Arcade with Double Capitals and Columns, possibly from Notre-Dame-de-Pontaut
Date: about 1400
Dimensions:
Plinth to keystone: 107 in. (271.8 cm)
Plinth to spring of arch: 73 3/4 in. (187.3 cm)
Between columns (on centers): 62 in. (157.5 cm)
Medium: marble and limestone
Place of Origin: possibly Aquitaine, France
Classification: Architectural Elements
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1931.81
Label Text:The arcade of arches to your left contrasts sharply with the Cloister Gallery’s other medieval architecture. The arches have been constructed in the Gothic style, which used pointed arches to connect the openings between columns, as opposed to the Romanesque style that employed rounded arches, following the model of ancient Roman architecture. Likely adopted from Islamic architecture, the pointed arch reduced the pressure on the supporting columns, making it possible to span greater areas, reach greater heights, and reduce the size of the structural components.
While we use the term “Gothic style” today, people in medieval Europe referred to it as ars nova, the “new art,” underlining the change this style represented. “Gothic” was coined as a term of ridicule during the Italian Renaissance, when art and culture from the Middle Ages was seen as backward and crude. The Goths were one of the Germanic invading groups who contributed to the gradual collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
When acquired by the Museum in 1931, this arcade was believed to have come from a cloister in the Cistercian abbey of Notre-Dame at Pontaut (pon-TOE) in southwestern France (the Cistercians are a religious order of Christian monks and nuns). This attribution has more recently been questioned. The imagery on the capitals—including figures in contemporary dress dancing and playing instruments, monks, and fanciful creatures such as a unicorn and dragons—would have been unusual for a Cistercian monastery, which typically opposed unnecessary artistic embellishment. Nevertheless, the imaginative carvings epitomize the creativity of 14th-century craftsmen who used stone to insert allegorical scenes into contemporary life.
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While we use the term “Gothic style” today, people in medieval Europe referred to it as ars nova, the “new art,” underlining the change this style represented. “Gothic” was coined as a term of ridicule during the Italian Renaissance, when art and culture from the Middle Ages was seen as backward and crude. The Goths were one of the Germanic invading groups who contributed to the gradual collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
When acquired by the Museum in 1931, this arcade was believed to have come from a cloister in the Cistercian abbey of Notre-Dame at Pontaut (pon-TOE) in southwestern France (the Cistercians are a religious order of Christian monks and nuns). This attribution has more recently been questioned. The imagery on the capitals—including figures in contemporary dress dancing and playing instruments, monks, and fanciful creatures such as a unicorn and dragons—would have been unusual for a Cistercian monastery, which typically opposed unnecessary artistic embellishment. Nevertheless, the imaginative carvings epitomize the creativity of 14th-century craftsmen who used stone to insert allegorical scenes into contemporary life.
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On view
In Collection(s)