Gothic Terms Discussed

MID TERM EXAM: GOTHIC

Due in typewritten form.

Terms. Give a brief definition of ten (10) of the following terms. You must include works of art discussed in class only. *

1. string course - A projecting band or molding set horizontally in a wall. The string course at Chartres cathedral is one of the most elaborate.

2. chevet - French term for the east end of a church.

3. trumeau -

4. narthex - Western compartment of church.

5. transverse arch - An arch which runs across the vault from side to side, dividing the bays and providing support for the vault.

6. pseudo-lantern - A lantern is the crowning element of a dome, usually circular or polygonal, admitting light to the interior of the building. A pseudo lantern was a fake lantern - it added the look and height of a lantern, but did not admit lit. The cathedral of Notre Dame, in Paris, France, is home to a giant pseudo-lantern.

7. respond - False clustered piers, or colonettes. Bonded into a wall to make the church appear more elaborate. Responds can be seen at Laon cathedral.

8. Ile de France - Gothic sculpture was born, in the middle of the 12th century, in Ile de France, when Abbot Suger built the abbey at St. Denis. The Ile de France is a historic region and former province of north central France. Paris and its suburbs dominate the region. At the time Suger began construction at St. Denis, the Ile de France was the only region of land the King owned.

9. fleche - A slender spire rising from the ridge of a roof. The cathedral of Notre Dame incorporates delicate fleche and slender flying buttresses.

10. transept - Cross arm of the church. Perpendicularly intersects the nave.

11. crocket - An ornamental foliate form placed at regularly spaced intervals on the slopes and edges of the spires and pinnacles. Laon cathedral incorporated crocket capitals in the design of the interior.

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