a swear word. For the first time, the concept in the modern sense was applied by Giorgio Vasari in order to separate the Renaissance from the Middle Ages. Gothic completed the development of European medieval art, having arisen on the basis of the achievements of Romanesque culture, and during the Renaissance (Renaissance), the art of the Middle Ages was considered "barbaric". Gothic art was cult in purpose and religious in subject matter. It appealed to the highest divine powers, eternity, the Christian worldview.
Gothic in its development is divided into Early Gothic, Heyday, Late Gothic.
The transition from Romanesque to Gothic was not at all smooth and imperceptible. The "transparent" structure of the Gothic cathedral, in which the plane of the wall gave way to openwork ornaments and huge windows, ruled out the possibility of abundant pictorial decoration. The birth of the Gothic cathedral coincided with the period of the highest flowering of Romanesque painting, especially fresco. But soon other types of fine arts began to play a dominant role in the decoration of temple buildings, and painting was relegated to secondary roles.
Gothic stained glass
The replacement of blind walls in Gothic cathedrals by huge windows led to the almost universal disappearance of the monumental paintings that played such a major role in the Romanesque art of the 11th and 12th centuries. The fresco was replaced by a stained-glass window - a kind of painting, in which the image is made up of pieces of colored painted glass, interconnected by narrow lead strips and covered with iron fittings. Stained glass appeared, apparently, in the Carolingian era, but they received full development and distribution only during the transition from Romanesque to Gothic art.
Stained glass windows in Canterbury Cathedral.
The huge surfaces of the windows were filled with stained-glass compositions that reproduced traditional religious plots, historical events, labor scenes, and literary plots. Each window consisted of a series of figurative compositions enclosed in medallions. The stained-glass window technique, which makes it possible to combine the color and light principles of painting, gave these compositions a special emotionality. Scarlet, yellow, green, blue glass, cut according to the contour of the picture, burned like precious gems, transforming the entire interior of the temple. Gothic color glass created new aesthetic values - it gave the paint the highest sonority of pure color. Creating an atmosphere of a colored air environment, the stained-glass window was perceived as a source of light. Stained-glass windows placed in the window openings filled the interior of the cathedral with light, painted in soft and sonorous colors, which created an extraordinary artistic effect. The pictorial compositions of the late Gothic style, made in the technique of tempera, or colored reliefs that adorn the altar and altar rounds were also distinguished by the brightness of their colors.
In the middle of the XIII century. complex colors are introduced into the colorful range, which are formed by duplicating glasses (Saint Chapelle, 1250). The contours of the drawing on the glass were applied with brown enamel paint, the forms were planar.
Gothic style in book miniature
Reaches high flourishing in France XIII-XIV centuries. the art of book miniature, in which the secular beginning is manifested.
In the Gothic manuscript, the appearance of the page has changed. The illustrations, resonant in pure colors, include realistic details, along with floral ornaments - religious and everyday scenes. The use of acute-angled writing, fully developed by the end of the 12th century, gave the text the appearance of an openwork pattern, in which initials of various shapes and sizes were interspersed. A leaf of a Gothic manuscript with scattered plot initials and small letters with ornamental branches in the form of tendrils gave the impression of filigree with inserts of precious stones and enamels.
April. Illustration of the Limburg brothers for the Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry.
In the manuscripts of the second half of the 13th century, a border framing the margin of the sheet became a characteristic feature. On the curls of the ornament placed on the fields, as well as on the horizontal lines of the frame, the artists placed small figures and scenes of an instructive, comic or genre character. They were not always connected with the content of the manuscript, they arose as a product of the imagination of a miniaturist and were called "drolery" - fun. Free from the conventions of the iconographic canon, these figurines began to move rapidly and gesticulate animatedly. The droleri in the manuscripts are distinguished by their generous imagination; The works of the artist give out reasonable clarity and delicate taste of the metropolitan school.
In the late Gothic book miniature, realistic tendencies were expressed with particular immediacy, and the first successes were achieved in depicting landscapes and everyday scenes. The miniatures of The Richest Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry (c. 1411-16), which were designed by the Limburg brothers, poetically and authentically depict scenes of secular life, peasant labor, and landscapes that anticipated the art of the Northern Renaissance.
Gothic art is an important link in the overall process of culture; gothic works, full of spirituality, grandeur, have a unique aesthetic charm. The realistic conquests of the Gothic prepare the transition to the art of the Renaissance.
